Is There a ‘Prime Time’ for Digital?
There are so many platforms today that it is difficult to put together an adequate media mix to reach your target audience. Searching for a platform prime time is a way to maximize results and optimize your investment.
Finding optimal usage is done by the Nielsen Total Audience Report. Each year, Nielsen curates data to find trends. In 2018, the senior vice president of audience outlined these highlights:
- U.S. adults spend 10 hours and 24 minutes per day connected to media
- Adults 18-34 spend more time with digital than TV and TV-connected devices
- Adults 50-64 use media more than any other age group
- 19% of all adults listen to podcasts each week
- 24% of U.S. households own a smart speaker
- TV and TV-connected devices peak during the 9 pm hour
As you can see in this chart, there are “prime times” for each media. For example, digital falls off during TV’s prime time. People are watching TV, listening to music or reading for 43% of time available each day.
It is important to note that there is simultaneous usage. So there can be some crossover of numbers. But media usage is changing, and it is key to understand real numbers, so you can ride the trends.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
