MediaPost: Multitaskers Represent Multiple Threat: Simultaneous Media Usage Reaches New High

There have been several studies showing the increase in media multi-tasking. Now, there's another out from BIGresearch, claiming 70 percent of media users consume more than one medium at a time. Of those who listen to radio, 53.7 percent are online, 46.9 percent are reading a newspaper and 17.7 percent are watching TV. Of those watching TV, 66.2 percent are online and 74.2 percent are reading a newspaper. Aside from the fascinating fact that anyone is still reading a newspaper, these findings point to the increasingly difficult job media planners have in delivering the message to the consumer.

While it may become more difficult to lay claim to consumers' split attention spans, many cross media promotional tie-ins present themselves as a result of this shift in media consumption. This shift, properly acted upon, might encourage true cross media integration - not merely placing the same brand message across multiple media, but rather messages in one medium that require interaction in another. That's already being done to some extent with the simplest example being "go visit our website."

That's only a baby step though. Mitsubishi's "SeeWhatHappens" Super Bowl spot went a bit further asking consumers to visit a website to see the end of the commercial. Still a small step. A bigger step might be what could be called "time-based addressable advertising," where, when technologically possible, a similar or complementary message is delivered to the consumer via multiple media at the same time. Messages could require interaction with one another or one could provide a "key" to opening another.

Taking an even bigger step, advertisements could be "transported" from one medium to another, where the message follows a consumer across media to the degree the consumer prefers and allows it to follow. It might start with something you hear in your car on the radio that you want to respond to but can't at the moment, so you press a button that sends this item to a central location, allowing it to be retrieved later from another "connected" device such as a screen on your fridge, your computer, your phone, or your handheld.