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Cross-Media Consumers Emotionally
Attached to Sites
By Pamela Parker
If you love your New York Times,
you're likely to love NYTimes.com
too, an Online
Publishers Association (OPA) study finds.
The research, conducted by Frank
N. Magid Associates, looked at
the behavior and attitudes of consumers
who use both the on- and offline
versions of a media brand.
Frequent
visitors to media Web sites feel
the same emotional connection
with the online presence as they
do with the offline property, according
to the study. Nearly three-quarters
(72 percent) of those surveyed
enjoy the media brand's Web site;
71 percent trust it; 69 percent
look forward to visiting it; 56
percent rely on it; and 47 percent
miss it when they can't access
it. Related offline properties
scored very similarly — a
couple of points higher in some
cases, a few lower in others.
"This research has significant
implications for advertisers," said
Michael Zimbalist, executive director
of the OPA. "By developing
effective cross-media messaging,
advertisers can take advantage
of the considerable overlap in
online and offline media brand
usage."
The study also found usage of
media Web sites is becoming part
of people's daily habits. Forty-four
percent of consumers say they frequently
visit national news sites out of
habit, and 23 percent say their
visits are geared toward fun or
just to relax. Other uses for national
news sites were more conventional.
Sixty-eight percent go to such
sites to get national news. Others
go for breaking news (64 percent),
and international news (52 percent).
Not coincidentally, the OPA's
membership is primarily comprised
of traditional media brands with
online presences. Its roster includes
Knight Ridder Digital, Belo Interactive,
Scripps Networks, Tribune Interactive,
the Wall Street Journal Online,
The Hearst Corporation, and Washingtonpost.Newsweek
Interactive. (Jupitermedia, the
parent company of this publication,
is also an OPA member.)
Magid Associates conducted the
research through an online survey
of nearly 26,000 users aged 18
to 54. The researchers used pop-up
intercepts on 41 OPA member sites.
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