Bringing to life USA TouchPoints

After three successful years in the UK, TouchPoints has entered the US. The MBI (Media Behavior Institute) has successfully pilot tested the US version of the IPA’s TouchPoints service. The study was conducted with the industry organisation CIMM (Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement). With its debut in the US market, USA TouchPoints is poised to become a new and unique way of looking at American consumers. Pointlogic have developed a tool, Chorus USA TouchPoints, to access the study data in a simple-to-use format that gives a true visual rendering of the study data. Examples of Chorus USA Touchpoints reports will be referenced later on in this article.

 

The study goes beyond understanding consumers and their usage of different brands, product categories and media and takes the data to the next level by enabling users to look further than ‘who they are’ and ‘what they buy’ to ‘where they are’, ‘who are they with’, ‘what are they doing’ and ‘what are they feeling’. The data provide the opportunity to build ‘day in the life’ scenarios of different target audiences.

 

Conducted among 961 adults aged 18–64 over a 10-day period, respondents were given smart phone eDiaries with which to record their locations, current activities, feelings, who they were with and media consumption every half-hour. All respondents had recently completed the MRI Survey of the American Consumers. Because of this unique methodology, end users have the ability to look at a number of data points or dimensions simultaneously. For example, rather than independently looking at an audience using the internet, there is the ability to look at any other media used either concurrently or in close proximity to the internet. USA Touchpoints data is then ascribed to the full 21,000 MRI panellists, which enriches the sample and allows for the building of more specific consumer targets using product and psychographic data from the MRI study. In addition to activities reported by half-hour, USA TouchPoints respondents reported on participation in additional activities such as going to the movies or eating at fast food restaurants.

 

“We at Media Behavior Institute were impressed with how quickly Pointlogic developed a very user-friendly Chorus tool that demonstrates the power of USA TouchPoints’ data to our mutual customers.”Alice K. Sylvester, Partner at Media Behavior Institute.

 

Alice K. Sylvester, Partner at Media Behavior Institute, commented: “USA TouchPoints brings a whole new way of thinking about consumers and communications planning. Yes, it measures cross-media exposure. But it also measures all the things happening in someone’s life while they’re consuming media. USA TouchPoints will help planners identify the contextual factors and times of day that are most relevant to their brand – the moments of receptivity – the right places, times and frames of mind for advertising messages. For media companies, USA TouchPoints will increase the effectiveness of programming, scheduling and marketing across their own platforms. We at Media Behavior Institute were impressed with how quickly Pointlogic developed a very user-friendly Chorus tool that demonstrates the power of USA TouchPoints’ data to our mutual customers.”

 

Here are some examples that show the uniqueness of the USA Touchpoints data reported using the Chorus tool.

 

Concurrent Media Usage

The following chart shows other media being used concurrently with live TV viewing. Almost half of all adults reported using the internet while viewing live TV, and over a fifth were using mobile.

 

 

Moods and Emotions

The chart below highlights how different ‘moods’ are captured in the study by showing how ‘excited’ men vs. women feel depending on who they are with. Men are more excited than women when on their own or with co-workers, while women are more excited to be with their children.

 

 

Media Usage & Company

The following chart shows that mothers aged 25–54 are using more media when they are with their kids compared to when on their own, particularly when it comes to TV and internet usage. What’s surprising here is magazine reading being higher among these women when they’re with their children than on their own time. Advertisers should keep these thoughts in mind when it comes to reaching busy mothers with their messages.

 

 

A Day in the Life

The following charts compare the percentage of half-hours spent by mothers and fathers aged 25–54. A higher percentage of half-hours is spent by mothers on household chores than by dads. The percentage of time spent on this activity is steady across the day, whereas it spikes during the evening hours for dads. Most time is spent on overall media usage among both mothers and fathers during the evening hours.

 

 

 

These are just some examples of analysis that can be extracted from the USA Touchpoints data, but the possibilities are endless. CIMM members have access to the USA Touchpoints data free of charge until the end of the year, after which point the data will be available for purchase. MBI is preparing to go into the field with a new study that will include additional questions about mobile usage and an increase in the number of respondents. Fusions with Nielsen TV and Comscore online data in addition to MRI will be implemented into the study.

 

To find out more contact Lisa Antonucci ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

 

About the Media Behavior Institute

MBI (Media Behavior Institute), a company rooted in understanding cross-media behaviour among different audiences, is known for providing insights on how consumers relate to all media wherever, whenever and however they make their media choices.