Office Electronics and Foreign Cars See Decline in Rank
BOSTON, MA – ChoiceStream, a full-service programmatic media-buying partner, today announced the findings of its cost index report. This monthly report monitors 315 consumer data segments — both IAB and custom — and ranks them from lowest to highest cost index. Published as an Infographic, the Audience Cost Calendar shares changes in segment costs month over month.
This month, travel continues to dominate the top 10 segments. With the exception of slight one- and two-place adjustments in rank, foreign destinations have maintained their place in rank above other consumer segments. This could be due to advertisers paying more during the summer months to reach consumers placed in these segments. A clothing retailer, for instance may choose to advertise its summer sandals and swim suit cover-ups to consumers who have been categorized into the Caribbean and Greece travel segments.
Grocery shopping has seen one of the largest increases in rank, moving up 65 places out of 315, and increasing 21 percent in cost index. This could be attributed to the overwhelming uptick in online grocery shopping, as reported by Businessweek and Forbes in January of this year, and more recently by Fortune in April. With all of the online grocery retailers in the market right now, competition is increasing. Each wants to reach the growing number of online consumers, and therefore, many retailers are willing to pay more to advertise.
Office electronics have maintained their hold within the bottom ten segments in rank for the third consecutive month. This segment has a history of placing low in rank throughout the year, during every month other than December and April; the segment spiked up in cost index during these two months, more than doubling. Office accessory brands could be willing to spend more during the holiday season and after the close of the first quarter to serve their ads to businesses. It may also be that office brands are competing to promote seasonal sales, and they therefore pay more to win each ad impression.
Additionally, while foreign car brands fell in rank last month, the domestic automaker car segment has increased 114 places out of 315 in rank, its cost index rising 38.3 percent.
“If you glance at the graph in our Audience Cost Calendar, you’ll see that Ferrari, Nissan, Toyota, and Volvo have fallen up to 170 places in rank — while the American brand segment has done just the opposite,” says Bill Guild, VP of Marketing at ChoiceStream. “While this may not reflect the sales for each brand observed, it does speak to the value of reaching consumers in these segments with display ads.”
In looking back at data from the past year, there are also some notable trends with age segments. The age segments 45-54, 25-34, and 35-44 have generally ranked higher than other age segments. Additionally, all six age-related segments have risen in rank since last October, and then fallen in rank during December. There was also a slight dip in rank during April of 2014 [see GRAPH]. Advertisers may be reaching consumers through other segments during October and December as opposed to October; this drop in demand for advertising to these segments could explain the corresponding price drop.
Methodology
ChoiceStream tracks approximately 315 consumer segments. Tracked segments are rollups of similar segments from multiple data providers including ChoiceStream’s Pollshare. Each segment receives a calculated index with the monthly average price set at 100. An index of 110 indicates that the segment traded 10 percent higher than the overall average that month. ChoiceStream calculates the audience rankings by reporting the cheapest segment (also referred to as the cheapest price index) as number one, to the most expensive (315).
About ChoiceStream
ChoiceStream delivers top-of-plan results for online, video, and mobile advertisers. Unique real-time polling finds the ideal audience. Real-time bidding and real-time machine learning optimize the buy, and real-time creative engages the audience with dynamic and relevant ads. ChoiceStream’s concierge level services include creative development, campaign management, complete transparency, and custom insights. Companies like AT&T, Zappos, Dunkin’ Donuts, and AAA use ChoiceStream to drive results. For more information on ChoiceStream, please visit www.ChoiceStream.com.
