New AudienceScience Market Intelligence Report on the Purchasing Trends of the Top Fifteen Audience Segments of 2010

New York–February 28, 2011–AudienceScience^®, a global online advertising technology company delivering digital marketing success, announced today from the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting the findings of the most recent Market Intelligence Report. Among the additional report findings outlined below, seasonality solidly emerged as one of the most prevalent driving factors influencing marketers’ audience purchase decisions as a clear indicator of what consumers are most likely to purchase.

For this study, AudienceScience used its top fifteen most purchased audience segments for January 2010 through December 2010. During the same period, comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, was commissioned to analyze the actual demographics and site visitation patterns of these segments in order to develop market insights.

Most tellingly, seasonality emerged as a key indicator of how marketers make their audience buying decisions, as it remains the primary predictor of how consumers will be shopping. Based on month, the report found marketers are targeting parents and homeowners in September as the summer comes to an end and school is starting up again, and health and wellness skyrocket in January as New Year’s resolutions most commonly focus on this category, which includes diet and fitness.

Additional key findings of the report include:

• Marketers are using audience segmentation to create scale of basic demographic targets such as women, men, and adults aged 25-54.
• Automotive and cell phone advertisers that purchase audience segments such as Auto Shoppers, Cell Phone Enthusiasts, and Gadget Lovers are some of the heaviest users of audience targeting throughout the year. They find audience targeting to be an effective technique for reaching in-market consumers using the Internet to research the purchase.
• Audience targeting is a combination of precision (the desire to reach very specific consumers in- market for specific product types) as well as broad demographic aggregation that helps marketers achieve scalable online buys.
• Although AudienceScience offers over 300 audience segments (you can visit www.AudienceTargeting.com for a complete list), custom segments continually top the list as marketers leverage AudienceScience’s inimitable ability to deliver custom segments to meet the diverse needs of advertisers.
• Looking beneath the basic behaviors commonly used to create audience segments is highly advantageous. This leads marketers to new insights about emerging demographic groups, unique likely purchasers and new avenues to locate ideal demographic groups.

The report also identifies unique, two-dimensional behaviors of consumers. Specifically, as audience segments are more closely examined, additional interests are also revealed, including a strong correlation between finance audiences, real estate sites and luxury goods; shopping audiences, online recipe seekers and “do it yourself” sites; and technology audiences and travel audiences are both likely to frequent consumer news sites.

“The report findings are indicative of what we’ve seen in the industry over the past year,” said AudienceScience VP Marketing Marla Schimke. “As the online environment continues to grow, it would be a mistake for marketers to view audience targets as one-dimensional exhibitors of specific behaviors. Instead, we must examine behaviors to identify opportunities for expanding our understanding of these audiences to drive enhanced engagement and AudienceScience has the technology and expertise to understand the infinite targeting capabilities available online. We look forward to learning more about these audiences in the future and continuing to drive real results for marketers engaging these emerging demographics.”

To receive a free copy of the AudienceScience whitepaper, please visit www.AudienceScience.com.