New Entrant Spotify Takes Top Spot From Specific for First Time Since 2008 in IPA Online Media Owner Survey

LONDON, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --



Spotify has taken the lead in the latest IPA Online Media Owner Survey, with 83.5% of respondents agreeing/agreeing strongly that "My overall experience of dealing with this supplier is a good one." This is the first time in over three years that a new leader has emerged as Specific Media has been top since autumn 2008.  This is also the first time a new entrant to the survey has leapt straight to the top.

Specific Media has slipped to fourth place as overall service levels improve and become more competitive, with seven media owners achieving scores in excess of 70% for this category, compared to five in the autumn 2011 survey.  In second place is Tribal Fusion, followed by AOL, Specific, Adjug, Glam Media and the Telegraph.  Adjug and Glam Media also being new entrants to the survey.

Other key findings:

- Tribal Fusion is the overall winner among ad networks, exchanges and sales houses, Spotify leads the online pure play sector with AOL in second place, and Telegraph.co.uk have taken over leadership from IPC  in the cross-over media sector

- Sky Digital Media is the most improved media owner since the autumn survey (+10.6 percentage points), and a further five media owners have improved their score in the best overall category by 5 percentage points or more.  

- At the other extreme IPC Media have seen their score decline by 11.2 percentage points since the autumn survey.

- Year-on-year Microsoft is the most improved, up 20.7 percentage points from their low point of 36% in the spring 2011 survey. Tribal Fusion has improved by 17.9 percentage points and AOL by 15.9.

- In addition to leading the overall survey attribute, Spotify leads in three other areas (quality of response to brief, understanding of own products, and delivery of innovative creative solutions).

- AOL leads in four areas (dispute resolution, ease of contact, client/media agency partnership and mid campaign support). Tribal Fusion leads in two areas (understanding of client objectives and post campaign support). Glam Media leads in one (communication of contact with client), as do Facebook (proactivity) and Specific Media (regular contact).

- Both IPC and The Guardian have seen declines of 10 percentage points or more in four survey areas, Channel4.com and Bauer in three areas and Yahoo! in two.

- In relation to the exploitation of cross-over media opportunities Channel4.com have seen their score decline by 18 percentage points year-on-year to below 30%

The 2012 Media Owner Awards scheme officially launches today - the MOAs - there will be 17 awards in total. Eight awards will be based on the findings from the current Survey (based on a combination of spring, autumn and year-on-year results), and a further nine awards will be submission-based.  The winners will receive their trophies in November in an awards ceremony and dinner. Full entry criteria is now available on http://www.ipamoa.co.uk and deadline for entry is 8^th June.

Says Nigel Gwilliam, Head of Digital, IPA, "The Spring 2012 survey is ringing in the changes with a new leader, a more competitive leading set and a number of resurgent online media owners. Spotify will rightly get the headlines but special mention should also go to other newcomers Adjug and Glam Media who are both in the top seven overall. It's also great to see that Tribal Fusion and the Telegraph are both leading their fields; AOL are the most consistently improved performer; and that Microsoft and Sky have both turned around their performances."

Says Pete Robins, IPA Digital Media Group Chairman and Managing Partner Agenda 21, "These are a very strong set of survey results from an increasingly competitive field. Full marks to Spotify for topping the survey on their first appearance, but what I am probably most pleased about is the general improvement in satisfaction levels. It can only be a good thing for agencies that the number of media owners achieving +70% scores for a good overall experience has risen from five to seven since the last survey in Autumn, 2011."

The Survey is designed to highlight the levels of service media owners provide and outline where improvements can be made, with the aim of helping the growth of digital advertising, providing a voice for the industry and raising the digital standard in general.  

Research was carried out in February 2012, with digital planners, strategists and buyers in media agencies as well as digital specialists being invited to take part. 259 survey responses were received.   Best overall service attributes are based on research carried out in February 2012, most improved is based on period-on-period change (comparing to the previous autumn 2011 survey). 

Note to editors:

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is the trade body and professional institute for UK advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. It was established in 1917 as a servicing body and to negotiate on behalf of its members with media bodies, government departments and unions. Its 274 corporate members handle over 80% of the UK's advertising agency business which has an estimated value (excluding press and TV production) of £17.7 billion.