According to Nielsen, 4.1 million adults in the Philadelphia area have access to the internet. Eighty-three percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Philadelphia area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $3.1 billion in 2021 on digital adverting, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

This mammoth pool of online advertising dollars targeted at Philadelphia consumers is being spent on a variety of digital resources including search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display ads, video ads, audio ads, email, and social media. Each of these tools can precisely target consumers who are currently in the market to buy whatever it is a business is selling.

Most forms of online advertising are designed to compel Philadelphia consumers to click on a digital ad that will transport them to the website of a company that sells whatever it is consumers are in the market to buy.  Is investing only in digital advertising enough to drive sales for a local business? 

Many marketing experts believe that online advertising needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy to be successful.

Last year, $3.1 billion in marketing was spent online to reach Philadelphia area consumers, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

There is a correlation between the massive amount of money being spent to reach Philadelphia consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 50.2% of Philadelphia adults are spending 10-plus hours during an average week online. Furthermore, The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In all, 85% of consumers say they connect at least once daily.

To successfully market and advertise a Philadelphia business on the internet requires a full-scale understanding of precisely what online marketing is.  Spoiler alert, having a website or having a social media site is not enough.

Despite an abundance of media options, Philadelphia radio reaches the most consumers every week. 

According to Nielsen, every week 3.7 million adults tune in to their favorite Philadelphia stations. This is more than watch local TV stations, cable, or streaming video. It is more than browse social media. It is more than listen to streaming audio services or podcasts. It is more than read local newspapers.

Not all listening to Philadelphia radio happens on car radios, table-top radios, or boom boxes. Instead, local consumers also use their smartphones, computers, and tablets as a way to connect to their favorite local stations.

Neilsen finds that 22.6% of all consumers who listen to a Philadelphia radio station over the air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. As a matter of fact, during a typical hour, Nielsen data suggests that 16.4% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

If you're anything like the 3.6 million Delaware Valley consumers who, according to Nielsen, listen to or download a podcast every month, you probably already see the value in podcasting as a relatively new audio medium that entertains, enlightens, motivates, or informs listeners.

But if you're part of the 72% of local adults who are not regular podcast listeners, you're probably wondering why on earth would anyone want to listen to a podcast, let alone create one for their Philadelphia business.

Launching a podcast might seem like a daunting test for small business owners without much technical background or an understanding of how to structure a compelling conversation that will engage prospective customers.

In reality, local small business owners can easily reach new customers with podcasts and complement their traditional advertising in Philadelphia with a longer-form, conversational medium that showcases the company's knowledge in an authoritative manner.

Every week, 2.7 million Delaware Valley adults watch video programs delivered via the internet. This content goes by several interchangeable names, including OTT (Over-The-Top Television), CTV (Connected TV), and Streaming Video. For this article, we will refer to this type of content as Streaming TV.

Unlike traditional TV, cable, and satellite where the viewer needs to be in a fixed location, Philadelphia consumers can access streaming TV anywhere using an internet-connected device. These include SmartTVs, Firesticks, Roku, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, and gaming consoles.

In all, according to Nielsen, 94.2% of Philadelphia households have one or more devices capable of connecting to streaming TV. Although this medium is still new, streaming TV now rivals legacy media in its ability to reach local consumers.

Every week, Philadelphia consumers are spending more-and-more time engaged with streaming TV.

Delaware Valley business owners are expected to spend $2.3 billion advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Philadelphia's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 28% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Philadelphia area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Philadelphia is forecast to account for 21% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

It used to be so simple. When a small business owner wanted to advertise on Philadelphia television, there were only a few options including, KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX. But slowly, the number of options expanded to include cable channels provided by Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and Comcast.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to Delaware Valley consumers. Collectively, this type of content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). For the purpose of this discussion, OTT & CTV will be referred to singularly as streaming video.

Streaming video can be viewed on any device that can connect to the internet. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Programing can also be accessed using a smart-TV, Roku Stick, Amazon Fire Stick, or a game console. In all, according to Nielsen, 94.2% of Philadelphia households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 2.7 million consumers watch streaming video content every week. Combined, these internet channels now reach more adults every week than local newspapers, podcasts, and digital audio services like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius/XM. Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

Surprisingly, streaming video now reaches almost as many adults as local TV and local cable.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 4.1 million adult consumers in the Delaware Valley watch something on television. But, of course, the definition of what it means to watch TV has changed since the time when the number of available viewing options could be counted on the fingers of a single hand.

Today, Philadelphia consumers have a gargantuan number of viewing choices. This includes programs from stations like KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX. Or maybe cable and satellite systems like Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and Comcast. There's also content delivered over the internet from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

No longer are Philadelphia consumers tied to the 21-inch Zenith in their living rooms. Instead, TV can be watched on giant LCDs, smartphones, and tablets from any room in the house, in the backseat of their cars, or practically anywhere else.

The best way to think about TV watching in Philadelphia is in terms of three buckets:

1. Over-the-air...including all broadcast channels
2. Cable...including all premium and non-premium programming
3. Internet...including all streaming services. This is also known as OTT or CTV

Here's how many Philadelphia adult viewers fall into each bucket. Remember, viewers are not limited to a single bucket.

According to Nielsen, 1,224,829 Delaware Valley consumers listened to or downloaded a podcast during the past 30 days. This is 28.9% of the adult population.

A podcast is a downloadable digital audio file available to listeners on an internet-connected device like a smartphone, tablet, or computer. These files are typically part of series focusing on a particular theme such as true crime, professional football, politics, or pop culture.

Philadelphia consumers can listen to their favorite podcasts whenever they choose using apps like Spotify, Pandora, Google, and Stitcher. The most used podcasting app, though, is Apple Podcasts.

Research from PodcastHosing.org indicates that Philadelphia consumers can access more than 2,000,000 podcast series comprising over 48,000,000 unique episodes. According to data compiled by Edison research, the top 10 podcasts during the second quarter of 2021 were:

Delaware Valley business owners are expected to spend $524,032,000 on streaming video advertising in 2021, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks online marketing expenditures across the country. This spending will be 26.0% higher than in 2020.

Streaming video advertising expenditures are accelerating as Philadelphia area consumers continue to abandon shows on local TV stations and cable systems in favor of programming streamed via an internet connection. These online channels include Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Roku Channel, SlingTV, PlutoTV, and dozens more.

This type of streamed video content is known collectively as OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably but do have a subtle difference.

OTT generally means the video is watched on a small device like a computer, tablet, or smartphone.  CTV, on the other hand, typically means the content is viewed on a smart-TV or a regular television using a streaming device like a Roku or Amazon stick.

In Philadelphia, according to Nielsen, OTT/CTV has exceeded the weekly reach of local newspapers and streaming audio services such as Pandora and Spotify. The medium is rapidly approaching the reach of local cable and broadcast TV stations.