Rise of the iPad

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Rise of the iPad

I’m in love with my iPad2. We’ve only been together for a week, but already, I know this is special. And I’m not alone

I’m in love with my iPad2.  We’ve only been together for a week, but already, I know this is special. And I’m not alone.

A study published in Monday’s Wall Street Journal states that 7.8 million Americans now own an iPad.  56.1% of them are males; not exactly the macho-techno skew one might have expected.

Breaking down ownership by age yields a true bell curve, swelling to a high point with Adults 25-34 who account for 27.0% of all owners.  But iPads aren’t just a Generation X or Y thing.  22.8% of owners are ages 13-24.  And another 13.5% are 55 or older. The broad-based appeal of the iPad makes this device a game changer.

Perhaps the audience breakdown that’s most compelling is the breakdown by household income.  49.4% of iPad owners come from households with a $100,000+ income.  Another 16.4% come from the $75K-99,999 bracket.  Apparently, the iPad’s early adapters are indexing off the charts as high income earners.

Internet radio service Pandora promotes that its App is the most downloaded on the iPad, creating an interesting marketing opportunity for advertisers.  Pandora advertisers can pay a reasonable premium to advertise exclusively to persons listening via their iPads, delivering a high index of high income individuals. Couple that opportunity with the ability to target listenership by county and you have an audio marketing tool that goes far above and beyond what terrestrial radio can offer on the local level.

Another interesting insight from the WSJ report compared which cell phones are used by iPad owners. One might deduce that the Number One choice would be the iPhone.  Surprise! It’s the Blackberry, the “sensible” smart phone whose email function is still the darling of serious businesspeople. Blackberry users outscore iPhone users with a 28.9% to 27.3% ownership share of iPads. This would reinforce the notion that iPads are being used by serious, successful businesspeople for both work and play.

Me?  I’m living proof.  My first day with the iPad was spent frantically converting four PowerPoint presentations into the iPad’s Keynote application, replacing and resizing fonts and mastering its swipe-screen presentation.  I then downloaded Scrabble, Angry Birds and the first season of Mad Men to keep me company on an upcoming flight.

Best of all, the radio geek in me is thrilled to have iPad apps for Pandora, SiriusXM, TuneIn Radio, Sticher and Wolfgang’s Vault, giving me infinite access to all the music and audio broadcasts I could ever desire.

Our agency already has a number of clients happily advertising on many of those platforms. If your advertising agency hasn’t told you how you can use Sound Advertising to reach an affluent audience through the iPad, give me a call. I’ll gladly pop out my ear buds and share the exciting options with you.

Mark Lipsky is the President and CEO of The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com