According to Nielsen, 952,337 adults in Southwest Florida have access to the internet. Eighty-one percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Fort Myers area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $711 million 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 SWFL 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 Fort Myers 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, $711 million in marketing was spent online to reach SWFL 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 Fort Myers area consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 46.8% of Fort Myers 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 Fort Myers area 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, Fort Myers radio reaches the most consumers every week in Southwest Florida

According to Nielsen, every week 862,392 adults tune in to their favorite Fort Myers 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 Fort Myers 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 27.9% of all consumers who listen to a Fort Myers 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 11.2% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

It used to be so simple. When a small business owner wanted to advertise on Fort Myers area television, there were only a few options including, WINK, WBBH, WZVN, WGCU, and WFTX. But slowly, the number of options expanded to include cable channels provided by Xfinity, DISH, and DirecTV.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to Southwest Florida 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, 95.7% of Fort Myers-Naples area households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 610,634 SWFL 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 SWFL adults as local TV and local cable.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 943,000 adult consumers in Southwest Florida 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, SWFL consumers have a gargantuan number of viewing choices. This includes programs from stations like WINK, WBBH, WZVN, WGCU, and WFTX. Or maybe cable and satellite systems like Xfinity, DISH, and DirecTV. There's also content delivered over the internet from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

No longer are Fort Myers-Naples 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 Fort Myers 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 Fort Myers adult viewers fall into each bucket. Remember, viewers are not limited to a single bucket.

Southwest Florida business owners are expected to spend $86,147,000 on streaming video advertising in 2021, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks online marketing expenditures across the country. This spending will be 26.3% higher than in 2020.

Streaming video advertising expenditures are accelerating as Fort Myers 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 the Fort Myers-Naples area, 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.

Before Fort Myers radio station WFTM signed on in 1940,  local listeners were dependent on broadcasts from distant cities such as Miami and Tampa. These early stations required tall antennas and miles of buried copper cable to transmit their signals.  Most radio receivers at the time were mostly handmade and involved a piece of crystalline mineral and a wire coil.

Over many decades in Fort Myers, both the broadcasting and receiving equipment improved. In the mid-1920s this meant store-bought radios. In the 1930s this meant car radios. In the 1960s this meant transistor radios. In the 1970s this meant boom boxes. And, in the 1980s this meant Walkmen. But, despite these improvements, the fundamental technology of big towers sending a signal through the air to a radio receiver remained the same.

In 1994, there was a new way for Southwest Florida consumers to listen to the radio. That was the year local stations across the country began streaming their signals over the internet and listeners could use their computers (later their smartphones and smart speakers) as receiving devices. No big antennas, no wires, and no actual radio needed.

In 2021, according to Nielsen, Fort Myers radio reaches more local consumers than any other advertising media option.

Neilsen finds, too, that 31% of all consumers who listen to a Fort Myers radio station over-the-air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. 

According to Nielsen, 937,000 adults in the Southwest Florida area have access to the internet, equivalent to 97.1% of the population. On average, local consumers are spending 10.68 hours per week online.

SWFL millennials, the first generation that grew up in a digital world, spend considerably more time online. Nielsen reports that, on average, SWFL's 25-39-year-old consumers are clocking 13.35 hours connected to the internet.

So, how are SWFL consumers spending their time online?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for SWFL consumers each month.

Southwest Florida business owners are expected to invest $265-million during 2021 to advertise to consumers connected to the internet. This forecast was produced by Borrell Associates, a company that tracks business advertising expenditures across the country.

These online marketing dollars will be spent on banner advertising, search engine marketing, email, as well as audio and video advertising. This is all to capture the attention of shoppers and buyers as they go about their connected days.

According to Nielsen, 96.3% of adult consumers in the Fort Myers-Naples area have access to the internet. They connect, primarily, with desktop and laptop computers; smartphones; or tablets.

Ninety-six percent of SWFL adults spend at least one hour per week online, with most spending at least 10 hours connected.

Small business owners have been advertising on Fort Myers radio since the first station, WFTM, went on the air in 1940.  By almost every metric, the medium remains the best way to successfully market goods and services to local consumers.

Before Southwest Florida small businesses finalize their marketing plans for this year, here are five facts they should know about radio advertising.