Last year, $1.9 billion in marketing was spent online to reach Tampa Bay 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 Tampa Bay consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 47.5% of Tampa Bay 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 Tampa Bay 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.

Nearly 96% of Tampa Bay adults have access to the internet.  Ubiquitous technology such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs allow West Florida consumers to go online whenever they choose, which, for some adults, is always.

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 total, 85% of consumers say they connect at least one time every day.

So, how are Tampa Bay consumers spending all this time connected to the internet?

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

According to Nielsen, 2.5 million adults in the Tampa Bay area have access to the internet, equivalent to 95.7% of the population. On average, local consumers are spending 9.68 hours per week online.

Tampa Bay millennials, the first generation that grew up in a digital world, spend considerably more time online. Nielsen reports that, on average, Tampa Bay's 25-39-year-old consumers are clocking 12.7 hours connected to the internet.

So, how are Tampa Bay 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 Tampa Bay consumers each month.

Tampa consumers are expected to spend upward of $43.9-billion at retail in 2021. This would be, at minimum, a 6.5% jump over 2020. The forecast is based on newly released estimates by the National Retail Federation.

“Despite the continuing health and economic challenges COVID-19 presents, we are very optimistic that healthy consumer fundamentals, pent-up demand and widespread distribution of the vaccine will generate increased economic growth, retail sales and consumer spending,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

“From the outset of the pandemic, retailers have gone above and beyond even the most conservative safety guidelines to protect and serve their associates and consumers alike."

To capture the largest possible share of spending growth, local retailers will need to advertise. By the most crucial marketing metrics, the best best way to reach consumers is by advertising on Tampa radio.

Tampa area business owners are expected to invest $1.2-billion 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, 95.2% of adult consumers in the Tampa area have access to the internet. They connect, primarily, with desktop and laptop computers; smartphones; or tablets.

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

Since 1922, advertising on Tampa radio has helped small business owners survive and thrive during times of peril. This includes world wars, natural disasters, depressions, and recessions.

Even during a pandemic, by almost every key marketing metric, radio advertising remains the best way for a Tampa Bay business to market its goods and services.

To prove the point, here are five statistics that vividly demonstrate the value of advertising on Tampa radio.

Local radio came to Tampa Bay on May 31, 1922, when WDAE signed-on. The station was owned by three-time Tampa mayor and publisher of the Tampa Daily Times newspaper, D.B. McKay.

The station broadcast from the sixth floor of the Citrus Exchange Building at the corner of Zack and Tampa Street. The building would later become the downton location of the Maas Brothers department store.

Early programming on WDAE consisted of phonograph music as well as baseball scores. The station had also been licensed by The U.S. Department of Agriculture to broadcast weather reports and bulletins.

In remarks celebrating WDAE's inaugural broadcast, Tampa Mayor Charles H. Brown said radio was "the wonder of the age that the human voice can be sent throughout the country."

For almost 100 years, small business owners have depended on local radio stations to successfully market their goods and services through depressions, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. Even now, during a pandemic, advertising on Tampa radio remains a dependable way to make cash registers ring.

Here are five facts every Tampa Bay small business owner needs to know about local radio in 2020.

Over 95% of Tampa Bay adults have access to the internet, according to Nielsen. Almost 65% of these consumers spend more than five hours a week connected.

Nielsen reports that Tampa Bay consumers go online to stay connected to friends and family; research products and services; learn the latest news, and obtain directions to where they are going and know what the weather will be when they get there.  

Here are some of the many reasons why Tampa Bay internet users go online each month

• Social Media: 75%
• Online Banking: 53%
• Weather: 51%
• Maps/Directions: 46%
• Product Reviews: 39%
• Current Events: 31%
• Restaurant Reviews: 30%
• Sports Scores/News: 26%
• Job Search: 16%
• Real Estate: 12%

And, of course, there is shopping.  Over the past three months, according to Nielsen, 76.7% of Tampa Bay consumers shopped online for every imaginable product and service including, cars, golf clubs, office supplies, wedding rings, mattresses, tires, medicine, shoes, socks, and eyeglasses.

To reach local consumers while they are online, Tampa area businesses will spend $706 million for digital advertising in 2020, according to Borrell Associates.  Here is how the money is being spent:

Tampa Bay shoppers are expected to spend a record $8.1 billion online in 2020, based on the most recent projections from eMarketer. This would represent year-over-year growth of 32.4%.

During the same period, according to eMarketer, receipts at brick-and-mortar stores have contracted by 3.2%.  Overall, excluding gas and auto sales, e-commerce will account for 20.6% of all retail sales this year.

The Coronavirus pandemic is credited with this seismic shift in shopping behavior as consumers continue to avoid stores and opt for online shopping.

“We’ve seen e-commerce accelerate in ways that didn’t seem possible last spring, given the extent of the economic crisis,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “While much of the shift has been led by essential categories like grocery, there has been surprising strength in discretionary categories like consumer electronics and home furnishings that benefited from pandemic-driven lifestyle needs.”

Even before the onset of the pandemic, 76.7% of Tampa area consumers had bought goods online over the prior six months, according to Nielsen research. Purchases included clothing, health & beauty products, travel reservations, books, furniture, and groceries.