In the mobile search world, all signs point towards an amplified focus in local mobile for the foreseeable future. Just ask local media research and consulting firm BIA Kelsey. The authority on all things local media released their latest forecasts showcasing anticipated growth for local mobile search advertising.
Nearly half (47.3%) of brands said they plan to invest more in local marketing for 2013 than they did in 2012, and much of that investment will go into mobile local marketing. Half of Americans have mobile connections to the Web through either a smartphone or tablet, according to Pew Research. Nielsen released its new Cross Platform Report yesterday, which reveals that simultaneous usage continues to grow.
Was 2012 the “Year of Mobile” as many players in the space have preached, promised and prayed it would be? While I’m not thrilled to say it, it probably wasn’t. Mobile advertising remains nestled in a space of spending limbo in the grand scheme of noted brands’ advertising budget.
BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. mobile local advertising revenues to grow from $664 million in 2011 to $5.8 billion in 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 54.2%. U.S. retailers will earn $54.47 billion online during November and December this year, up 16.8% over online holiday season sales in 2011. Today, cross-channel marketing is imperative.
According to a new study, nearly 86% of publishers will offer mobile display ad inventory within the next three months. More than a third of tablet users in the U.S. read newspapers on their devices each month, and even more check out magazines, according to comScore. According to comScore, 181 million U.S. Internet users (85% of the U.S. internet audience) watched more than 39 billion online content videos in September, while video ad views totaled 9.4 billion.
In the wake of the iPhone 5 maps blunder, alternative mapping options have been all the craze; to the point that Apple CEO Tim Cook even suggested going elsewhere in the meantime.
One such suggestion is Waze, an Israel-based traffic and navigation app. Since Cook’s suggestion to use Waze, the app is adding 100,000 users daily. Waze isn’t taking this lightly, they are capitalizing on the opportunity.
When dealing with the digital analytics space, all marketers are essentially looking for the same thing: To quantify the effectiveness of their strategic media campaigns.
Advertisers naturally maintain this same expectation in the mobile realm. However, breaking into a new media space raises a critical question: What types of user engagement will effectively drive valuable user interaction on a mobile device?
What makes an ad effective? Nielsen lists the top five characteristics of ads that exhibit strong brand linkage among consumers, including brand cues early and often (visual and verbal), leveraging the brand icon, integrating the brand in a storyline, establishing ownable creative concepts, and using messaging as a brand cue.
Phones have become the new lighters at concerts. Thousands of small illuminated screens dotted the arena. And while I, along with the marketing team, followed suit with our own phones, I couldn’t help but see thousands of small illuminated advertising opportunities. I laughed and mentioned that this was a blog post waiting to be written.
