Monthly Archives: August 2010

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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China, India leads global surge in mobile Web usage

Mobile Internet penetration continues to gain foothold as an increasing number of users around the world take to its convenience, despite concerns over privacy and data security, according to a new report by KPMG. The number of survey respondents adopting mobile banking transactions worldwide more than doubled to 46 percent, compared to the previous study conducted 18 months ago in late-2008. Consumers who turned to the Internet to buy goods and services also surged from 10 to 28 percent.

Anger greets Google-Verizon proposal for routing Web traffic

Google on Monday reversed its long-held support for pure “net neutrality” and joined Verizon in calling for new laws that would enable Internet providers to favor some Web services over others. That touched off vehement protests from consumer groups that support network neutrality, the principal of ensuring all people have equal access to all websites. If the Google-Verizon proposal goes through, it would “kill Internet freedom,” says Justin Ruben, director of the advocacy group MoveOn.org.

Singapore-based marketing expert sees rapid growth in RP mobile ads

MANILA, Philippines – A Singapore-based marketing expert said he expects rapid growth in mobile advertising in the Philippines in the next five years as more companies place their advertisements through the emerging medium. Rohit Dadwal, managing director of the Mobile Marketing Association in Asia Pacific, also said the Philippines is among the trend setting countries in terms of implementing an effective approach to improve consumer privacy in the mobile advertising domain. “(Mobile advertising) is 60 percent effective than the traditional media,” Dadwal told The STAR. Asked if the booming industry will affect the advertising revenues of the traditional media such as newspapers, Dadwal said: “Theoretically they will not suffer…even The Philippine STAR, which has its print edition, will get into the mobile industry.”

Mobile commerce market worth $2.5B and growing

The mobile commerce market is worth $2.5 billion today, and will grow four times in the next couple of years, according to a panelist at the eTail 2010 Social media & Mobile Commerce Summit. Retailers should focus on developing mobile commerce services to reach the growing number of smartphone users, because the market for mobile sales will increase dramatically in the next few years, according to panelists.

Email Dominates Mobile Web Time

Email, portals stay ahead of social networking—at least on mobile devices. Social networking has become such a staple of online activity in the US that, according to Nielsen, internet users spent more time on social networking sites and blogs than doing any other activity in June 2010. Games, which came in second, took up less than half as much time. On the mobile internet, however, more traditional activities still reign. Email dominated the mobile picture even more strongly than social networking did the desktop: If all time spent on the mobile web was condensed into a single hour, US internet users would have spent 25 minutes in June checking email. Portals would have received another 7 minutes, with social networks not far behind.

Internet advertising industry cracks $2 billion mark

New figures showing the Australian internet advertising industry has cracked the $2 billion barrier is yet another sign small businesses must pay more attention to online marketing, one industry expert believes. The latest Interactive Advertising Bureau Online Expenditure Report, compiled in tandem with PricewaterhouseCoopers, reveals total online ad expenditure came to $2.04 billion for the year ending June 30, 2010. The figures also show spending came to $552.5 million in the June quarter of this year, representing a 22% year-on-year increase from the same period in 2009. The study shows general display advertising grew by 11%, followed by classifieds at 9% and search and directories at 16%.

Gartner: Worldwide Mobile Device Sales Grew 13.8% in Q2

Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totaled 325.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 13.8% increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner. Smartphone sales to end users accounted for 19% of worldwide mobile device sales – or  61.6 million units -  a 50.5% increase from the same period in 2009. Average Selling Price Drop. Although the mobile communication devices market showed double-digit growth this quarter, the study also noted that average selling prices were lower than expected and margins fell. The reasons for this, it concluded, included a stronger dollar, a depreciating euro, and intense competition. Biggest Share. Nokia, Samsung, RIM and Apple held the greatest market share, Gartner found.  For Q2, Nokia’s mobile device sales to end users reached 111.5 million units and a share of 34.2%.

Local Business Search via Mobile Up 14%

Consumers looking for local business information are increasingly turning to their mobile devices: The number of people who accessed Internet business directories on a mobile phone reached 17.3 million in March 2010, up 14% from the same period a year earlier, according to a study by the Yellow Pages Association (YPA).

Online ad spend to exceed P1 billion in 2010

Online advertisement spending is expected to exceed P1 billion in 2010 from 2009′s P500 million. According to Jose Noledo, President of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP), the lowering costs of Internet connectivity devices and the steady increase in Web users are major factors in the anticipated 100% ad sales increase. In the past, advertisement sales for online media had always taken the smallest pie compared to traditional media options like television and radio. “The biggest driver of connectivity is price in an emerging market like the Philippines. Every year, the cost of connectivity and the devices to connect to the Internet have gone down,” Noledo told host TJ Manotoc on ANC’s “The Rundown.

Mobile Marketing Expected to Surpass Internet Marketing

At the eTail 2010 social media and mobile commerce summit, it was estimated by industry insiders that the mobile commerce market is currently worth approximately $2.5 billion and that number is expected to double each year for the next several years. According to Scott, president of Weblink Marketing, all of the current indicators point to an explosion in the Mobile Marketing world. As Scott said, “When two of the most successful companies in the world are both vying for the same mobile advertising network, you better take notice”

Indian mobile handset sales to reach 138.6 million in 2010, says Gartner

Mobile device sales in India are forecasted to reach 138.6 million in 2010, an increase of 18.5% over 2009 sales of 117 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. The mobile handset market is expected to show steady growth through 2014 when end-user sales are expected to surpass 206 million units. The Indian cellular market is dynamic with new carriers and many new local mobile device manufacturers entering the already crowded mobile device market.

Mobile data traffic almost triples year on year

Global mobile data traffic almost tripled in the past year, growing ten times faster than voice traffic, according to statistics released by Swedish vendor Ericsson on Thursday. The firm said that, based on measurements it has made of real network traffic around the world, global mobile data traffic stands at 225,000 terabytes per month as of the second quarter of 2010. Earlier this year the firm reported that total data traffic exceeded total voice traffic in volume for the first time in December 2009.

Analytics and Accountability: No more gap between measurement and marketing effectiveness

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In every marketing program, there lies the challenge among marketers – and that is to measure on marketing results. In fact, more marketers, nowadays, are on board as far as data statistics and analytics are concerned. Practically, the stuff is most likely needed especially when marketing executives are asked to substantiate their spending, or when possible budget increase occurs.

118141The latest survey of senior US marketing executives (by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners) as published by eMarketer found that seven of ten executives used analytics to measure marketing effectiveness.  Marketers with large budgets were significantly more likely to do so than those with spending of less than $1 million, but many in that group planned to adopt analytics in the future. Among those with budgets over $1 million, while 85% said they used analytics, 71% said they had a formalized way of doing so.

In terms of marketing measurement efforts, the study revealed more marketers using the internal data (86%), some rely on internal teams (74%), and some stick on internally developed tools (52%). In comparison, the study found 58% using the third-party data and only 35% employed outside professional services.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Baidu’s Answer to Android And The Mobile Market

Baidu, the ten-year-old leading Chinese search engine firm, is developing a new mobile operating system, like Android or Windows, the Chinese media reports. What does this mean for the smart phone and mobile search/apps commerce market in the People’s Republic of China? Earlier this year, Motorola’s announcement that its Android smart phones for China Unicom will embed Baidu as its mobile search engine was lost in media reporting regarding Google’s issues in China.

AdMob CEO: Apple not enforcing ad restrictions

Despite putting a scare into AdMob and its customers with its new policies on third-party ad networks, Apple has not yet enforced those policies, AdMob’s CEO confirmed Tuesday. Omar Hamoui, founder and CEO of Google’s AdMob division, said it has been business as usual for AdMob’s ad network customers seeking to place ads in iPhone applications ever since Apple inserted language into its iPhone Developer Agreement in June that appeared to kneecap adnetworks owned by anyone competing with Apple in mobile computing, such as AdMob parent Google. “They haven’t been enforcing (the new regulations) yet. We’re very appreciative of that,” he said at the MobileBeat 2010 conference here.

Mobile Phone Demand Expands 14.5% as Market Fragments; Top 5 Pressured by Challengers, Says IDC

The worldwide mobile phone market continued to show signs of improvement during the second quarter of 2010 (2Q10), driven primarily by smartphone vendors and companies outside the top five leaders worldwide. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, mobile phone vendors shipped a total of 317.5 million units during 2Q10, up 14.5% from the 277.2 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09).

The opportunity to help advertisers in the digital realm remains

Greg Swanson, president of Itz Publishing and co-chairman of Inland’s online committee, believes the opportunity for newspapers to grab a larger share of the dollars spent on online advertising remains huge, provided papers offer creative solutions to advertisers.  “We’re basically chasing 25 percent of the [total] digital dollars available, and we’re missing 75 percent,” Swanson said during a recent Inland Webinar.

Google cuts ties with Chinese advertisers

Google Inc has cut commercial ties with two of its Chinese advertising agents, raising concerns that the internet giant’s recent standoff with the government may scare away more domestic advertisers. The search engine ended partnerships Monday with the Universal Internet Media and the Xi’an Weihua Network, major advertising agents for Google in east and northwest China, Marsha Wang, spokesperson for Google China, was quoted as saying by China Daily Tuesday. The two are among 25 of Google’s authorised advertising agents in the country. ”

Hey marketers, consumers are moving to mobile, are you?

If you’ve been toying with the idea of moving some of your local search budget to mobile then perhaps the findings of recent research by comScore, for the Yellow Pages Association, will help make up your mind. Over 17.3 million mobile subscribers accessed business directories from their devices during March of this year, found comScore. That figure represents 14% YoY growth. Impressed? There’s more. The number of people accessing business directories at least once a week from their mobile devices also rose – up 16% YoY.

S’pore youths most wired in Asia

SINGAPOREAN youths are the most wired lot in Asia, according to survey results released on Monday, and – perhaps in keeping with their love of material goods – they are most receptive to mobile advertising. In a regional survey of 11 countries by market research firm Synovate.

Portals, Telecom Lead Mobile Advertising

Portals/directories and telecom were the top two mobile advertising verticals in Q2 2010, according to the latest S.M.A.R.T. Report from Millennial Media. Portals Top Vertical for 3rd Straight Quarter. Q2 2010 marked the third straight quarter portals/directories has been the top mobile advertising vertical as measured in terms of spending by Millennial Media. Telecommunications jumped from the number three spot in Q1 2010 to number two in Q2, swapping places with previous number two entertainment.

Mobile Video to Double Reach by 2013

$1.34 billion in revenues predicted by 2014. The population of mobile video viewers in the US will grow nearly 30% in 2010 to reach 23.9 million, according to eMarketer’s forecasts. The still represents a reach of only 7.7% of the total population and less than 10% of mobile phone users, but those numbers are set to double by 2013 and increase still further in 2014.

Are Mobile Marketers Missing Most of Their Hispanic Audience?

Low uptake among both native- and foreign-born Hispanics. At first glance, Hispanics appear highly engaged with mobile activities. A November 2009 Federal Communications Commission study found both Hispanic and black adults to be more active in a wide variety of mobile activities than their white counterparts. A May 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey similarly found English-speaking Hispanic mobile phone owners more active in every content area studied than white or black mobile users.

S. Korean mobile carriers fail to follow marketing fee guideline

South Korea’s telecom companies failed to abide by government guidelines to cap mobile marketing fees to less than 22 percent of wireless revenues in the first half of the year, officials said Monday. According to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s telecommunications regulator, major telecom companies and mobile carriers spent a combined 3.12 trillion won (US$2.66 billion) on marketing between January and June, or 26.3 percent of the 11.85 trillion won in combined sales from their wireless businesses. …

Mobile internet penetration to double by 2015

According to a new report by ABI Research, the number of web-enabled mobile phones will double to make up 60% of the market, or 3.8 billion phones, by 2015. The growth of mobile web browsers is following two trends, say ABI. Smart phones carry a fully-enabled web browser, while cheaper “enhanced” or “feature” phones use a proxy-based browser such as Opera Mini, which downloads highly compressed versions of web pages and as such requires far less memory and processing capacity.

 

Mobile marketing seen incredible for cost-effective cross-platform social media campaigns

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mobile market3Mobile marketing is revealed to become incredibly effective in the business marketplace for enhanced cost-effective, cross-platform social media campaigns, according to a study from LuxuryReach Inc. The study used surveys and polls in determining the core business groups outside of large brands, of which are also functioning as early as adaptors of mobile marketing technologies.  

Results found a large number of “big brands” and national corporations in the US using a diverse span of wireless marketing services such as: in-app advertising, mobile app creation, click to call campaigns, and geo-targeted messaging.

According to the LuxuryReach marketing firm, the interactive mobile media has become a way to reaching people at anytime, and of elsewhere, and that the platform permits them to engage in specific actions and behaviors while on the go. The mobile also enables the retail sector to customize marketing campaigns which instantly drive into purchasing behaviors. The mobile also provides an avenue for small brands to cross-market wireless campaigns with free social media endeavors resulting to low cost, high ROI achievements that any company can utilize. Read more