TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Why mobile ads in emerging markets are the future

There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers around the world, meaning 77% of the world’s population uses a phone. The majority of those users — 3.8 billion or 73% of the group — live in emerging economies. Yet mobile advertising dollars spent around the world do not begin to compete with traditional platforms or Internet ads. As the Internet spreads throughout the developing world, it’s arriving on phones before traditional computers. Some 70% of Internet users in Egypt, 59% in India, 57% in South Africa, 50% in Ghana and 44% in Indonesia get online via mobile phones alone. This Jana infographic poses a question for advertisers — how will relevant content be delivered via mobile device?

“Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile ad market”

There’s no denying the fact that mobile advertising will flourish in 2012 and the coming years, particularly in the APAC region. Asia is already the largest mobile ad region in terms of mobile advertising spend. In fact, industry analysts predict that Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile advertising market by 2015. Smartphone penetration in Asia is expected to surpass feature phones in 2012. With this trend, there will be more emphasis on efficient buying methods to fill available mobile advertising inventory. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the web as smartphone proliferation reaches every corner of the world. Not only are people connected, but their attention is increasingly tied to their mobile screen.

Local To Account for Two-Thirds of Mobile Ad Spend in 2016

Locally targeted ads are forecast to account for 65% share of total US mobile ad revenues in 2016,according to details from an April 2012 BIA/Kelsey Group blog post. Specifically, local will account for $5 billion of the projected $7.7 billion in mobile ad revenues. This represents a dramatic increase from the estimated $0.8 billion in locally-targeted mobile ad revenues in 2011, which equaled 45% share of the $1.7 billion total. This year, mobile ad revenues are predicted to be $2.7 billion, about evenly split

ABI Research… ‘Mazing Mobile Revenues Predicted For Asia (Analysis | Reports)

That’s up from less than 23 percent in 2011. In India, mobile Internet will represent 19 percent of this year’s service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region’s more advanced markets like Japan (40 percent) and Hong Kong (44 percent). ABI Research Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen explains, “It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up.

Smartphones Continue to Gain Share as US Mobile Usage Plateaus

The number of US mobile phone users will increase at a compound annual rate of just 1.8% between 2010 and 2016, eMarketer estimates, moving from nearly 75% penetration to 79% by the end of the forecast period. The number of total mobile connections in the US, including subscriptions to mobile phones as well as nonvoice devices such as wireless modem cards, netbooks, mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, ereaders, tablets and telematics systems, jumped in 2011 by 11.6%.

Mobile Internet Will Account for 25% of Service Revenues in China and 19% in India, Says ABI Research

Mobile Internet will account for 25% of China’s mobile revenues in 2012, up from less than 23% in 2011. In India, mobile Internet will represent 19% of this year’s service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region’s more advanced markets like Japan (40%) and Hong Kong (44%). Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen explains, “It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up. Moreover, such moves also allow them to gain valuable mindshare among local content providers and app developers.”

Nielsen: Global Consumers’ Trust in “Earned” Advertising Grows in Importance

Ninety-two percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising–an increase of 18 percent since 2007, according to a new study from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising with 70 percent of global consumers surveyed online indicating they trust this platform, an increase of 15 percent in four years.

Agencies Should Reap Big Profits From Move Into Mobile Ads

Why do agencies hesitate to go after this low hanging fruit? Like aspiring swimmers and bicyclists, the simple answer is fear. Not of drowning or falling, but rather of being stymied by technology and saddled with additional expenses. Such fears are unfounded. Mobile technology, while advancing, is actually becoming simpler not only for Smartphone users, but also for agencies that see the value in crafting ad strategies and campaigns geared specifically for this burgeoning market.

Why it is time to mobilize your webcasts

As the smartphone and tablet marketplace continues to grow, so does the need to connect with people on their mobile device. Soon enough, mobile access will be the primary form of using the Web. Remember when landlines were the most prevalent form of communication? Now, most households forgo landlines for mobile phones as their main contact point. Mobile Web access is heading in a similar direction.

Robust mobile ad spend in Spain, local mobile ad revenues up in the US

The mobile ad spending in Spain is projected to break the €100 million ($138.8 million) barrier in 2012 after a climb to 67.4% in 2011 to €63.6 million ($88.3 million); and it maintains the levels of growth till year 2013, according to March 2012 report by MMA Spain and Accenture.

Accordingly, the telecom and internet industry in Spain is tied to mobile and has developed the most sophisticated mobile marketing plans to propelling the said market. The Mobile World Congress, in which Spain is a host country yearly, is another advantageous factor viewed to has contributed marketers’ taking of advantage to mobile’s ubiquity in the region.

Meanwhile, in the US market, a report revealed growth to $5.01 billion in 2016 in the region’s mobile local revenues from $784 million of last year. The report covers the local segment of overall U.S. mobile ad revenues, which include search, display, SMS, and video ads.

Search is reported the fastest and biggest driver of overall growth in mobile advertising in the region. One factor viewed is due to mobile web growth where search is central, as opposed to apps. Another factor seen leading to growth in search, as compared to other formats, is directly related to mobile user’s behavior due to pull based intent-driven nature.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

With an Inherently Local Ad Base, Publishers Can Take the Mobile Lead

With mobile advertising experiencing 10-20% growth year-over-year, focus can be the big challenge for most people involved in the mobile space. With expansion is going to come diversification, as increasingly niche long-tail approaches will add depth to a field that till now has been in its infancy. Mobile advertising is currently largely national or online brands and products—especially with the explosion of ads in games advertising for other games. Local advertising makes up only a small percentage of mobile ad buys, and there’s little sense in this. Yet it’s not going to be local businesses themselves that correct this imbalance—it’s traditional local media publishers who are going to need to lead the local-mobile charge.

Singapore best market for digital media

Even though digital ad spend accounts for only 8 percent of the total advertising expenditure in Singapore, but the growth is steady and the digital ad market is expected to cross the S$100 million mark very soon. According to the Singapore Online Advertising Revenue Report released by The Interactive Advertising Bureau Southeast Asia (IAB SE Asia) Singapore Chapter, the digital ad spend for the period January to June 2011 is S$60.31 million.

Mobile to Account for 25% of Paid-Search Clicks by End of 2012

Mobile is rising faster than anyone anticipated and that’s good news for all kinds of marketers. The recently released “State of Mobile Search Advertising in the US” report by Marin, shows the click growth over the past year. If mobile continues on this path, Marin estimates that mobile will account for 25% of all paid-search clicks on Google by the end of this year. Most of the reason for the growth is the corresponding growth in smart phone ownership. It’s estimated that when you combine Android and iOS, there will be one billion phones in play sometime before the summer of 2013.

Global Marketers Optimistic About Budget Growth

As with previous months, digital (excluding mobile) and mobile channels continued to attract global spend in March, with index scores of 78.9 and 71.2, respectively. The press again experienced the largest reduction in expenditure, with a score of 36.1, although that was an increase from 33.5 last month. Radio also improved slightly from 39.6 to 42.3, though remained well below the threshold for rising expenditure. TV and out-of-home hovered around the neutral mark, at 48.8 and 48, respectively.

Post-PC digital marketing will lead the way for innovation: Digitas exec

NEW YORK – With a new age of educated and savvy consumers, digital marketing needs to be designed with a post-PC mindset, according to a Digitas executive at the 4th annual Mobile Marketing Day 2012 conference. During the “Digitas: The Agency’s View on Mobile Marketing” closing keynote session, an executive from the agency spoke about how mobile is the next breakout channel for digital advertising. The session also gave attendees examples of how some of Digitas’ clients are approaching campaigns from a mobile-first perspective.

Weather Channel: Cross-channel advertising is key to reaching consumers

NEW YORK – With the long string of mobile devices and platforms available to marketers, advertisers need to develop campaigns that combine multiple platforms, per an exec from The Weather Channel at the 4th annual Mobile Marketing Day 2012 conference. “The Weather Channel: How the Media Brand is Crafting Mobile Advertising Campaigns for Advertisers” session gave attendees an overlook of how mobile is playing a large role for the publisher. The session also revealed a couple upcoming mobile efforts from The Weather Channel.

Canada Hits Smartphone User Milestone

Smartphone users to pass 10 million in 2012 as penetration rate moves closer to 50%. Smartphones have irreversibly changed people’s mobile habits and how marketers interact with them. eMarketer expects that smartphones will continue to grow in popularity worldwide, and Canada, which will pass 10 million smartphone users this year, is no exception. In March 2012, eMarketer forecast that Canada will rival the US in smartphone users as a percentage of mobile phone users in 2012, at 46% vs. 47.7%, respectively.

JWT strengthens presence in Pakistan

Realizing the growing importance of digital marketing services in Pakistan, JWT has agreed to acquire stake in Converge Technologies in the country. 90 people strong Converge Technologies, provides a wide spectrum of digital, social and mobile marketing services in the country. With this acquisition in place, JWT will be able to further strengthen its dominant position in Pakistan, where it ranks among the largest creative ad agencies.

Europeans Expect Big Brands to Advertise on Outdoor Formats

Advertising in outdoor formats can help enhance a brand’s stature in the eyes of European consumers, according to [pdf] a CBS Outdoor International survey conducted by Kantar Media and released in March 2012. 74% of the more than 9,000 survey respondents hailing from 6 European countries said they expect big brands to be advertising on outdoor formats. The response was even more convincing among the young and technology-enabled: 18-34-year-olds (78%), smartphone or tablet users (80%), and 18-34-year-old device users (83%) were all more likely than the average to say they expect big brands to advertise on outdoor formats.

Internet Users in Mexico Faster to Adopt Mobile Devices

In December 2011, a global study by UM (formerly Universal McCann) titled “The Business of Social: Social Media Tracker 2012,” found that smartphone and tablet penetration rates among active internet users in Mexico stood at 45% and 16%, respectively, outpacing those of the US and Canada.

Digital and Mobile channels continue attracting global marketing spend

The digital and mobile channels are reported to experience growth in terms of marketing spend, according to Warc’s Global Marketing Index (GMI), climbing to scores of 78.79 and 71.2, respectively. The press, on other hand, still acquired an increase to 36.1 from last month’s 33.5, even if experiencing the largest reduction in terms of expenditure. The radio industry improved slightly to 39.6 from 42.3; while TV and out-of-home to 48.8 from 48, respectively.

In global perspective, the report revealed that budget growth among global marketers have increased to 51.5 in March, which passed the threshold score of 50 for the first time since Warc’s tracking via GMI, as compared to February’s 49.3.

The report revealed respondents in the Americas as the most positive in spite of its drop from 62.9 to 59.7; while Asia Pacific climbed from 56 to 57.9, and Europe continued rising from 52 to 55 respectively.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Making the most of mobile

Mobile is the new billboard. It is a present, local and sleek high definition screen resting comfortably in our bags or back pockets. While some rightly claim that it is the most personally connected device in history, others cite that as many as 70% of us sleep within inches of them. In Australia, where smartphone penetration sits around 50%, there are now more mobile phones in circulation than people.

Mobile adspend soars 157% as FMCG and retail brands follow consumers

Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are understood to have boosted investment in mobile advertising, in an effort to reach what internet analytics company comScore claims are the 58% of Britons accessing content via apps or the mobile internet each month. According to annual figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), UK adspend on mobile media – including search, display and video – surged 157% year on year to a total of £203.2m in 2011.

Mobile Video Viewership Gaining in Australia

According to Nielsen’s February 2012 “Australian Multi-Screen Report,” smartphones and tablets were present in 49% and 10% of households, respectively, in Australia in Q4 2011 Drilling deeper into the data, Nielsen found that time spent watching mobile video grew from 35 minutes in Q1 2011 to 1 hour and 20 minutes in Q4 2011. The company also reported that Australia’s mobile video audience was heavily concentrated among males and in the 18-to-34 age bracket, a stat that may be even more important for marketing decision-makers than average time spent watching mobile video.

Asian Pacific telecom operator switching and routing revenue to grow by 9.7% in 2012

In terms of revenues in Asia-Pacific, the edge router segment is leading the way, reaching $4.2 billion in 2017, while the core router segment will touch $1.6 billion and the IP/Ethernet router segment will reach $1.4 billion. The edge router plays a key role in carrier networks as the control point for delivering subscriber services.

Mobile Internet Uptake on the Rise in France

Browsing the internet remained the most popular advanced content activity among mobile phone owners, with 24% of them doing so in 2011, vs. 15% in 2010 and 13% in 2009. In addition, reading email (19%), downloading applications (17%) and watching TV (8%) all nearly doubled in adoption rates over 2010, according to the report.

Smartphones drive Thai Q4 mobile phone market

For the final three months of 2011, the mobile phone market in Thailand grows 6 percent quarter-on-quarter, achieving an “impressive” 20 percent yearly growth, says IDC. In a report Thursday, the research firm noted that smartphones were the “driving force” behind Thailand’s mobile phone market. Smartphone shipments grew 66 percent sequentially to make up almost one-fourth of the total mobile phone market in the fourth quarter of 2011, it added.

PLDT mobile units boast 65-M subscriber base

THE wireless units of telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) now have a combined subscriber base of 65 million, a growth of 1.3 million new users from end-2011 figure of 63.7 million. Of this number 50 million came from Smart Communications Inc., Talk ’N Txt and Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprises Inc. (CURE). The remaining 15 million subscribers came from Sun Cellular, the mobile brand of Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel), which is PLDT’s latest acquisition.

Report: Consumers more likely to engage with mobile ads

Consumers are significantly more likely to click through a search ad on a smartphone or tablet than they would on a desktop computer, said Matt Lawson, VP of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software, a provider of paid search management services. Consequently, Marin Software’s study “State of Mobile Search Advertising in the US 2012” anticipates 25% of Google’s US paid search clicks will come from smartphones and tablets by December 2012. Mobile smart devices constituted only 5% of paid search clicks in January of this year, said Lawson, describing the projected increase of paid search clicks by the end of 2012 as “explosive adoption.”

Retail rises among the top-spending mobile sectors with 12.3% growth

Retail climbs up, for the first time, among the top-spending mobile sectors to account 12.3% share of total spend, compared to 5.5% of last year. The unexpected rise, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), is due to rapid growth in the mcommerce.

The FMCG brands, on other hand, also increased their share of total mobile adspend in 2011 to 14.4%, from 11.8% in 2010, making it the third-biggest spending sector after entertainment and media (23.2%) and telecoms (14.9%).

Both retail and FMCG sectors overtook the finance and automotive which have been leading earlier on their mobile advertising spend.

The value and significance of mobile marketing, according to Unilever’s communications buying manager via mobile marketing magazine, is likely going up as Smartphone penetration in Europe continues rising.

Meanwhile, the director of mobile and operations at the IAB said that improvements in measurement and ad formats over the past year were attracting spend to mobile; and that the interactive rich-media mobile ads has made them more appealing to brands and consumers, and that is really driving FMCG and retail spend.”

The mobile search is reported to attract greatest spend with 66% while display rises to 195% to £59.4m.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York, Announced for June 11-13, 2012

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today opened registration for The MMA Forum New York: The Mobile Experience, the premier North American Forum event of 2012. Held June 11-13 at The Roosevelt Hotel, the event is a convenient opportunity for journalists, analysts and bloggers to learn from and network with leaders from across the mobile ecosystem, including:

Hotel Industry Poised for 2012 Growth

58% of global hotel accommodation owners and managers worldwide believe their business will be either a lot more profitable (13%) or a little more profitable (45%) this year, according to [pdf] results from a TripAdvisor survey released in February 2012. Data from the TripAdvisor “2012 Industry Index” indicates that 47% of global hotel accommodation owners and managers worldwide, and 61% in the US, plan to offer a program using mobile devices (such as mobile applications, special offers, and booking on mobile devices) this year.

Global mobile penetration reaches 85pc

Global mobile penetration reached 85 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 and mobile subscriptions totaled around 6 billion, said an Ericsson report. Though there are now around 6 billion mobile subscriptions, this figure equates to around 4.1 billion subscribers, since many subscribers have several subscriptions, said an interim update to the Traffic and Market Data Report published in November 2011 by Ericsson.

Mobile Ad Spending in Italy May Pass $1 Billion in 2015

According to a November 2011 release from UK research and go-to-market agency FirstPartner, mobile ad spending in Italy will more than double in 2012 to €261.7 million ($363.5 million), up from €125.5 million ($174.3 million) in 2011. Total mobile ad spending is expected to hit €904.3 million ($1.26 billion) in 2015.

Mobilizing The Masses: In Asia, Wireless Grows Up

Mobile advertising grows up as marketing spend multiplies. Although smartphone penetration is growing in Asia, mobile advertising still lags behind TV advertising. While this won’t change, I do expect brands and agencies to double down on their spend in mobile this year. As marketers see smartphone penetration growing broadly enough to deliver scale for campaigns, they will see that mobile provides the reach necessary to increase ROI.

Smartphone Sales Up 47% in Q4 to 149 Million Units

Nokia led the handset market overall by shipping 111.7 million units in the final quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. However, Samsung Mobile narrowed its gap with Nokia by shipping 92.7 million handsets overall, including strong sales of 34 million smartphones. Apple was third in the handset market on the strength of its iPhone alone.

Bridging the consumers and marketers

The future looks bright, too – the estimates indicate that Asia will become the world’s biggest market by 2020, with over 11 billion total connected devices, of which 5.6 billion will be mobile. Asia will have a 47 per cent market share, by far the biggest share of the global market. Compare this to Europe, which will only have 19.1 per cent, while North America has 9.4 per cent of the global market, according to projections

China’s Mobile Internet Industry to See Rapid Growth & Overall Consolidation

Investment pattern: Enterprise investment is active, while direct government investment is rarely seen. In China, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are the major investors of the mobile Internet industry, while the government only funds a number of state projects initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. In the first half of 2011 alone, there were as many as 31 disclosed investment deals in mobile Internet, among which 24 had a total disclosed value of $318 million.

Hotel industry poised for growth in 2012, half goes mobile

Global hotel accommodation owners and managers believe their business will be more profitable (13%) this year with direct bookings expected to grow at 15%, said TripAdvisor on its February 2012 survey. The US hoteliers are most optimistic (65%) believing that the economy will improve this year, far ahead to counterparts, Germany and Italy.

Meanwhile, the TripAdvisor 2012 Industry Index revealed that 47% of global hotel accommodation and managers worldwide and 61% in the US plan to offer a program using mobile devices, such as mobile apps, special offers, and booking via mobile devices) this year.

Accommodation managers and owners will also be monitoring social media mentions this year: 65% said they will have their internal staff monitor travelers mentions, including 81% of US respondents.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Why mobile TV is the linchpin for advertising success

For broadcasters and networks, mobile is becoming a necessary part of their distribution channels to meet the needs of consumers who want television content to be available on multiple platforms. Here lies the opportunity for brand advertisers. With the increase in networks and broadcasters looking to mobile to give users additional bits of content and live streaming, marketers also have an opportunity to target mobile campaigns in new, non-traditional ways. The new slew of mobile initiatives also has implications for cable providers looking to lock consumers into TV services across multiple screens.

Mobile Device Users Highly Connected With Entertainment Ads

Two-thirds of smartphone users and 58% of iPad users have interacted with entertainment ads on their mobile devices, according to [pdf] a survey released in February 2012 by Greystripe. Among the types of ads they engage with, these respondents appear most intrigued by mobile video ads, with 56% of smartphone users and 45% of iPad users citing this type, ahead of images with movie information (29% and 22%, respectively). And of those intrigued by video, a large proportion have watched movie trailers on their device (58% and 67% of smartphone and iPad users, respectively).

Going mobile: Tips to turn an ad into a sale

You have built an eye-catching mobile ad, and your target user has clicked on it. Everything is going according to plan. But what happens next? If the process quickly devolves into something unusable, the customer will move on. It is no secret that there is an exponential growth in mobile shopping. Nearly 73 million mobile users ages 14 and up will browse or research products and services on their phones in 2012, according to a study by eMarketer. Businesses would be wise to consider the entire end-to-end experience from clicking on an ad to completing a sale.

Total Revenues in Germany’s Mobile Multimedia Market to rise to $2.78 billion in 2016

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e6bc7a/4q_2011_germany_mo) has announced the addition of IE Market Research Corp.’s new report “4Q.2011 Germany Mobile Entertainment Market Forecast, 2008 – 2016: Total Revenues in Germany’s Mobile Multimedia Market to rise to $2.78 billion in 2016″ to their offering. Germany Mobile Entertainment Market Forecast provides a comprehensive forecast of country-specific mobile entertainment usage among consumers. We provide quarterly historical (2008 – 2011) data and annual forecasts (2012 – 2016) for Mobile Music (Total Users, Retail Revenues

Global Telecom Services Market to Reach US$1.8 Trillion by 2015, According to New Report

The world telecom services industry is back on the growth trajectory buoyed by resurgent demand from Asian economies, renewed infrastructure development, and the rising demand for next generation services. The orientation of the industry is shifting from fixed-line to mobile networks, and from conventional voice services to data based and value added services.

Analytics, mobility expected to shape SE Asia firms in 2012

The total expenditure for major Southeast Asia markets is forecasted to hit $49.8 billion in 2012. This translates to a YoY growth of 5 percent. Mobile data will lead the pack with a predicted 11 percent growth. Singapore and Thailand are forecasted to experience the biggest increase in mobile data usage with 16.9 percent and 15.5 percent YoY growth. Across Southeast Asia, fixed data and wireless voice are expected to perform strongly at 9.9 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. On the other hand, IDC expects fixed-line voice to decline by 2.6 percent.

MMA rolls out new services to help marketers standardize mobile advertising

The Mobile Marketing Association has made additions to its mobile advertising packages aimed to make it easier for marketers to buy, sell and create mobile ad campaigns. The additions are part of the second version of the MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package. After researching impressions from the second quarter of 2011, six mobile ad units will be the standard for mobile marketers.

Mobile Advertising Grows More than Expected

Marketers have increasingly been spending more on mobile and with good success. A 2011 IAB study, “Marketer Perspectives on Mobile Advertising, showed 63 percent of marketers in retail, travel, financial services and other industries increased their mobile marketing spend over the past two years, Not only that, 29 percent of those marketers reported an increase of over 50 percent in mobile.

Achieving brand success in the mobile space

In this exclusive feature Fabrizio Caruso, managing director, Asia-Pacific, Out There Media gives a roadmap to businesses on how to get maximum leverage out of their mobile marketing strategies. Rise of the mobile phone. Mobile phone has come a long way since the first generation analogue cellular phones were introduced in the early 80’s. The evolution of first generation cellular networks to GSM networks and advanced mobile 3G technologies, to WIMAX and LTE has paved way for the development of smaller and sleek hand-held devices that we now use.

Globe’s 2011 mobile phone subscribers up 13% to 30M

Mobile phone subscribers of Globe Telecom grew 13 percent to over 30 million in 2011, from 26.5 million a year earlier, its president and CEO Ernest Cu said in a press briefing Monday. “Despite tough competition, our growth momentum is quite strong in total acquisition of subscribers and total revenues, and we sustained it in all market segments,” Cu said. Globe’s subscriber base as of end-2011is less than half of rivals’ combined 65 million subscribers — Smart and Sun Cellular — of Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. Last year, Globe’s revenues rose 9% to P67.8 billion from the P62 billion a year earlier owing to high service revenues from mobile and broadband.

Global Phone Market Maintains Popularity Despite Low Demand for Feature Phones

The worldwide mobile phone industry grew 6.1% during the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11). The feature phone market declined faster than anticipated and dragged the market growth down to its lowest point in over two years. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11, compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1% growth rate was higher than the IDC’s forecast of 4.4% for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3% growth in 3Q11. “The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

Total mobile advertising spend in New Zealand on the rise

The mobile advertising spend in New Zealand is reported at about $632,000 according to Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC. The said figure was largely attributed by the increasing number of Smartphone penetration that now accounts 30% of the entire handset usage in the region.

Accordingly, the mobile platform is said to open more positive opportunities in connecting with “on the go” consumers. PwC said New Zealand will follow the international trend of mobile online advertising spend as the population of Smartphone and tablet users continue to grow.

The variety of platforms and technologies, available for businesses to reach out online to their customers, provide companies with strong investment strategies, report said. Display advertising, on other hand, is revealed the biggest change in revenue overtaking the classified ads.