Mobile Internet surges in the Philippines at 5%

Internet usage in the Philippine region has a dramatic surge from zero percent in 2009 to five percent this year. One very important factor seen to this notable growth is the attractive tariffs and demand for social networking, according to Neilsen Media Philippines’ Net Index study.

460_Map-PhilippinesIn a report published in Manila Times, the research firm said that affluent young Filipinos are expected to spend more time surfing on the Internet through mobile phones. Neilsen Media has seen this consistent trend given that the cost of mobile devices and Internet access in the region are going down.

The study has revealed as well the activities that drive to mobile Internet usage in the region with instant messaging on top of the list at 77%, followed by e-mail at 75%, and short messaging service (SMS) at 59%.

Meanwhile, the social networking sites (SNS) made it as the most popular social media activity at 53%, followed by user-generated content at 30%. Blogging and forums, on other hand, are considered the least popular activities in the region with 7% and 11%, respectively.

The Philippines has over 29.7 Internet users, and Manila is considered a home to the largest user-base Internet in the country. The study, in this effect, was able to provide a strategic picture of the country in terms of online activities, cross-media usage habits, lifestyles and psychographics to their brand preferences.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Three steps for publishers to monetize mobile traffic

One of the most common questions that publishers ask these days is: How can I increase the monetization of my mobile traffic? Clearly the answer is very different for each publisher, but my goal is to lay out a rough guide to get you thinking about what might work for you. For the sake of discussion, let us say you are a U.S.-based publisher with a sales team that calls directly on advertisers and agencies. Also, let us assume most of your traffic is from the United States, and your international traffic is small, so you are not yet monetizing it.

28% of US Mobile Web Users Go Online Daily

Twenty-eight percent of US mobile phone users access the mobile internet at least once a day, according to a recent consumer survey conducted by ABI Research. Overall Mobile Web Access Rises. Overall mobile internet access rose between December 2008, when the previous ABI Research mobile internet study was conducted, and February 2010, when the most recent study was conducted. The percentage of mobile phone users who have mobile internet access but don’t use it fell from about 30% to about 20%. In addition, the percentage who don’t have mobile internet access on their phone fell from about 28% to about 22%.

Why Retailers Need an In-Store Mobile Strategy

We tell retailers they don’t want to become Amazon’s off-balance-sheet showroom. Mobile can, to some extent, be the revenge of the physical retailers, because they have the investments in these stores, they have people coming into the stores and knowledge of those customers. They have some tremendous new ways of creating affinity with these folks. A lot of the retailers we’re talking with view in-store mobile as a significant differentiation opportunity.

AT&T decision to end unlimited data plans threatens mobile content consumption

If competing carriers follow AT&T’s lead and phase out unlimited data plans, the consumption of paid and ad-supported mobile content may be affected. AT&T spun its new wireless data plans as geared toward making it “more affordable for more people to enjoy the benefits of the mobile Internet,” but the move is clearly about reigning in the heaviest data users, and all-you-can-eat data plans are vital to spur the high levels of mobile content consumption on which publishers, marketers and advertisers thrive.

Mobile Social Networking Grows Dramatically

The number of US mobile phone users performing social networking grew dramatically between April 2009 and April 2010, according to comScore MobiLens data. Social Networking Fastest Growing Mobile App. While the total number of mobile phone users who accessed an application increased 28%, from 54.4 million to 69.6 million, between April 2009 and April 2010, the number of mobile phone users who accessed a social networking application more than tripled.

Mobile Shopping Doubles in 2010

Mobile commerce has been slow to catch on. According to Multichannel Merchant, four in five multichannel retailers have no m-commerce presence. But while consumer usage of mobile shopping is still relatively low, it is increasing, prompting firms such as Coda Research Consultancy to predict a doubling of m-commerce revenues in the US this year, to $2.4 billion.

How to increase mobile paid search campaign performance

By creating mobile-only search campaigns, advertisers benefit in several areas such as control, messaging, targeting and reporting. Advertisers have more control over their mobile budgets and CPCs by splitting their campaigns. They can adjust bids independently from desktop and better target their creative messaging by including a mobile specific call to action such as “call now” in their ad text.  “The same best practices that have been applied to desktop campaigns are also relevant for mobile: separate your campaigns to better manage mobile, theme your ad groups tightly, make creatives and keywords relevant to the landing page…

Carriers’ brand and position in value chain at risk

The mobile Internet is expanding exponentially with the rapid adoption of Internet-centric devices used to consume multimedia content and services.  According to a Forrester Research report released earlier this year, more than one- third of consumers in Western Europe will access the Internet from their mobile phones by 2014.

Twenty-two percent of consumers plan to make mobile purchase: PriceGrabber survey

The latest consumer behavior report from Experian’s PriceGrabber.com on smartphone shopping behavior reveals an increase in consumer mobile shopping activity and a trend toward buying digital content and consumer electronics from a mobile phone. The survey data reveals that 57 percent of consumers who make a purchase with their Web-enabled phones bought consumer electronics. Twenty-two percent of consumers plan to purchase from their mobile device in the next 12 months.

Canadian Mobile Advertising Revenue Continues Rising

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada today announced that Mobile Advertising Revenues in Canada exceeded budgeted expectations of $5.2 million, and grew by 347% over 2007 numbers, to just over $11.9 million for 2008. For 2009, Canadian Mobile Advertising Revenue is forecast to increase by more than 50% again, rising to an estimated $18.0 million. The top 10 Mobile Advertising earners in IAB Canada’s annual Survey accounted for 79% of Total Net Mobile Advertising revenues in 2008.

Advertisers in Africa allot more than 50% of interactive marketing budgets in Mobile

Some of the biggest success stories in the mobile space came from Africa with advertisers in the region spent more than 50% of its interactive advertising budgets to mobile, Starcom’s Ravi Kiran said.

mobile-marketingThe African region became a hot topic among marketers during the Mobile Conversations 2010 conference in India as Starcom’s Ravi Kiran cited some of the biggest success stories in the mobile space, which actually happened in the region. In an Afaqs article, Mr. Kiran substantiated his points saying that more than 50% of interactive budget for the African region got routed to mobile marketing, compared to Asia (2.5%) and 1.3% to US and Europe regions.

Explaining to this inspiring occurrence, he said that one has to look at the unique mobile marketing services that are being offered in the region. The mobile is also the only pan-African social infrastructure in the region, and how it is connecting the African market nowadays has become a case study worldwide.

There were some other points raised during the conference, and Kiran ended up with an enticing tip saying that a “simplified language is required to convince marketers to invest in the medium”. Whilst mobile marketing is treated as another format of marketing, the principles of traditional marketing have to be applied as well.

He added, “We should tell marketers about how it can be used for marketing instead of talking or explaining the technology behind it. Also, we should encourage marketers to experiment with mobile marketing with scale.”

Mobile Devices: Gateway to Dive into Brands or Advertising, Starcom

The mobile technology is seen to continuously strengthen its presence in the global market; and consequently, this medium has created a unique role in the worldwide advertising scene.

In a recent study on consumer behaviors and attitudes toward mobile advertising, Starcom USA revealed that mobile subscribers are using the mobile phones to connect to ads or offers in other media. This, somehow, is a good catch for millions of marketers worldwide.

Starcom: Mobile Data Users Connecting To Ads In Other Media

By: Mark Walsh (MediaPost)

Almost two-thirds of mobile content consumers use their handheld devices to act on advertising in other media like out-of-home ads and digital videos, especially while on the go, according to new research from Starcom USA.

That’s among the key findings from the second phase of the agency’s ongoing study of mobile consumer behavior and attitudes toward mobile advertising. Starcom released an initial set of research findings in January 2008 based on a survey of both light and heavy users of mobile data in Chicago, Houston, New York and San Francisco.

Among the earlier results was that while people are not averse to advertising on mobile devices, they object to the lack of relevant ads. Working with comScore on its latest round of mobile research, Starcom found 63% of mobile data subscribers are using mobile phones as a way to access ads or offers in other media.

“What’s happening is the mobile device is becoming a gateway to further dive into brands or advertising to get more information about products being promoted,” said Brandon Starkoff, senior vice president and mobile activation director at Starcom. That can range from billboard ads featuring mobile short codes to in-store promotions to print and TV advertising. Read more