Mobile Video Audience Expands Like Wildfire

The audience for mobile video in the US, which totals 8 million in August viewing from a carrier deck or referred video content, is up 34 percent from January, according to M:Metrics.

That's just 3.7 percent of US mobile subscribers, but the growth rate is impressive.

Mobile Brand Advertising Takes Off, Direct Already on Its Way

The pieces are in place for mobile brand advertising to start scaling up, says eMarketer's Mobile Brand Advertising report, which projects worldwide mobile brand advertising will increase to $3.6 billion in 2011 - nearly 30 times more than the mere $124 million in 2006

ESPN, Nielsen Make Foray into Cross-Media Measurement

ESPN and Nielsen have joined to work on a measurement system that tracks audiences across platforms, reports Advertising Age.

The program builds a snapshot of how audiences move between media platforms, and how exposure to ads on one drive people to others.

How a call-to-action on TV drives traffic to the internet, how ads on mobile platforms push people to the internet, and other engagement factors, are all going to go under the microscope.

ESPN is Nielsen's test case in building the total-audience measurement offering.

The sports media brand has a vested interest in that sort of data since it has embraced the idea of offering its content in a variety of places, based on the multiplicity of media consumed by sports fans.

The program will also give advertisers a glimpse at unduplicated audience figures, providing a more accurate snapshot of how many people are being exposed to content and ads.

Global Brands May Accelerate Mobile Marketing Efforts

28 percent of global brands surveyed have already launched live SMS (text) campaigns. 18 percent have launched live MMS (multimedia) campaigns, according to a mobile-marketing survey of 50 global brands by Vanson Bourne for Airwide Solutions.

The growing sophistication of mobile marketing campaigns is reflected in the number of brands considering implementing both SMS and MMS mobile marketing in the next 12 months: The proportion has doubled to 28 percent since a similar survey in 2006, Airwide said.

The survey also found that more brands expect to spend a greater proportion of their marketing budget on mobile campaigns in the near future: 71 percent project that they'll spend up to 10 percent of their budget on mobile marketing within two years.

Among other key findings of the study:

* Brands' experience with mobile marketing is increasingly positive, as more brands are getting higher response rates from their campaigns:
o The percentage of big brands who said up to 10 percent of recipients of mobile marketing campaigns requested more information as a result of receiving a mobile marketing message grew from 32 percent in 2006 to 58 percent in 2007.
o Regarding financial transactions, 73 percent of brands said up to 10 percent of recipients of campaigns undertook a financial action as a result of the campaign, compared with 28 percent of brands saying so in 2006.
o Every responding brand agreed that its most recent mobile marketing campaign was successful in increasing customer familiarity of the brand.

* Mobile phone users are expected to benefit from a range of incentives as part of the growth in mobile marketing:
o Almost 60 percent of brands intend to send special offers via the mobile phone.
o Over one-third (36 percent) intend to send discount vouchers.
o Other incentives will include digital loyalty cards, free gifts and preferential terms.

* The experience of brands using mobile marketing demonstrates that the actual campaign response rate is higher than the expectations of those who have not yet implemented mobile marketing:
o 57 percent of brands not yet using mobile marketing anticipate that customers will request more information, while 83 percent of brands that have already implemented campaigns said they received requests for more information.
o The numbers for financial transactions are higher, with 38 percent of inexperienced brands stating that they expect consumers to undertake consequent financial actions, whereas 82 percent of experienced brands say recipients completed a financial action as a result of receiving a mobile marketing message.

* As brands have learned about mobile marketing, the perception that SMS is a reliable and measurable medium has increased:
o Among brands not using SMS in campaigns, the percentage that find SMS too complicated for marketing has dropped significantly, from 24 percent in 2006 to 8 percent in 2007.
o More brands now know how to measure its effectiveness, with the uncertainty about how to do so dropping from 18 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2007.
o Still, among those not using SMS, some 7 of 10 now say it's not right for their audience.
* Despite considerable enthusiasm for mobile marketing, there are some barriers to even higher growth rates:
o More than half of brands have not yet employed either text messaging (58 percent) or multimedia messaging (60 percent) systems for marketing.
o The perception that MMS is difficult to use has grown from 14 percent in 2006 to 29 percent in 2007, and concerns about reliability have grown from 12 percent to 34 percent in the same period.
o Almost half of big brands (46 percent) are concerned that mobile marketing is too intrusive, with many feeling that customers will perceive messages as spam; and of these, 41 percent are unsure how to rectify the problem by targeting specific audiences.
o Over one-third of brands (36 percent) would require detailed information on how the user responded to the message - and one in five want proof that the message has been received by the user's handset.

About the study: Airwide Solutions commissioned Vanson Bourne in January 2006 and July 2007 to survey 50 of Europe's global brand names about their plans for mobile marketing.

IAB Issues Final Word On Rich Media Impressions

IAB - THE INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU ON Wednesday released final guidelines on the measurement of rich online media to better gauge the level at which ad impressions are counted in rich online application environments supported by AJAX and JSON technologies.

Mobile Platform Sees First Transcontinental Merger

This October will not only be remembered for the Indian Summer; it will also witness one of the first major merges in the mobile marketing space.

European mobile marketing firm Mindmatics, and US mobile app service provider Air2Web, have stated intentions to merge.

The companies will operate under the Air2Web name, though a rebranding may occur by the end of the year.

Mindmatics put on major mobile marketing campaigns in Europe for clients like Unilever and P&G, and has set up major TV-based voting systems for shows like Deal or No Deal in the US and Eurovision Song Contest in Europe.

Stateside, Air2Web implements service and transaction abilities for brands like The Weather Channel, P&G, AT&T, and UPS.

With the deal, the two greatly expand their services while availing both sides of the pond to frontiering opportunities.

TeliaSonera launches mobile browser and ad channel

TeliaSonera is to launch SurfOpen, an internet tool that simplifies mobile surfing and will act as a new advertising channel.

SurfOpen, expected to launch in the first quarter of 2008, is a window that stays in sight at the top of the mobile display in a similar way as web browsers' icons. It will enable mobile phone users to navigate the internet as they do on a PC. SurfOpen comprises tabs for favourites, search engine and ads.

As part of the initiative, a new interactive advertisement space has been created called value window. The window will appear when the phone is idle and not when the user needs the display to surf the internet or use any of the phone's other tools. The window will have space for display advertising and users can also collect their own favourite services on the phone's background to transfer to them in one click.

Kenneth Karlberg, President of TeliaSonera Mobility Services, said: “SurfOpen simplifies things for all our customers who surf on the Internet with their mobile phones. Current and new customers familiar with the Internet on the PC will find their way in the service, and they do not even have to learn things again when they change their phones."

IAB: First-Half Internet Ad Revenues Of $10B Up 27%

IAB President/CEO Randall Rothenberg calls it the "Oh my God, it happened" year for major marketers as the shift of marketing budgets to online channels marches on. Search continued to account for the highest dollar spending, at 41% of the total. Still, Rothenberg says, more efficiency and simplicity are needed for spending to really take off.

Read the whole story...

Clear Channel Unveils Spectacolor HD Billboard — with Free WiFi, Ad Ops Galore

CNN is joining the ranks of Reuters, breaking ground with a giant Times Square-based digital display.

This isn't just any billboard. CNN, now the content provider for Clear Channel's new Spectacolor HD billboard, will not only boast the highest quality of any digital billboard in the US; it's also packed with outdoor advertising options galore.

Going up on the corner of 47th and Broadway, the billboard will run multiple ad spots in conjunction with streaming news, weather forecasts and HD broadcasts from CNN.

Advertisers can buy Bluetooth downloads that allow visitors to bring "a piece of the billboard with them home," as well as interactive content via short code that will turn people's phones into a remote controls.

Finally, the board will serve as Time Square's first free public Wi-Fi spot.

Microsoft Plans to Become a Media Company

Within the next four to 10 years, says Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer, as much as 25% of the software giant's revenues are likely to come from advertising. Microsoft can already deliver advertising to new platforms such as in-game promotions and mobile-phone campaigns.

Business Week has more.

Nokia signs video deals with CNN, Sony and others

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker Nokia ( has signed partnership deals with seven companies including CNN and Sony Pictures to bring video content to its top-of-the-range multimedia phones.

"Consumer desire to watch Internet videos on mobile devices is growing all the time and we want to help users discover and access the best content in the simplest way possible," Harri Mannisto, director at Nokia's multimedia unit, said on Tuesday.

Nokia said it would also bring video content from India's IBN news channel and videos from Jamba, RooftopComedy, ROK and Versaly Entertainment to its N95 models.

It has previously signed similar deals with Google's YouTube and Reuters.

Nokia's Navteq Buy Is Giant Leap Into Services

Still, there are challenges. It's no longer about serving up the ads. It's about using the intelligence in the IT network to ensure the correct ads appear on the mobile phone or navigation system when the consumer seems most receptive. "In theory it's easy, but really difficult to do," one analyst says. "You first have to identify people who are interested in the product, Tropicana orange juice, for example."

Read the whole story on Mediaweek.com

Nokia Spells Out Mobile Ad Plans

Nokia has announced how the advertising on its content-sharing Mosh network will work, reports ClickZ.

Mosh will allow people to upload content to profiles that can be shared with friends via mobile devices. Content can be uploaded either directly from a mobile device, or through the web.

Banner advertising on mobile sites will, of course, be contextually relevant to the content they appear with. So if a group of movie fans is constantly uploading homemade reviews, the likelihood is high movie-related ads will populate that group.

Nokia will start off selling the ads in-house, but has not ruled out partnering with an ad network. These could include mobile firm Enpocket, which Nokia acquired just last month.

Mobile Broadcast TV to Reach Almost 120MM Users by 2012

Nearly 120 million mobile users in more than 40 countries are expected to receive broadcast TV services by 2012, compared with less than 12 million in 2007, with DVB-H the dominant transmission standard, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

However, the report cautions that services face significant technological and regulatory hurdles, both prior to launch and as they bid to build a critical mass of subscribers.

Worldwide annual consumer spending on mobile broadcast TV services is expected to exceed $6.6 billion by 2012; combined end-user revenues from streamed and broadcast mobile TV services will rise from just under $1.4 billion in 2007 to nearly $12 billion in 2012, according to Juniper's forecast.

Google Buys Mobile Social Networking Startup

Google plans to acquire a mobile social networking startup called Zingku, which lets users share photos, send invitations or conduct polls via mobile phone. It also provides a way for businesses to send "mobile flyers" to customers advertising products and services.