The Mobile Marketing Blog

Advertising key to putting Internet in every cellphone

2007-11-17T13:23:00.000+01:00

BOSTON, United States (AFP) - The emergence of "smartphones" has put the Internet, music and videos in the palm of the consumer's hand, but the technology will need a flow of advertising cash to reach its full potential.
ADVERTISEMENT

Cellphone makers and service providers meeting at the Mobile Internet World conference here picture a world five years from now where the consumers will be able to pay bills, read the news and communicate with their mobile devices.

Few cellphone owners are currently using their devices to access the Internet -- nine percent, according to the Yankee Group, a technology consulting firm.

But the IDC research firm says that more than one in five cellphones sold in 2011 will be "smartphones," devices with Internet access that can also play videos and music.

Three billion cellphones circulate in the world, three times more than computers. While Internet connection over the cellphone is often slow, it is improving.

According to Kiyo Oishi, chief of the Japanese firm Access, one billion consumers will have access to high-speed Internet in 2013.

Consumers will need better services, including simpler websites and systems that are not limited to one operator or device.

But the market will need revenue.

"Advertising, commerce will be the economic engine that will drive everything," said Andrew Belt of the Monitor Group.

Currently operators make money through subscriptions to their services. For instance, some companies charge for email service, ringtone downloads or voting on television game shows.

But to get a slice of the mobile Internet age, companies will have to rely on advertising to get their products to consumers, analysts say.

"You have 110 billion dollars spent on TV (advertising). By 2008 you'll see big shifts, to mobile and social networks," said W2 Group chief executive Larry Weber.

According to the firm eMarketer, 16 billion dollars will be spent on advertising on cellphones in 2011, 10 times more than today.

"Most people would rather have free services with ads than paying subscriptions," said Andy Jedynak, co-chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) mobile committee.

Advertising will become the main source of revenue for mobile devices, but not before three to five years, he said.

IAB, which represents companies that sell interactive advertising, already wants to set standards for cellphone ads, including to limit their size to no more than a quarter the screen.

"All mass-media are financed by advertising," said Douglas Edwards, founder Handmark. "Advertising will inevitably" become the main source of revenue, he said.

M:Metrics Launches Mobile AdTracker

2007-11-15T10:18:00.000+01:00

Today M:Metrics debuts a new service tracks ad display on mobile sites, or on the devices themselves.

M:AdTracker will be deployed on 120 mobile portals and websites, including those from ESPN and other high-level publishers, as well as a few lower-tier ones.

The software measures ad display four times daily and returns raw numbers to M:Metrics, where data is analyzed and scrubbed by a team before conversion into client-ready reports.

Ads must link back to a webpage to be counted by the software.

Early reports show a number of Fortune 100 companies advertising on mobile platforms, breaking conventional wisdom that mobile advertising tends to be primarily for mobile products.

Nokia launches WidSets - a mobile dashboard

2007-11-13T12:09:00.000+01:00

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that its innovative Internet service called WidSets, launched one year ago, has emerged from Beta to a new service platform. With the new platform WidSets will offer improved usability by localizing mobile clients and improving mobile widget library. WidSets will also bring advertising in as the primary business model. WidSets works on Java enabled handsets from a range of manufacturers and utilizes widgets, so users can have one-click access to real-time online content without needing to use a mobile browser.

"We've been delighted with the feedback we've had from the Beta trials of WidSets," said Jarmo Jokinen, Director of WidSets, Nokia Emerging Business Unit. "During that time, we've had more than 3 million users register for the WidSets service on more than 300 models of mobile device. We've valued the early feedback, which has enabled us to launch a more compelling service for users and content providers."

The new platform offers a dynamic search feature and an improved widget creation tool for quicker, simpler and more personalized options for creating widgets. And now it is really easy: enter the web address, click to select the feed and then you will have a personal widget! Around 90 percent of the current WidSets' content is already user generated, but the WidSets team has recently added many new widgets and made it easier for users to find local and also non-English-language content.

The new Explore feature for finding widgets offers an option to perform a live search, filter through recommended widgets, or go through tags or categories, and download them for use on mobile devices.

WidSets now offers a unique advertising model to commercial customers for providing two-way-interaction between the advertiser and their customers or prospects. A great example is a movie theater widget: the user chooses the city they are looking for and can then see what movies are on, in which theater, and whether there are seats available. A perfect match of benefits for movie going consumers, and the advertiser!

On the WidSets website people can review the widgets and see the latest, most popular or top rated widgets and share those with others. And now this can also be done from the mobile device. One of the latest widgets is for AccuWeather.com, which is expected to rapidly become one of the top ranked widgets in the WidSets library.

The WidSets mobile dashboard can also now be shared. This means that when creating a profile, users may share their own dashboard and widgets with the others, and see what the other "WidSeteers" are using as well as how they look like, thanks to the user images available in dashboards.

Nokia plans to pre-install WidSets in tens of millions of mobile phones during 2008, and enabling service support in tens of different languages. The recently unveiled Nokia 8800 Arte which will start shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007 will be the first handset to offer WidSets to its style-conscious consumers. In addition, users can already get started with WidSets via the Download! folder on all Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices.

WidSets works on a wide variety of mobile phone brands, and is already compatible with more than 300 mobile devices. Users can easily download WidSets from www.widsets.com or on their mobile from get.widsets.com.

Google Plans Mobile-Phone Operating System to Expand Beyond Web

2007-11-05T09:15:00.000+01:00

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., seeking to expand beyond the Web, said it plans to create a mobile phone operating system for handsets sold by Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc.

Google, owner of the world's most popular Internet search engine, today announced the 34-member Open Handset Alliance, which includes Sprint, T-Mobile and phone makers Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

The agreement would boost Google's advertising revenue from mobile phones, which outsold personal computers by more than 4 to 1 last year. For phone companies, the accord may bolster sales of online services and give them an edge over larger rival AT&T Inc., the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

``While it might be some time before mobile-phone advertising revenue begins to be meaningful for Google, it certainly says that they have worked successfully to put the foundations for such growth in place,'' said David Garrity, director of research at Dinosaur Securities Inc. in New York, who advises buying Google's shares.

Spending on mobile-phone ads may jump to $11.4 billion worldwide by 2011 from $2.17 billion today, according to Informa Plc, a London-based research firm. Google, in Mountain View, California, gets 99 percent of its more than $10 billion in annual sales from advertising, mostly by selling text links next to search results on its own pages and partner sites.

Mobile Video Subscribers to Jump to 59M in 2010

2007-11-07T09:06:00.000+01:00

Despite concerns over the business plan and subscriber rates, mobile video phone sales are expected to climb from $58 billion in 2006 to $125 billion in 2010 worldwide, according to a report from Infonetics Research.

The bump is fueled by "increasingly powerful and efficient phones" and augmented spectrum availability.

There were a few million subscribers to video phone service in 2006, but the number is expected to climb to 58.6 million in 2010. Currently, about 77 percent of subscribers are found in the EMEA and Asia/Pacific regions.

Though the US trails behind in bringing video to mobile phones, it may get a hand after the government effectively switches off analog TV in 2009.

Mobile Video Audience Expands Like Wildfire

2007-10-31T18:54:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-22T20:21:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-17T20:11:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-11T19:56:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-11T12:42:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-10T10:32:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-09T18:29:00.000+02:00

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%

2007-10-05T15:32:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-04T20:13:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-03T21:53:00.001+02:00

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

2007-10-02T17:41:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-02T11:45:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-01T20:42:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-01T09:02:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-01T08:57:00.000+02:00

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.

Mobile Marketing Association Debuts Rules, Advertisers Comply

2007-09-28T00:24:00.000+02:00

The Mobile Marketing Association has announced new guidelines for mobile advertising, and advertisers have fast expressed a willingness to follow them, reports ClickZ.

The guidelines were developed by the group as a way to try bringing uniform experiences to mobile users across the globe, as well as ease the creation of mobile campaigns.

Recommendations for banner ad sizing, appropriate file sizes and the amount of text are all covered in the new guidelines. Of note is express advice to explicitly label all ads as such, to ensure users are aware of the presence of sponsored placements.

These recommendations join those that the MMA issued just months ago, dealing specifically with advertising to children.

Companies including Yahoo, Enpocket and Admob announced they will gladly follow the MMA's new order. Yahoo said its mobile ads would be fully compliant by the year's end.

DoubleClick launches mobile advertising service

2007-09-25T19:32:00.000+02:00

New York—DoubleClick announced the launch of DoubleClick Mobile, a new service for mobile advertising.

DoubleClick Mobile integrates operational processes for scheduling, targeting, selecting and delivering ads on mobile Web pages with publishers’ existing digital channels.

Features of the new service include automatic ad selection, new mobile ad formats, third-party impression tracking, device preview and handset capability targeting.

DoubleClick Mobile is integrated with DoubleClick DART for Publishers to manage digital ad campaigns. It gives media companies the ability to sell and manage ad inventory across online display, rich media, video and mobile devices.

MySpace to Debut on Mobile Platform

2007-09-24T19:11:00.000+02:00

Fox Interactive is debuting a free mobile-friendly version of MySpace, reports The Boston Globe.

The introduction of complimentary, all-carrier access to MySpace is made possible through advertising support. Paid access was available before, but only through a handful of carriers. Paid "premium" access will still be available and will include more functionality, such as cell phone image uploading.

With the ad-supported version of MySpace mobile, users can make text-based updates to their profile pages, such as updating blogs and leaving comments.

Banner ads and sponsorships will make up the first ad efforts on the mobile version. Ad-targeting based on cellphone data and user location will be introduced later on.

Wi-Fi, Mobile Phones: A New Health Risk?

2007-09-24T18:59:00.000+02:00

While major cities around the world rush to offer free wireless Internet access, critics are questioning the long-term health impact from exposure to electromagnetic waves. Studies on mobile-phone users to be released next year will focus on people with brain and neck tumors.

IHT.com has the full story.

Audited Mobile Advertising Audience Composition Metrics Released

2007-09-22T13:20:00.000+02:00

Mobile advertising effectively reaches some of the most desirable, yet elusive, media consumers - if the responses from a survey of the AdMob publisher network by M:Metrics are an indication, writes MarketingCharts.

Some 65.5 percent of respondents were 18-34-year-olds, with broad demographic reach into various sub-segments, according to the third-quarter survey that covered more than 2,000 mobile.

Numerous sites that target African-Americans have audience compositions in excess of 50 percent of that elusive 18-34-year-old demographic, whereas the ethnic group comprises only 6.3 percent of the mobile population, according to M:Metrics.

Similar results were found for females (sites with audience composition over 60 percent females, versus 42 percent of mobile browser population) and Hispanics (sites with over 35 percent Hispanic composition, versus 18.5 percent mobile browser population), among other demographic profiles.

M:Metrics simultaneously announced a more broad launch of its M:Audit mobile advertising tool, which uses on-device survey technology to measure the audience composition of mobile web properties.

"Brand advertisers can now reach their target audience on mobile phones using sophisticated demographic targeting," said Omar Hamoui, CEO, AdMob.

The M:Audit service provides third-party audited composition metrics for mobile domain owners, ad networks and content providers.