In a new report titled “Mobile Location Based Services: Applications, Forecasts & Opportunities 2009-2014,” Juniper Research suggests revenue from location-based services (LBS) are expected to surge to $12.7bn in 2012.

Attributed to a combination of Smartphone proliferation, a surge in app store launches, and new developments in hybrid positioning technologies, LBS and location-based advertising are expected to become a major aspect in the mobile ecosystem, with nearly every mobile player integrating location into their services in one way or another.

The report suggests that while mobile LBS saw a number of false dawns over the 2000-2007 period, improvements in handset user interfaces, together with easier consumer access to an array of app distribution channels, has led to greater interest from service providers in providing LBS applications.  Another key growth indicator is the advancement in mobile broadband capabilities and consumer comfortability with mobile Web usage.

The key to continued growth, the report suggests, will be finding ways to integrate LBS into feature phones- getting away from the present smartphone-focused LBS ecosystem.  In addition, finding ways to limit the constraints of privacy and user-information security concerns will be vital for its future.  Interestingly, service usage is expected to be highest in Far East & China over the next five years, with the greatest revenues coming from Western Europe.

It’s an interesting read, while there’s no doubt extraordinary growth when it comes to location, it’s still interesting to see what’s holding things back, and what areas of the industry are seeing the most growth and consumer adoption.  One thing’s for sure, location will remain the buzzword in the mobile realm for a long time to come.

Share This

It’s that time of the month again, Millennial Media has released its Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (S.M.A.R.T) for February 2010, outlining growth in the mobile Web with an emphasis on mobile fundraising and its audience’s demographics.

First, some context; Nielsen reports the US mobile Web grew by 4 percent in January, from 67M to 69.6M users, while Millennial Media’s US unique audience reach increased by 6.88 percent in January, from 54.3M to 58.1M unique users month over month, representing an 83 percent reach of the mobile Web.  Nielsen’s top 25 sites include 11 from Millennial Media’s network.

In terms of mobile calls-to-action, Millennial reports “Application Download” and “Place Call” represented the top two in February, with 31 percent and 29 percent of total calls-to-action respectively.  In addition, the network has identified “Subscribe Purchase,” “M-Commerce” and “Store Locator” as campaign actions that offer the most mobile-specific benefit to advertisers, such as location-based advertising (LBA) to drive consumers to local stores.  Interestingly, “Site Search” and “Social Media” came in last in terms of call-to-action use.

Smartphones continue to grow in usage, with a 2 percent growth in US impression share in February to 61 percent of total impressions on Millennial’s network.  Feature phones, however, continue to decline, with a 2 percent drop to 39 percent of total network impressions.

Apple’s OS continues to dominate in the US smartphone OS mix, representing 72 percent of total impressions, while RIM comes in at a distant second with 13 percent.  Android remains small at just 3 percent, however Android impressions experienced the largest month over month increase, with a 25.3 percent change.

Read the rest

Share This

Staying on top of mobile advertising best practices and methodology, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today published a new whitepaper outlining the use of Rich Media ad-formats and units in mobile advertising campaigns.

The new whitepaper, created with the help of numerous member companies, includes definitions, attributes and examples of Rich Media advertising that are currently being used in the marketplace.  Within the document, the MMA created a definition for “Rich Media Mobile Ad Units,” which are interactive and/or non-interactive ad units displayed on a mobile web page and/or in a mobile application that offers one or more of the following: (i.) inclusion of streaming video content or animated GIF within the ad unit; (ii.) inclusion of sound; or (iii.) a richer interactive feature set than basic mobile click-through, such as user interaction that occurs through input other than a “click” or “tap.”

Though one would believe Rich Media use in mobile-ad campaigns is large, Millennial Media indicates that in the fourth quarter of 2009, an average of only 19% of U.S. mobile advertisers used Rich Media Mobile Ad Units.  While the whitepaper encourages experimentation with the use of Rich Media formats, it’s clear there’s some ambiguity as to how to best use the concept effectively.

In getting a better understanding of guidelines in terms of formatting, the MMA invites companies to share best practices with the MMA’s Mobile Advertising Committee in order to influence future Rich Media Mobile Advertising Guidelines for the industry.  As always, the MMA is at the forefront of organizing and interpreting new technologies and methods associated with mobile marketing and advertising, with the new whitepaper being a perfect example of providing an invaluable resource for marketers.

Share This

While many have hailed the iPad as a future mainstay of targeted mobile marketing campaigns, no shortage of advertisers are taking a wait and see approach with regard to the new Apple tablet. However, if the pre-order stats from this past weekend are any indication, the iPad could very well have a much larger than expected audience right out of the gate.

The unofficial count of first day orders for the iPad presents an estimated 120,000 tablets were sold. And according to the information and sources cited in a multitude of media reports, that estimate could very well be a low-end conservative one.

A truly remarkable fact about the iPad’s pre-order explosion is that tens of thousands of consumers are purchasing a device that they have never before seen, touched, or experimented with in person. But if the tablet resonates with consumers as the iPhone has, it’s easy to understand why many industry analysts predict millions of iPads could be sold before the end of 2010.

With the iPad’s already established popularity will come an array of unique digital content offerings to the tablet, like the freshly announced Barnes & Noble e-book reader app. An application designed exclusively for the iPad, the e-reader app will provide access to the B&N eBookstore as well as any ebooks already located in the user’s digital library.

Share This

A new survey published by Compete.com indicates smartphone owners are very receptive to mobile coupons, especially when it comes to grocery coupons that are easily redeemable via barcodes scanned directly from the device.

The survey, which looked at the time of day most smartphone owners use their devices, as well as what mobile advertising concepts they’re most interested in, found that usage during commutes to work and while watching TV were the highest on the list by far.

To find out their receptiveness, the survey asked smartphone owners how interested they were in receiving various types of mobile advertising.  The results were quite interesting, indicating consumers were most interested in receiving grocery coupons (36%), scanable barcodes (29%), offers to save and pursue at leisure (26%), movie theater offers (26%) and ads via SMS when going by a retailer with a promotion / coupon (21%).

The fact that over 1 in 5 smartphone owners would be interested in these top-5 concepts is very promising for the mobile marketing industry, considering that it’s still in the early stages of mainstream adoption.  Given the nature of smartphones, adoption via this user-group will signal what works and what doesn’t- with concepts that do see mainstream adoption via smartphones making their way to feature phones eventually.

It’s not surprising that barcodes, coupons and other retail-oriented mobile technologies are the first to catch on with consumers.  It’s a concept that provides the most value to users, while not interfering with daily usage like some other concepts.

Share This

YouTube is making a dramatic change to its mobile web presence. This week, YouTube revealed that it will begin incorporating advertising services throughout the mobile site.

Naturally, YouTube is optimistic that advertisers will find enormous value in placing adds for their products and services on YouTube’s mobile site – a mobile presence that realized a 160% traffic increase in 2009.

Adds will run across the home, search, and browse pages in both the US and Japanese mobile YouTube sites.

According to the YouTube Biz Blog:

The increased usage of high-end devices like the iPhone and Android is also making mobile advertising easier and more effective for advertisers.

“Test campaigns” are already underway by L’Oreal and Land Rover. Initial results indicate promising rates of click-throughs, positive user experiences, and greater brand awareness.

We’ve already seen some early campaigns run on YouTube’s mobile site by advertisers like Sony (for the DVD release of “District 9″) and Kia, both of whom were able to easily reach their target audience, no matter where they were looking for video.

The addition of advertising space to YouTube’s mobile website is not only of great interest to mobile marketers, it also comes as a blow to rabid YouTube critics claiming that YouTube would falter in finding new ways to create profitable revenue models.

Share This

With Ring-Back Tones (RBT) becoming more popular everyday, especially in areas outside the U.S., the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has published a new whitepaper detailing the appropriate opportunities and considerations when working with the concept.

Created with the help of MMA members 4play Digital Workshop, Comverse, Livewire Mobile, Ringco and Xipto, the whitepaper is designed to provide marketers with insight into the little-known and regulated concept of marketing via Ring-Back Tones, to ensure a positive, rewarding experience for consumers.

The concept of RBTs have been around for a while now, but only used by carriers in a very under-utilized environment.  Recently though, the possibilities have been introduced to third-party advertisers who recognize the unique opportunity and reach the concept has.

“Although ring-back tones have been repurposed by operators for almost a decade, it’s only recently that marketers are able to take advantage of this opportunity,” explained Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, APAC, Mobile Marketing Association.  ”With more than 3 billion mobile phones in use worldwide, and approximately 12 billion inbound calls each day, RBTs offer a compelling new media platform for marketers today.  In line with MMA’s efforts to educate marketers and protect consumer experience, MMA members have put together this whitepaper to provide insights into harvesting the potential of this new emerging area of focus as a marketing channel.”

Read the rest

Share This