A new report underscores just how long the long tail is in Apple's App Store. More than half of iPhone applications have less than 1,000 active users and only 5% had more than 100,000 users as of May, according to the latest monthly metrics report from mobile ad network AdMob. The data is based on usage by 15.1 million unique users across the 2,309 free iPhone iPhone (and iPod touch) applications in the AdMob marketplace. The findings should come as little surprise to iPhone app developers already well aware of the difficulty of cracking the App Store's top 10, or even top 100 list. A lucky few are also plucked out of obscurity to be featured on the store home page, giving them a huge advantage over competing apps. With more than 50,000 free and paid apps now available, brands must build promotional expenses into the cost of launching new iPhone apps. Why do so many fail to gain more than 1,000 fans? "There are any number of reasons that an application could fall into this low-use category. The apps could be brand new, very old, targeted to a niche market, or not provide a good user experience," according to the AdMob report. But the company argues that a significant portion (14%) of apps have built a strong base of tens of thousands of users. "As more and more iPhones and iPod touches are sold worldwide, usage of the medium and long tail of apps should increase," wrote Mike Fyall, AdMob's manager of product marketing, on the company blog. For marketers advertising in third-party apps, how do they keep from getting stuck on apps that no one is using? Jason Spero, AdMob's vice president and managing director for North America, said advertisers typically buy certain audiences across mobile sites and apps in its network or placement on premium publisher sites rather than selected apps. In its May report, AdMob also said that the iPhone accounted for a growing share of U.S. smartphone traffic on its network, increasing to 69% last month from 59% in April. It represents about half of global traffic. Smartphones now make up 37% of all mobile traffic in the U.S. as well globally.
Hardee's is diving headlong into mobile as part of an interactive, multi-platform campaign to introduce its newest menu item, Biscuit Holes. The campaign, which asks Hardee's fans to help the chain come up with a better name for the deep-fried biscuit treats, also encompasses numerous integrated advertising, social media and online components. Humorous commercials from Mendelsohn|Zien Advertising -- some with a "man on the street" format in which people are asked to sample and rename the holes -- are being televised within Hardee's' markets (Midwest and Southeast), as well as being posted on Hardee's YouTube brand channel and Facebook page. The commercials drive consumers to the campaign's microsite, www.NameOurHoles.com, to submit their name ideas. Once there, they may also choose to tweet their name suggestions to their Twitter followers, post them on their own Facebook walls, or submit a video. Some of the consumer-generated videos will be pushed to the Hardee's YouTube channel, where there are more options for sharing the content with friends. But the most novel aspect of the campaign is an aggressive, highly integrated mobile component that may cause other QSRs to notice. Consumers with mobile Net access can use a mobile-optimized version of the NameOurHoles site not only to submit their name suggestions, but to watch the commercials on streaming video, share the site, send personalized Hardee's mobile greeting cards to friends, view product information and photos or opt to receive updates from Hardee's. The mobile site, created by iLoop Mobile, integrates with the microsite through form fields that collect the user's suggested name for Biscuit Holes, as well as other user profile data. Names suggested via mobile actually are inserted into the TV spots after being transmitted to the Web site's database. The campaign will also deliver geotargeted advertising across Jumptap's ad network through a channel comprising premium sites and applications predominantly frequented by adults 18 to 49, including Boost Mobile, Joker Poker, MocoSpace, LimeLife and Weatherbug. Hardee's will also run display ads on tapMatch, Jumptap's self-service pay-per-click mobile performance marketplace. In addition to the TV commercials, social media exposure and online advertising, a special online-only video is being shown on the IndoorDirect systems installed in some Hardee's restaurants, and also on YouTube, reports Brad Rosenberg, manager of digital strategy and marketing for CKE. This spot includes a direct call to action, urging customers to get on their cell phones right now, go to the site and submit a name idea for Biscuit Holes. If all that weren't enough, a sticker affixed to all packaging for the Biscuit Holes drives customers to the URL to submit their name ideas. "We view our 'young, hungry guy' customers as people who are going to do things instantaneously, so mobile seems a natural" medium for CKE, notes Rosenberg. Considering the importance of teens and young adults to the customer bases of all QSRs, one would assume that most of them would be all over mobile by now. But in reality, these chains have been "very moderate" in adopting the medium thus far, in contrast to industries such as entertainment, travel and financial services, according to Paran Johar, CMO of mobile advertising solutions provider Jumptap. Because of this campaign's highly interactive nature, CKE and Mendelsohn|Zien, its agency of record, recognized it as a "great opportunity" to employ mobile's ability to engage, Johar adds. "Mobile isn't just an afterthought in this campaign; it is integrated into its core," he says. It didn't hurt that the costs of the mobile component of the campaign were actually courtesy of a free "mobile advertising immersion" program that was given away by Jumptap, iLoop and digital marketing researcher InsightExpress during ad:tech's MobileMax conference this past April. To showcase mobile marketing's power and how the integration process works, the promotion offered a full program worth $55,000 -- including the media placement through Jumptap, iLoop's mobile site services, and results measurement through InsightExpress's Mobile AdInsights' study. The Hardee's Biscuit Holes case study and its results are scheduled to be presented at ad:tech New York in November. CKE's previous mobile efforts have been much more limited. A "Burger Slayer" application encouraged customers to take digital camera photos of themselves eating a Hardee's or Carl's Jr. burger and post them to the Web. The two chains also offer an "iBurger" application for the iPhone that lets fans indulge in virtually devouring a Thickburger.
Financially strapped, Ion Media Networks says it is one of the first broadcasters to distribute three TV technologies in one broadcast stream. In its New York and Washington, D.C. stations, Ion is offering a triple play of TV signals -- high-definition TV, multiple local digital networks and mobile TV -- under one TV digital signal. The company owns 60 TV stations, including ones in each of the top 20 U.S. markets. "Digital technology lets us reach more homes, enables HD quality and new digital networks, as well as mobile reception," said Brandon Burgess, chairman/CEO of Ion Media Networks, in a release. Ion and Burgess have been at the forefront of establishing mobile TV under the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a trade group of more than 800 broadcast television stations, where TV signals could be sent directly to mobile phones. Burgess is president of the OMVC. Ion is using technology known as ATSC-M/H, developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, to enable delivery of television to mobile and handheld devices. For example, in New York, in a single broadcast stream from Ion's owned-and-operated station, WPXN, a mobile stream is broadcast alongside WPXN's HD signal and ION's two multicast channels. Last month, Ion Media Networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy -- an effort intended to restructure $2.7 billion in legacy debt and preferred stock. Ion then announced it had reached an accord with a group of holders of over 60% of its first lien senior secured debt. Ion Media Networks, parent of Ion Television, reaches over 96 million U.S. television households via its nationwide broadcast television, cable and satellite distribution systems. Ion Television also airs a specialty programming block from qubo, Ion Media's children's digital television network.
A number of big newspaper publishers have struck deals with Verve Wireless to create systems for delivering content to various mobile devices, including cell phones and PDAs. Belo, Cox Newspapers, Hearst and MediaNews Group are all using Verve to "mobilize" their content, which includes tweaking the format so it can be delivered to customers. The Verve deals cover a number of big newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Palm Beach Post and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which went online-only earlier this year. In addition to helping newspapers deliver mobile content, Verve is handling mobile ad serving as well, giving newspaper advertisers new options for multiplatform sales -- a key selling point for big newspaper publishers, which are desperately seeking to rebuild local and national ad revenues. The potential for local mobile advertising has been identified as a key future growth area for newspapers, with double-digit growth forecast in coming years. Verve offers hyper-local, neighborhood-level targeting for mobile advertisers. Overall, Verve claims to have a presence in 200 media markets, including the top DMAs, allowing it to execute national and regional campaigns as well. Verve also revealed several new offerings for its media customers, including an iPhone Web app and mobile video capabilities. Altogether, the company claims to have increased the number of media properties it represents by 85% in just three months. It touts figures which have it reaching 3 million consumers per month, with monthly traffic including more than 47.5 million page views and over 1 million mobile video streams.
Verizon Wireless and its subsidiary Alltel Communications have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the state of Florida to resolve an investigation by the state Attorney General into deceptive Web ads for "free" ringtones. The settlement marks the latest chapter in Attorney General Bill McCollum's longstanding investigation into Web ads that promise free mobile content, but actually are for paid subscription services. McCollum has previously settled with other players in the mobile content market, including AT&T and AzoogleAds. The authorities have alleged that consumers were tricked into providing their cell numbers in exchange for supposedly free ringtones or other content, and were then billed monthly fees for subscription services. The Verizon deal, termed an "assurance of voluntary compliance," deal calls on Verizon to pay $1 million and Alltel to pay $500,000. (Verizon purchased Alltel last year, but the settlement addresses the companies separately.) The telecom also will offer rebates to consumers. Press reports say that those rebates could come to $30 million ($24 million for Verizon and $6 million for Alltel), but a Verizon spokesman said those numbers "have absolutely no basis in reality." In addition, Verizon agreed to require third-party advertisers to prominently disclose the costs of ringtones, horoscopes, wallpaper and other mobile content. A Verizon spokesperson said the company already takes such steps. "Our agreement with the Florida AG reflects business changes we have made over the past few years to ensure that third-party content is marketed, advertised and billed accurately to consumers," he said.
Nearly half (48%) of Americans would drop their mobile data plans completely if they had to cut household expenditures, according to a new study by Strategy Analytics. At the same time, only 10% would drop their home broadband subscription. Ben Piper, director of Strategy Analytics' multiplay market dynamics service, said in a statement that the technology research firm wasn't surprised that consumers placed a high value on home broadband. "What surprised us was the vulnerability of mobile services," he said. Under the same expense-cutting scenario, 12% of Americans said they would drop their pay-tv service completely, while 41% would scale service back to a lower tier. Fifty-six percent would make no changes to their home fixed voice service, compared to 51% for mobile voice. "These results suggest that while American consumers consider home broadband service to be a vital utility, they see mobile data service as simply a 'nice to have,'" noted David Mercer, vice president of Strategy Analytics' digital consumer practice.
Google's formal announcement that it was feeding AdWords placements into iPhone and Android apps took me by surprise today. I thought this had started a while ago. For a couple of weeks now I have been running across these little text links in some apps. They sport a tiny blue "g" in the right corner. My early experience is mixed with these ads. In Pandora, for instance, the geo-targeting was about right when it fed me an offer to book Maryland bands (I live right over the line in Delaware), but the link kicks me into a full Web site that is poorly identified and filled with microscopic, mobile-unfriendly text. Google is not responsible for landing pages, of course, but it is the first sign that a Web experience is being grafted onto mobile. To Pandora's credit, however, it handles the ads well. Google ads rotate in with the display banners, and the click-through keeps the user in the app (the music keeps playing). I had a similar experience in Urbanspoon, an early tester of the Google AdWords network. The targeting was pretty good. My restaurant selector was set for Korean food and the Google ad popped up a link to a Korean chain that had a Philadelphia location. But again, the experience was geared to the Web. I got a full Web site that I had to pinch and scroll endlessly. And again, Urbanspoon was smart and kind enough to keep me in their app. If I had been kicked over to the Safari browser for this, I would have been ticked off. I know that many of my friends in the industry disagree with me, but I think the full Web experience on mobile is wholly unappealing. In this case, it's not just that a landing site is unlikely to format well even on the iPhone, but that you don't know what kind of load the site will carry. Sitting on top of my router this is fine, but out there on the patchy AT&T 3G network, it will make me think thrice before clicking a Google text link. Along the way I have gotten some blank screens as landing pages and some customary Google targeting misfires. I am also not sure about the topic targeting. My "Pizza" hunt in Urbanspoon got me to my nearby Pizza Hut in Newark, with a Google counterpoint ad for Papa John's -- but in Philly. That's not so bad. But if I am listening to my custom "The Band" channel on Pandora, do I really want to book a band or listen to music? OK, so I figure I might screw with the machine. I put on my daughter's Megadeth channel. I get a Google ad for DUI lawyers. "Carly Simon radio" renders Sentinel Self Storage. I am struggling for the connection. And then in subsequent songs the DUI ads cycle back in. Because James Taylor- and Carole King-lovers are known for their intemperance? Or I just look a little woozy? It gets better. "Born to Run" radio kicks me over to a spa site ("Be Truly Well"), which seems a likely place to run into Bruce. Now here is an interesting one. I create an Eminem station and get an ad that finally seems right on target for "Music Video." It links to Bing.com/shopping. No joke. The best targeting Google mustered for me kicked me over to Bing to buy music videos. To paraphrase Don Rickles, I kid because I love. In fact, I like the fact that Google is here more obviously because it does help validate the platform as an ad vehicle. Indeed, the text links here look better and are more visible than their Web counterparts. The prose is not very compelling. But with that higher visibility, the flaws in the system become more apparent. So far I am not seeing any interesting calls to action. Well, I guess "Be Truly Well" is close. On the other hand, the user experience is still cobbled and half-assed. The worst aspect of mobile advertising is that the consumer really doesn't know what he or she will get on the other side of a click, and in this sense Google isn't helping by dumping us onto indecipherable Web pages that make us work to absorb the pitch. Or telling a James Taylor fan he may have a drinking problem.