The Kids Are All Right (On Smartphones) by Mark Walsh

Smartphone penetration has hit nearly 30% in the U.S., according to Nielsen, up from less than 20% a year ago, as high-end devices become increasingly mainstream. But are the young users often prized by marketers part of the smartphone surge -- or are they sticking with regular cell phones? ...Read the whole story

  • Microsoft Bing Launches Mobile, Local, Social Features by Laurie Sullivan

    Microsoft unveiled a variety of updates and improvements Wednesday, both for Bing online and mobile search apps, at an event in San Francisco. The mobile apps include Bing Vision and Autosuggest. Social apps let users share their location through Facebook, Foursquare or Windows Live Activity Stream. ...Read the whole story

  • M&A Related To Ad Industry Should Rise In 2011 by Laurie Sullivan

    Ad industry and media companies should brace for a wild ride next year. Companies expect merger and acquisition activity to rise in 2011 -- with between 78% and 86% expecting M&A in content and services, respectively, to come from strategic buyers, and between 63% and 68% from financial buyers such as equity firms and investors, according to findings from an AdMedia Partners study released Wednesday. About fifty-eight percent of respondents think the economy will grow stronger in 2011, compared with 2010. ...Read the whole story

  • JiWire Rolls Out Location-Based Ad Platform by Mark Walsh

    Public Wi-Fi network provider JiWire continues to capitalize on the hyper-local advertising craze online and via mobile devices. Fresh off its distribution deal with Groupon, the company Wednesday unveiled a new location-focused ad format that provides detailed information about the proximity and availability of products advertised. ...Read the whole story

  • tourism Carnival Cruise Sponsors Times Square Confetti Drop by Tanya Irwin

    The Miami-based company is the official confetti sponsor of the 2011 celebration, which is expected to attract more than a million celebrants. Carnival will also engage the crowd through billboard advertisements and a text-to-win cruise giveaway. The cruise line is promoting the sponsorship on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. ...Read the whole story

  • CBS To Stream College Basketball Online, Mobile by David Goetzl

    CBS Sports will again simulcast a run of college hoops games gratis on the Web and mobile devices, while adding a social-media component. A series of live games from three conferences -- highlighted by Kentucky-Louisville and the Big Ten championship - will be available. ...Read the whole story

  • Tribune Media Services Acquires Video Search Company CastTV by Gavin O'Malley

    Tribune Media Services on Thursday announced the acquisition of video search company CastTV. The acquisition is expected to improve TMS' entertainment metadata, which clients can use to create entertainment-discovery guides that direct consumers to programs available on linear, on-demand and online video platforms. ...Read the whole story

  • inMobi: Smartphones Majority of Mobile Ad Inventory by Mark Walsh

    Buoyed by the spread of the Android operating system, smartphone impressions now make up more than half (56%) of the U.S. ad inventory of mobile ad network inMobi. New data released by inMobi Thursday showed Android alone accounts for 19.2% of impressions, second only to Apple's iOS, which generates 24.6% as of October. ...Read the whole story

'You're Making Me Do What?' The Immediacy Imperative Of Mobile by Steve Smith

If there is a pet peeve of the year in the mobile media and marketing realm, it involves our growing impatience with brands making the consumer jump through hoops for no significant pay-off. The simple act of downloading a branded app that has no apparent function or raison d'etre other than the greater glory of the brand is, in fact, an imposition on the mobile user. Making me key in an SMS code and click through ensuing links just to get the same movie trailer I can see five times an hour on cable? That is a "value add"? Are ...More

  • Mobile Search: Are We There Yet? by Laurie Sullivan

    Some ad executives say that if we have to keep asking ourselves if 2010 represents the year of mobile then we're clearly not there yet. Consider this as the year comes to a close. On Wednesday, Microsoft launched a slew of applications for search on mobile devices, and eBay acquired mobile application developer Critical Path Software to boost ecommerce. And Google released stats this week that suggest we're closer than many think. ...More