Microsoft, Nokia and AT&T teamed up for a major marketing push behind the April launch of Nokia’s Windows Phone-powered Lumia 900. AT&T reportedly put up $150 million for promotional activities around the device that Microsoft and Nokia are counting on to mount a credible challenge to Apple and Google in the smartphone market. Priced for mass adoption at just $99, the Lumia 900 sports a sleek body, large display and features like high-speed 4G service via AT&T. But a new Yankee Group report finds the Nokia phone has not been a hit with customers so far, based on a May survey of 111 Lumia 900 users. On a 1-5 rating scale, 41% of survey participants answered “1” -- that they aren’t likely at all to recommend the phone to a friend or family member. While the Lumia 900 overall earned a rating of 2.5 out of 5, the report noted that its Net Promoter Score -- a widely used measure of product and service success -- was -50, suggesting that far fewer consumers were willing to recommend it than not. The research showed the majority of Lumia 900 owners (61%) were first-time smartphone buyers, indicating that the device had captured the attention of consumers entering the market. Buyers were drawn by the AT&T brand and the device’s low price tag. Given that AT&T typically rates lowest among the four major carriers for customer satisfaction in Consumer Reports surveys, that doesn’t say much for Nokia or Microsoft. What went wrong? According to Yankee Group, a series of missteps undermined the Lumia 900 launch. For one, the U.S. release was scheduled on Easter Sunday, when most AT&T stores were closed for the holiday. After debuting, some customers found their phones could not access data on the cellular network, undercutting AT&T’s claims of high speeds on its LTE network. In response, AT&T ended up providing a $100 credit on the Lumia 900 phone for the month of April. Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe also faults AT&T for pricing the device too low. “Our survey shows that owners bought the phone because it was cheap -- not because of its features, Nokia’s brand or Windows Phone OS -- and that cheap message undid AT&T’s unique selling proposition for the phone,” he wrote. Howe added that any new “hero” phone -- like the HTC One X AT&T subsequently launched this spring -- should be sold at a $199 list price or higher with a two-year contract. That is, a premium product should carry a premium price. Microsoft declined to provide any sales data for the Lumia 900, but said in a statement Friday the company was “optimistic” about the short- and long-term prospects for the Windows Phone line. Ramon Llamas, a mobile analyst with research firm IDC, said that based on anecdotal information, the Lumia 900 got off to a strong start but that consumer enthusiasm has cooled more recently with the focus switching to newer models, like the HTC X One. “These flagship devices, they by and large change every six weeks or so,” he said, unwilling to write the phone off yet. Taking the larger view, Yankee Group's Howe argued that Microsoft should buy Nokia outright if it wants to get its mobile offerings into the mainstream, especially now that Google has completed its acquisition of Motorola. That would give it the best chance of seamlessly blending software and hardware products to compete in the intensely competitive smartphone arena. As it is, Microsoft's mobile platform is only running on 4% of U.S. smartphones, according to the latest comScore data.
With Kayak’s long-delayed IPO finally moving forward, the travel search site’s updated S-1 filing highlights the growing importance of mobile to its business, along with the challenges it brings. On the plus side is the increased use of Kayak’s mobile properties, supporting overall revenue growth. The company says its mobile applications were downloaded 2.3 million times in the second quarter, up 40% from the year-earlier period. Its apps for smartphones and tablets on major platforms like iOS and Android have been downloaded a total of 15 million times since 2009. Kayak also attributes its 31.5% revenue growth in the last year to $224.5 million largely to increased travel-related queries on its Web sites and mobile apps, which increased 44.9% in the first quarter of 2012, and 41.7% for full-year 2011. Searches conducted on mobile apps accounted for almost 17% of total queries in the first quarter, up from 11.6% a year ago. But here’s the problem: Revenue from apps made up just 2% of total revenue in the first quarter and in 2011. Kayak notes in its IPO filing that the increase in query volume was partially offset by a reduction in RPM (revenue per thousand travel searches) “due to an increase in mobile queries, for which we earn revenue at a lower rate.” The RPM dropped 7.1% in 2011, and 4% in the first quarter. In a similar vein, Google saw its overall cost-per-click rate fall 12% in the first quarter, in part because of cheaper mobile ad rates. Kayak is facing the same issues as other companies, including Facebook, Pandora and LinkedIn; their ability to monetize mobile properties lags the increase in usage. The problem was highlighted in the recent Internet trends report by Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker showing that mobile eCPMs are about five times lower than those on the desktop ($3.50 versus 75 cents). Still, Kayak is counting on mobile apps -- and improved monetization -- to fuel revenue growth. The company cited data showing that the percentage of leisure travelers using or likely to use a mobile phone to research travel products, such as hotel rooms or flights, increased from 39% in 2010 to 55% in 2011. Likewise, the percentage of travelers using or likely to use a mobile phone to book such travel products increased from 35% in 2010 to 38% last year. Kayak expects those trends will only grow. How well the company can manage the transition to a more mobile-centric travel world will end up playing a big part in how Kayak fares as a public company. Considering the company first filed to go public in November 2010, making a market debut would be a good start. Its aim is to sell 3.5 million shares at $22 to $25 apiece.
USA Today is among the publishers that are moving early into the mobile space, with more than a dozen properties spanning the mobile Web and apps, smartphones and tablets. As the newspaper industry grapples with the digital transition, mastering the mobile landscape will be a key part of that effort. MediaPost caught up with David Payne, SVP and chief digital officer at Gannett Co., to discuss how the company’s flagship newspaper is keeping up with the audience shift to connected devices. MP: What has been USA Today’s approach to building out its mobile presence, especially when it comes to apps? DP: Consistently, USA Today either gets into that first wave of application development -- often we’re invited into that process as new operating systems are developed -- or if we’re not invited into that early wave, we’re immediately on it. The strategy has been to push out product as fast as possible, native to the application, and avoid trying to port one thing over to another platform. The most recent one was the Kindle Fire, where we had a team develop specifically for the Fire, and got that out in time for Christmas. MP: How many downloads have USA Today apps had to date? DP: Across all of our products for tablets and smartphones and tablets, we’re at about 14.5 million downloads. The majority of our traffic and downloads are on the iPhone and iPad. We have 4.7 million users across all our mobile platforms. There are more people using our mobile products on a daily basis than looking at the [print] newspaper. MP: What difference do you see in use between tablets and smartphones? DP: They’re completely different platforms, particularly when it comes to monetization. That really is the ultimate question -- how do we translate the growth we’re seeing in these products to revenue growth? The tablet has the potential to take television share, a larger proportion of the display market and the print market, radio and so forth. We’re already developing really interesting video, social, branding and direct-response units inside that one platform. When you get to the phone, that can be more of an activation device, or a facilitator of m-commerce. It’s going to be a platform that we run a lot of ads on. Those two divergent paths with mobile require two different strategies. MP: Is the tablet the main focus for USA Today when it comes to mobile? DP: From an ad standpoint, two data points are becoming more defined. The tablet is largely a product being used at home, a little bit at work, and generally being used on Wi-Fi. People are consuming news content early in the morning, late at night and on the weekend. And that lends itself to a different type of ad strategy, in addition to the screen itself being large enough for people to shop for products. MP: Given those differences, are you trying to sell advertising across platforms? DP: We’re definitely doing the cross-platform sell as a way to reach people at different times in different places. The industry is not quite there yet in selling different messages synchronized with behavior. We’re selling Olympic packages against all products and platforms now. MP: Earlier this year, Gannett adopted a metered subscription model for the digital versions of its local newspapers. Could that model be extended to USA Today? DP: The current plan is to stay with an ad-supported model. MP: What proportion does mobile advertising contribute to total ad revenue for USA Today? DP: We’re in the same place as anybody, with the possible exception of Weather Channel, in that 10% to 20% range. MP: What’s in the pipeline? DP: We’re actually in the process of relaunching all of USA Today, about eight new products coming out in the next couple of months. We’ll push out a new iPad app, a Windows 8 product, a newly designed mobile Web product, a new release on the iPhone, and an update to the Kindle Fire. MP: How do you see the outlook for Windows 8 on the desktop and tablets? DP: We’re really excited about that because of the distribution opportunity you have with Microsoft; it still owns the work marketplace. We have an extraordinary amount of distribution and use of news content at work. With the Windows 8 platform, you also have touch-enabled applications, which really start marrying the tablet with the desktop.
Two trends in online video advertising, interactivity and real-time buying, converged on Thursday, as video tech provider Innovid and buying platform TubeMogul struck a partnership giving marketers the ability to manage and execute interactive online video advertising features, real-time bidding and ad placement from within a single dashboard. More specifically, Innovid’s iRoll product, which lets marketers enhance their online video ads with features like social-sharing tools, dynamic store locators, product carousels, and shopping carts from within the video player, and its engagement metrics will now be accessible from TubeMogul’s platform in real-time. Marketers will also be able to compare the performance of the interactive units, which are sold on a cost per engagement basis, alongside standard pre-roll, mobile, connected TV, and other video formats. “Video is already inherently one of the best branding mediums, so to add the opportunity to allow viewers to explore a product more deeply and actually purchase it right from the video player, creates a huge potential upside for brand marketers,” said Brett Wilson, CEO and Co-Founder of TubeMogul. “Adding interactivity to targeted real-time buying of video advertising makes for a powerful combination,” said Dewayne Hankins, Director of New Media at AEG Sports. "Rather than simply having viewers click through to a site, viewers can learn within the ad itself in a way that is customized to them, like automatically displaying available game tickets for an upcoming match."
It wasn’t long ago that “lonelygirl15” represented the height of Web-based programming. Showing just how far the industry has come, Warner Bros. unit Warner Premiere is about to debut “H+ The Digital Series” -- a live-action Web series produced by Bryan Singer of "The Usual Suspects” and "X-Men: First Class" fame. Although no Hollywood blockbuster, the online series -- set to premiere August 8 on YouTube -- boasts a production value that would have been impossible just a few years ago. Directed by Stewart Hendler, the futuristic series stars B-list talent like Alexis Denisof -- best known for his work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” -- and Amir Arison, who viewers might (or might not) recognize from “Law & Order: SVU.” What the series lacks in household names, however, it tries to make up for in online innovations like easy access, viewer engagement and interactive features. Said Singer, the project gave him the “freedom to engage fans with new content that is immersive, interactive and is tailored to be enjoyed online.” Singer pitches “H+” as an episodic journey into the future where consumers are rapidly installing a chip called "HPlus" into their nervous systems that lets them access the Web with their minds. Things get interesting when a related virus kills off a third of world’s population overnight. Trying to build buzz, viewers can already subscribe to the “H+ The Digital Series” channel on YouTube. Leading up to the launch, Singer -- along with co-producers Warner Premiere and Dolphin Digital Entertainment -- will use YouTube, along with a dedicated Facebook page, to whet viewer appetites with teaser content, like clues into story plots and subplots. The effort is part of a broader effort by YouTube to move away from throwaway videos (think dogs on skateboards) and toward premium, brand-friendly fare. Beyond YouTube, the Web is attracting more talent and resources. Yahoo, for example, just debuted its glitziest project ever. Along with Tom Hanks’ Playtone production company and Reliance Entertainment, Yahoo’s new animated series, “Electric City” is set to make its global debut on July 17 on “Yahoo Screen.” The “H+” series is being distributed by Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.
Ah, can you smell it in the air? It’s summer partnerships, which can lead to fall mergers! The online video industry has been all cozy with each other lately (dare I say, there’s some serious dating going on!), and the newest set of partners to cuddle up are real-time ad buying platform TubeMogul and interactive video technology firm Innovid. The just-inked partnership brings Innovid’s interactive ad formats into TubeMogul’s platform, so that TubeMogul clients can include the Innovid ads in their buys, and can also do all the measuring and analyzing of results from one dashboard too. Essentially, the integration lets users compare metrics like engagement and brand lift for their interactive units and other type of video ads in one spot, the companies said. And that’s a good thing. We’re all trying to do that in our lives in one way or another, whether it’s finding one fabulous over-the-top box that has YouTube, Netflix and Amazon on it, or even moving all our apps onto the home screen of our smartphone. Whatever it is, we want our lives to be easier and our technology to be consolidated. The consolidation is particularly vital in this deal, TubeMogul said, because comparing formats has been a big headache for marketers. “Now they can look at it in the same place they are looking at brand survey, engagement and Nielsen GRP data, comparing specific audiences and sites across mobile, connected TV, YouTube pre-roll,” said David Burch, TubeMogul’s communications director. “That also means they can buy transparently, knowing exactly where an ad is running and being able to log in at anytime to turn off a specific site that is not performing.” In addition, Innovid’s ad format is pretty cool and offers marketers a number of innovative ways to add an interactive element, be it a recipe or more info, to an ad. The deal also speaks to a growing trend in online video – that of partnerships among various online video companies. Earlier this spring, Adap.tv launched its App Center that brings tools from a range of vendors into a one-stop marketplace as well. Often, these looser deals precede larger ones. You know, the M&A kind. So perhaps this summer of dating will lead to a fall of weddings.