Connecting the Internet with television viewing through mobile devices, the discovery media company Shazam will provide NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, with a social TV experience during the 2012 London Olympics. On NBCUniversal properties -- NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, Bravo and CNBC -- U.S. viewers can use the Shazam app on their mobile device to view polls and share on Twitter and Facebook, unlock unique content about athletes, and gain up-to-the-minute information on results and medal counts. Millions are expected to watch coverage this summer. The deal comes at a time when broadcasters and social media are more comfortable collaborating. In the United States, 88% of tablet owners and 86% of smartphone owners use their device while watching TV in a 30-day period, according to Nielsen. Shazam's goal to expand 30- and 60-second spots into a three-minute video or experience on Twitter and Facebook will likely tie brand sponsorships into the agreement. It's not clear whether the network will use the partnership to run 15-second tune-in spots. It is clear, however, that viewers can tap the Shazam app in front of the TV and in two seconds be transported to another experience across the Internet. "We see the strategy as taking a 30-second TV spot and turning it into three minutes or more of engagement on the Web," said Evan Krauss, EVP of advertising at Shazam. Nabisco launched a social media campaign on TV for Wheat Thins late last week using Shazam to spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Through Shazam's technology, the audio in the television ad identifies the sound and links to a pre-written Twitter post. Those who tweet the post get a free sample of the product. Krauss said between 60% and 90% of consumers who initially engage with a Shazam ad take further action, such as tweeting a post or watching a video. Many consumers come back to the platform to explore the brand's advertisement up to three days later. Consumer packaged-goods companies tend to do well with coupons. Movie studios do well with trailers, times and ticket purchases. The "Men In Black 3" TV trailer built on Fandango gave consumers movie times in relation to their location, and allowed them to purchase the tickets. More than 80% of the time, consumers will spend more time with the trailer on the second screen. Backend analytics give advertisers aggregate numbers of people who "Touch to Shazam" on a smartphone or iPad. Advertisers also have access to reports that monitor each second. Krauss said "overlaying these numbers on top of TV schedules gives brands insight into markets, programs and commercial pods that drive engagement in spots."
When it comes to using mobile phones as the primary means of Web access, emerging countries like India or China might come to mind. But nearly a third (31%) of adult U.S. mobile Web users say they now go online mostly through their cell phones, according to the latest study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. That works out to 17% of all American adults who own a mobile handset. Those proportions are slightly above the corresponding figures last year of 27% and 13%, respectively, but the percentage increases are within the margin of error. Overall, more than half (55%) of mobile owners go online through their phones, up from 47% last year. Leading the mobile-only Web trend are young people and minorities. Nearly half of all 18- to-29-year-olds (45%) who access the Internet on phones do most of their online browsing on their mobile device. Half (51%) of African-Americans and 42% of Hispanics in the same category also mostly go online through their phones. By contrast, only 24% of white mobile Web users turn mainly to their devices for Web access. Less affluent (income of under $50,000 annually) and less well-educated people were also more likely to rely mostly on their phones for Web browsing than those with higher incomes and college or higher levels of education. Why are some people mostly using their phones to go online? The majority (64%) of “cell-mostly” users cited convenience and the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones as the main reason. They also said mobile devices better fit their online habits (18%), and 10% pointed to a lack of other options for going online. Looking at the broader population, Pew found 88% have a mobile device, and almost half (49%) use their devices to access the Web or use email. Three-quarters of mobile Web users (74%) go online on their phones at least once a day, or 41% of all cell owners. The report highlighted that mobile Web browsing and email use has risen steadily in recent years, to 55% of mobile owners as of April 2012, from 31% three years ago. The Pew figures roughly correspond with the latest data from comScore showing that 49% of mobile subscribers (13 and over) used a browser in April. The Pew findings were based on telephone (and cell phone) interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from March 15 to April 3, 2012 among a sample of 2,254 adults 18 and over.
Mobile Posse, which serves ads on the idle screens of cell phones, has raised $5 million in third-round venture funding led by Harbert Venture Partners and including Softbank Capital, Court Square Ventures, and Columbia Capital. That brings its total raised to date to $23.5 million. The company plans to use the new funding to add carrier partners internationally, build out its U.S.-based business and expand its sales operation. Mobile Posse has forged partnerships with seven domestic wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless, Alltel Wireless and MetroPCS to deliver content and targeting advertising to subscribers on an opt-in basis. Mobile consumers who opt in to use the Mobile Posse-powered "Daily Scoop" app on Verizon, for example, get information like weather and sports scores, along with local offers from retailers, restaurants and others and delivered periodically throughout the day to cell users’ home screens. Other carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket Communications offer similar white-labeled services from Mobile Posse. Marketers that have run mobile campaigns through the company’s platform include 7-Eleven, Allstate, ESPN, Ford and Wal-Mart. Over the last two and half years, Mobile Posse CEO Jon Jackson said the audience reached by its ad service has grown from 1 million to 15 million opt-in subscribers. But with a total of some 200 million mobile subscribers among the carriers it has distribution agreements with, Jackson said there is room for growth. Benefiting the company’s growth in the U.S. has been the proliferation of smartphones. “With those higher-end phones, you’re really able to tune the message and the response to what the advertiser is looking to drive,’ said Jackson. In that vein, he noted Mobile Posse’s ad offering typically delivers click-through rates of 8% to 10%, far higher than standard banners in mobile or the desktop The spread of Android phones in particular has been a plus for Mobile Posse, with a more than a third of its 15 million users owning phones that run the Google smartphone platform. Because Mobile Posse’s software isn’t pre-loaded onto iPhones, getting onto the Apple handsets has been a tougher challenge. The company is also looking to grow beyond the domestic market by striking similar distribution arrangements with carriers overseas.
Travora Media, which operates a vertical network of more than 300 travel lifestyle sites, is extending it business model beyond the desktop with the launch of a new mobile-focused ad network. Dubbed Mango (Mobile Ad Network on-the-GO), the network will offer inventory of over 350 million monthly page views across mobile Web sites and apps of its online properties. That includes content from travel publishers such as Flight View, My Weather, Guide Pal, Trazzler, Let’s Go, and Matador Network. Travora will offer advertisers standard mobile display placements, as well as higher-level ad and marketing options including location-based targeting, geo-fencing and augmented reality executions. Given the natural link between mobile technology and travel, Alec Tallman, VP, integrated marketing at Travora, said setting up a mobile network was a logic step for the company. “There’s a frenzy of activity that happens right around a couple of key points in a travel lifecycle -- booking, pre-trip, and all the activity that switches to a mobile device while people are in-trip,” Tallman said. Based on the limited mobile advertising Travora has run so far, he said the company is seeing higher engagement levels with mobile ads than those on the desktop. Vacation rental service HomeAway and Cathay Pacific Airways are among the travel marketers already running campaigns on the mobile side. Travora is selling mobile advertising on a CPM basis, but Tallman declined to provide rates. The company’s existing ad sales staff will take on selling mobile along with the network’s desktop inventory. It has also brought on mobile ad expertise via employees coming from some of the publishers in its network. Travora’s online network, which reaches 26 million monthly visitors, includes both owned-and-operated properties like the NileGuide, 10Best, and Localyte, as well as independent sites and apps. In terms of its mobile growth, the company says it has a goal of reaching 1 billion monthly page views.
Broadband subscribers consented to participate in trials of a controversial behavioral targeting program by failing to opt out, the Internet service provider Wide Open West argues in new court papers. Wide Open West was one of six ISPs to partner in 2007 and 2008 with the defunct behavioral advertising company NebuAd. That company worked with broadband providers to use controversial deep-packet inspection in order to gather data about subscribers' activity in order to serve them targeted ads. The platform drew objections from privacy advocates, as well as lawmakers, who argued that ISPs were able to provide data about everything consumers did online -- including their searches and activity at noncommercial sites. NebuAd said its data collection was anonymous, and that consumers could opt out of the program. In 2008, after news of the tests came to light, consumers sued NebuAd and the six ISPs, arguing that the companies unlawfully installed "spyware." NebuAd eventually paid $2.4 million to settle litigation about the program. But the ISPs have been fighting the cases; several have won dismissals. Late last year, U.S. District Court Judge Edmond Chang in the Northern District of Illinois granted Wide Open West's motion to send the bulk of the case to arbitration. But he allowed the consumers to proceed in federal court with an allegation that the ISP violated federal wiretap law by intercepting transmissions without users' consent. Wide Open West this month filed new papers saying that the wiretap count should be dismissed. Privacy advocates have said that consumers generally didn't realize that their ISPs were working with NebuAd until after the fact. But Wide Open West argues in its court papers that consumers should have known because the company revised its terms of service, which are available online, four weeks before the tests started. Wide Open West also says that after the program started, it sent consumers emails and snail mail telling them how to opt out of NebuAd's platform. "Plaintiffs consented to the interception of their communications by continuing to use WOW’s Internet services after receiving numerous forms of notice," the company says in its papers. The ISP adds that a total of 3,000 out of 300,000 people opted out of the program.
As the online ad market looks more like the Nasdaq, publishers must decide whether to build their own ad exchanges. Just the latest to take the plunge, Hearst Magazines this week debuted a private exchange, which it put together with the help of Pubmatic. Hearst Digital Media currently represents a portfolio of more than 25 digital brands, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Seventeen and Good Housekeeping. According to Kristine Welker, chief revenue officer of Hearst Digital Media, the decision to go private was all about quality control and exclusivity. “The private exchange will [let us] deliver on the growing complexities around digital media buying within the protected environment of our quality brands and premium content,” said Welker. What’s more, the product allows Hearst to market its ad space by audience segment, noted Philip Wiser, chief technology officer at Hearst Corporation. Thanks to Core Audience (formerly Red Aril), the Hearst Audience Exchange also features its own data management platform (DMP) -- which the company is portraying as a cross between an ad server and customer relationship management platform. With the inclusion of the DMP, Hearst is hoping that its exchange can lure more media buyers with the promise of added value. Hoping to reduce their reliance on third-party ad exchanges -- which have been criticized for driving down CPMs -- publishers have had to take matters into their own hands. Late last year, Hearst rival Condé Nast debuted its own private ad exchange -- after testing it with a select group of advertisers, including eBay and Macy’s, with the help of Admeld, which Google bought last year for $400 million. Last July, NBC Universal also tapped Admeld to launch its own ad exchange. As the time, NBC said the exchange would give clients direct access to premium display ad inventory, which could be targeted at scale across the NBC Universal Audience Platform, NBC's own digital ad network. Still, the amount of online ad dollars being channeled through RTB systems remains small relative to total ad spending. Last year, the total was expected to reach $1.1 billion -- then double to $2 billion, this year -- according to IDC analyst Karsten Weide. To better compete against other “supply-side” ad platforms, PubMatic just recently raised a $45 million round led by August Capital.
“Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless.Christmas dinner's dark and blue.When you stop and try to see itFrom the turkey's point of view.”Shel Silverstein always had a way of succinctly and wittily capturing larger concepts in easily accessible and engaging verse.These opening lines to "Point of View" are essentially all about empathy – that capacity possessed by the human race that many regard as one of the most important characteristics of our species and society.Interestingly, it’s also one of the characteristics that defines outstanding marketers from the merely mediocre and “safe."The ability to empathize underpins great advertising and marketing. It's the willingness to not merely think out of the box, but to act out of it, too. All in order to resonate with consumers.At a time when audiences have well and truly fragmented; when the number of devices available has multiplied and the functionality they offer continues to evolve with new propositions, the only thing that remains constant isthe consumer.Consumers -- or people as we are sometimes known -- remain fundamentally unchanged in the face of what may seem to many huge changes. We still love stories; the arc of a successful and engaging narrative is just ascompelling as it always was. It’s also fundamentally the same arc as it always was.Similarly, we are still motivated and de-motivated by the same things. And our need to communicate, be reassured, reinforced and recognized is not new, either.Certainly, the Web and all it has wrought has provided new ways to pursue our core behaviors. In that respect, there is much to learn and understand about exactly where, when and how consumers interact with their media of choice,which communications media they opt for when reaching out to family and friends, how they shop etc.As more of this behavior is interwoven with digital media and the data feeds they provide, more marketers are able to turn to an increasing range of data sources as they seek to stand out from the competing crowd.But data alone will not deliver competitive advantage.That only comes when reliable data is used to drive insights which are then leveraged by a combination of creativity, a willingness to risk doing something different and –- crucially –- the ability to empathize with the target consumer.Who, nine times out of 10, will be nothing like the people marketing to them.Not only will they often earn less and be less engaged with media and their work (yes, media and marketing folk are pretty unrepresentative), they’ll also have a whole different set of attitudes and contextual drivers for their behavior, which are complex and often illogical and contradictory. But that’s what being human is.If empathy is the capacity to be aware of, sensitive to and understanding of another’s feelings and attitudes, then it is surely the golden thread that should run through all marketing campaigns -- alongside the data-derived insights. And yet, much of modern marketing thinking (and certainly its language) would seem to be the antithesis of empathetic thinking.Marketing in all it’s forms is obviously a science -– but it is also an art. Communications alchemy if you will. And the Art of Empathy is part of the alchemical mix that will deliver competitive advantage to those that are able to apply it.Over the last couple of weeks, my old friend Matt Straz has written a couple of excellent pieces on the importance of thinking like an engineer. Show me someone who can think like an empathetic engineer and I’ll show them a job --perhaps as an empathy engineer.