In 2012, Hulu grew revenue 65% to reach approximately $695 million, the premium streamer said Monday. Among other factors, CEO Jason Kilar attributed the site’s success to better content and more ad partners. In 2012, Hulu grew its ad partnerships by 28%. “Our advertising service consistently sets the standard in online video advertising, including our practice to only charge advertisers when their ad has been streamed through completion,” Kilar said Monday. Throughout the year, the company also grew its title offerings by over 40%, bringing its content partners to around 430, which altogether now serve some 60,000 TV episodes, 2,300 TV series, and 50,000 hours of video on Hulu and Hulu Plus. Even more impressive, Kilar said Hulu Plus now has more than 3 million paying subscribers -- more than doubling its base year-over-year. In 2012, Hulu also said it invested more than $500 million in content. Questions about the company remain, however. Even before Providence Equity Partners officially sold its stake in Hulu in October, there was wide speculation regarding the future of the video venture, and its ability to attract quality content. Easing such concerns, CBS Corporation agreed in November to a non-exclusive, multi-year licensing agreement to stream programs on the Hulu Plus subscription service. In addition to CBS, recent content deals with World Wrestling Entertainment -- and the expansion of its partnership with Viacom to include Nickelodeon content -- suggest Hulu is moving in the right direction. Last month, comScore reported that Hulu saw its viewership number fall sharply in 2012, including a 58% drop to 65 million hours viewed in August. The research firm, however, attributed the decline to a “refinement of tag collection mechanisms,” as well as a broader enumeration change. Meanwhile, Nielsen reported that Hulu -- excluding Hulu Plus -- saw unique monthly visitors decline to 12 million in August from 19 million last December. Originally purchased in 2007 for $100 million, Providence Equity sold its 10% share back to co-owners News Corp., Comcast and Disney for $200 million last month. The deal valued Hulu at $2 billion. With the divestment, top Hulu executives whose shares have already vested should now have the option to cash out of the company. Sources told Variety over the summer that CEO Jason Kilar could cash out at close to $100 million, at which point he would likely leave the company.
Spending on mobile search ads in the U.S. will jump 55% to $3.6 billion next year, of which Google will take 92.4% share, according to research released Monday. Although the majority of Google's mobile ad revenue comes from search, the media will grow more slowly than native display formats. eMarketer estimates that Google maintains a 93.3% share of the overall $1.99 billion U.S. mobile search ad market in 2012. "Shifting consumer behavior has dramatically increased the volume of mobile searches and paid clicks on mobile devices, but advertisers remain hesitant to pay rates per mobile click comparable to those on the desktop, as mobile searchers are still less likely to convert into purchasers than their desktop counterparts," according to the report. Overall, the amount spent on mobile search ads in the United States pales in comparison to investments in native ad formats. The convenience of native ad formats like Facebook's mobile newsfeed ads and Twitter’s Promoted Products have pushed up the amount marketers spend on U.S. mobile ads. It turns out the ads are successful at reaching those spending time on smaller screens. eMarketer estimates that U.S. ad budgets will rise 180% to $4 billion this year for mobile advertising -- display, search and messaging-based ads served to mobile phones and tablets. Released in September 2012, the company previously forecast 80% growth to $2.61 billion. Estimates put 2013 at $7.19 billion, and nearly $21 billion by 2016. Pointing to Facebook’s Q3 mobile performance as a major reason for the uptick, eMarketer estimates Facebook’s U.S. mobile ad revenue at $339 million in 2012, but it still pales in comparison to Google at $2.17 billion. Estimates are based on data from research firms and investment banks, as well as other sources such as ad revenue, impressions and pricing. Overall, U.S. mobile ad revenue estimates demonstrate an uphill climb. eMarketer estimates Google's U.S. net mobile ad revenue at $3.9 billion in 2013, rising to $6.3 billion in 2014. The uptick this year was fueled by direct-response advertising, according to the research firm. Comparing Google's growth with Facebook's, the social network should climb from $851 million in 2013 to $1.2 billion in 2014. Pandora should follow with $347 million and $496 million, respectively. Twitter sits at $249 million and $383 million, and Apple at $213 million and $376, respectively. eMarketer estimates Facebook will generate 18.4% share of the U.S. mobile display advertising market in 2012. Google’s mobile display business takes 17% -- earning $315 million in the U.S. this year, driven primarily by strength of its AdMob network and relationships with advertisers looking to extend their display efforts to mobile devices. "The bulk of future growth for Google’s mobile display business, eMarketer predicts, will come from mobile monetization of YouTube," according to the report. Apple, which holds about 6.7% of the U.S. mobile display ad market, has the potential to capture market share in the long run, according to eMarketer. Millennial Media, by contrast, which has performed similarly to Apple, has less potential to scale -- but it does have an outsized presence in the marketplace, despite its 5.1% share of the after-TAC market.
Further cultivating small business support, Facebook has updated the “Nearby” tab in its iOS and Android apps to enable users to find local spots based on their friends' recommendations and likes. Previously, it was only possible to see places that friends had gone to the trouble of checking in to through the app. Recognizing that the novelty of “checking in” to venues has worn off, Facebook has broadened the functionality of the Nearby tab to offer a more compelling local feature in its app. The expanded Nearby tab also allows people to post their own recommendations and ratings on a five-star basis. “Your own suggestions become more personalized the more you and your friends rate, recommend, and check into places,” stated a company blog post about Nearby tab today by Josh Williams, product manager, location and events at Facebook. Users can also search for different business categories such as hair salons, gas stations and restaurants. In connection with the step, Facebook recommended that small businesses update all their basic information including address, store hours, and phone number in the “About” section of their listing. They should also update their category listing to make sure their business appears when people are looking for a specific type of venue. Jed Williams, analyst and program director at local media research firm BIA/Kelsey, said the changes should benefit local businesses. “It takes Facebook's unparalleled trove of data -- much of which is now mobile-generated and location-based -- and puts it to actionable use for SMBs, and in an automatic way,” he said. And by generating more check-ins, likes, ratings and recommendations, businesses will be rewarded with increased visibility to nearby shoppers, Williams noted. Facebook says nearly half the 150 million daily visits to Facebook pages now come from mobile users in the U.S. Speaking at an industry conference earlier this month, Dan Levy -- who leads the small business team at Facebook -- discussed the company’s efforts to increase services for local businesses, whose presence on the site has doubled this year to 13 million pages. In that vein, Facebook last week introduced a simplified way for small businesses to create “Page Like” ads directly from their own Facebook pages. The enhanced Nearby tab also helps Facebook better compete with location and recommendation services like Foursquare, Yelp and Google+ Local. Williams pointed out that the new Nearby tab in particular resembles the Explore tab Foursquare added to its app earlier this year. If it leads people to spend more time with the Facebook app, then all the better for the company’s efforts to ramp up mobile monetization. In a new report Monday raising its 2012 forecast for U.S. mobile advertising to $4 billion from $2.6 billion, eMarketer expects the social network to account for $339 million of that total -- second only to Google. Facebook is also projected to finish ahead of Google in mobile display, with 18.4% share of the category.
The integration of online and television occur in more than numbers from organizations like the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). An ad from the online site Ancestry.com took the No. 1 spot in Nielsen's ranking for the most-liked new commercial in 2012. More online companies have begun to use TV to reach audiences. Microsoft's search engine Bing turned toward the MTV Video Music Awards to introduce a campaign asking consumers to take a blind search test. It also ran the TV spot "Don't get Scroogled." Google has also run a series of TV ads. The top honor for an online company sheds light on how multiplatform approaches will shape consumer TV viewing in the future. The IAB estimates that 36% of digital video screening on mobile phones happens in a room where a second screen -- TV, desktop computer or tablet -- gets used. As for Nielsen's most-recalled ad, Subway took the No. 1 spot. The ad showed Dean Pelton giving a speech at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new restaurant. The No. 2 spot for the most recalled points to another Subway ad, followed by Porsche, Chevrolet, Tootsie Roll, Louis Vuitton, M&M's, Charmin, Chevrolet, and Kit Kat. Procter & Gamble Co. took the No. 1 spot in the Top 10 U.S. advertisers of 2012. The ads ranking in the Nielsen Tops of 2012: Advertising report ran between January and November. Strong creatives demonstrated a rise in spending. U.S. ad spend for the first three quarters in 2012 rose 2.5% across all media types from the same time period in 2011. Major spenders include automotive, fast food, telecom and wireless, pharma, retail, motion picture and auto insurance. The biggest advertisers by spend point to Procter & Gamble, AT&T, and General Motors. Product placement in ads making this year's top 10 integrate the brand into the story line of television programs, and most placements involved longer-term show sponsorships, which suggest that using a story line to deliver brand messages is effective in both traditional creative and branded integrations.
It looks like Lancome is counting on last-minute mobile shopping this year. With little more than a week before Christmas, the cosmetics giant on Monday announced launching revamped mobile- and tablet-optimized sites to capitalize on holiday shopping and m-commerce across devices. Designed and built by SapientNitro, Lancome’s updated mobile properties include product detail pages featuring color swatching, videos, how-to information and user reviews. The more user-friendly interface is intended to streamline browsing of categories like new products, skin care, and makeup, as well as multiple subcategories, through a series drop-down menus. A simplified checkout process is aimed at driving more sales. The mobile relaunch also features a holiday gift guide that allows customers to shop by price and category. Powering m-commerce for Lancome’s mobile and tablet storefronts is Demandware, which makes a digital commerce platform for desktop Web sites and mobile apps and sites. “Our customers are looking to experience and purchase Lancôme products in many different ways. We’re providing her with the opportunity to do so, while extending the service and experience of Lancôme beyond the department store,” said Alessio Rossi, VP of digital strategy, in a statement. Jaspreet Singh, director of digital strategy for mobile and emerging platforms at SapientNitro, said the updated mobile and tablet sites marked Lancome’s entry into m-commerce in the U.S. However, it was the first cosmetics brand to launch a mobile commerce Web site in Japan in 2007. While Lancome has no iPad app yet, Sing said the company wanted to first focus on creating a more mobile-friendly Web presence on smartphones and tablets to expand its holiday shopping options. “Today’s always-on consumers want to personally connect with their brands across all devices,” he said.
An app featuring Nickelodeon's SpongeBob character unlawfully collects personal data from children, the privacy group Center for Digital Democracy alleges in a complaint filed on Monday with the Federal Trade Commission. The "SpongeBob Diner Dash" iPhone and iPad app, aimed at young children, allegedly collects users' names, email addresses, and other online contact information, without first obtaining consent from parents. A Nick.com spokesperson said on Monday that the company was made aware of the complaint that morning and was investigating. Later that day, the app reportedly was removed from Apple's App Store. The CDD is asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe whether Viacom's Nickelodeon, and the game company PlayFirst (which developed Diner Dash), are violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. That law prohibits operators of Web sites aimed at children from collecting personal data from kids under 13 without their parents' consent. The SpongeBob Diner Dash app offers users a game set in virtual diner. Players must help SpongeBob take orders and wait on customers as quickly as possible. Players also are given the opportunity within the game to purchase virtual currency from the iTunes store. The CDD says the game is obviously aimed at users under 13, given that the central character, SpongeBob SquarePants, is featured on a television show that's especially popular with children between the ages of 2 and 11. The complaint says that players are prompted to enter seven characters of their names -- which in some cases is enough space for a first and last name. Players also are given the opportunity to enter email addresses in order to sign up for a newsletter that will offer game tips and news. "This prompt creates the expectation that the child must submit an email address to play the game," the CDD alleges. "The screen collecting the email address does not attempt to obtain verifiable parental consent. It does not even warn children to check with their parents." What's more, according to the complaint, the app's privacy policy doesn't reflect the actual data gathering practices. The CDD alleges that the app's privacy policy incorrectly says it doesn't knowingly collect personal information from children. "This claim is contradicted by the content of its own website's promotion of the game," the CDD says in its complaint. The complaint comes at a time of growing scrutiny of apps aimed at children. Last week, the FTC issued a report criticizing developers for failing to inform parents about data collection practices of apps aimed at children. Last week, the CDD's counsel, Georgetown Law's Institute for Public Representation, says in a separate letter to the FTC that the problems with Mobbles and SpongeBob Diner Dash "are representative of mobile app operators’ widespread disregard for COPPA." The letter urges the FTC to increase enforcement of COPPA, and also to clarify that app developers must obtain parents' consent before collecting personal data from children under 13. "Mobile app operators’ widespread noncompliance with the COPPA Rule suggests that app operators either disregard their responsibilities under COPPA because they do not fear legal repercussions for failing to meet them, or are unaware of these responsibilities altogether," the letter states. This isn't the first time the CDD has alleged that a Viacom company violates COPPA. In August, the CDD and other groups alleged that Nick.com was one of five companies to violate COPPA by running a viral marketing campaign. In that instance, Nick.com was accused of asking children to provide email addresses of their friends. At the time, someone familiar with Nick.com's online services said the company does not store or record email addresses gathered in connection with its feature that asked children for their friends' email addresses.
Nielsen and Twitter are creating a social media TV rating service -- all to capture TV-related content activity to trend rapidly growing second-screen activity.The new service, called The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, will complement Nielsen’s existing TV ratings, giving TV networks and advertisers real-time metrics for understanding TV audience social activity. This adds to Nielsen's NM Incite’s SocialGuide audience engagement analytics platform. NM Incite is a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Co., and the hub of Nielsen’s social media analytics efforts.“Our users love the shared experience of watching television while engaging with other viewers and show talent," says Chloe Sladden, vice president of media for Twitter. "Twitter has become the world's digital water cooler, where conversations about TV happen in real-time. Nielsen is who the networks rely on to give better content to viewers and clearer results to marketers."Twitter says it has more than 140 million active users who send one billion Tweets every two-and-a-half days.David F. Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp., said: “The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has generated a substantial ‘connected’ TV audience that is simultaneously watching television and accessing the Internet through these devices. This, in turn, will continue to create the opportunity for content providers like CBS to offer engaging interactive features for our viewers."SocialGuide, recently acquired by Nielsen and NM Incite, captures Twitter TV activity for all U.S. programming across 234 TV channels in English and Spanish, and more than 36,000 programs.
A large majority of newspaper and magazine publishers have introduced iPad apps for their publications, with 87% offering content to Apple’s popular tablet computer this way, according to a new survey by the Alliance for Audited Media (the newly rebranded Audit Bureau of Circulations). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: the AAM survey found that publishers are bullish on tablets across the board. Most notably, 63% of publishers surveyed by the AAM said they believe “tablets are the most important digital channel for their publication’s future.” And they’re looking beyond Apple: the proportion of publishers developing apps for Amazon’s Kindle devices jumped from 24% in 2011 to 67% this year, while the proportion developing for Nook soared from 14% to 57% over the same period. In terms of delivery mechanism, native and Web-based apps are both still popular, with 70% of publishers producing native apps, and 67% producing Web-based apps. The proportions vary noticeably between magazine and newspaper publishers: magazine publisher favor native apps over Web-based apps by 80% to 50%, while 69% of newspaper publishers use native apps, compared to 74% using Web apps. Looking ahead, 31% said they plan to continue using native apps next year, while 41% said they will experiment with HTML 5, and 44% said they are undecided. Most publishers are also developing multiple apps for each device, producing an average 3.4 apps for the iPad and iPhone, three apps for the Kindle, and 2.4 apps for the Nook. Turning to the all-important question of monetization, 77% of publishers surveyed said their mobile businesses will have to rely on both circulation and advertising revenue; that’s up from 52% in 2009.
Mobile, social, gaming, data, special offers — all converge in new and creative ways. As the big online players acquire technologies that broaden their eco-systems and enrich communications, marketers are seeing tremendous opportunities to augment their messages and capture customer loyalty through digital. In the year ahead, digital marketing budgets are expected to increase by 50%-150%. Here are some of the trends that will drive their activities in 2013: Near Field Communication: According to Juniper Research, half of all mobile devices will be NFC-enabled by 2016. Powered by this technology, consumers will be able to view customized rich media, receive targeted special offers, share their experiences and most importantly, make purchases, via their devices. For marketers, NFC holds promise because it can directly integrate promotions at point of sale. Gamification: To make campaigns more interactive, marketers will continue to turn to gaming, which offers consumers a fun, memorable and sometimes educational way to immerse themselves in a brand experience. Per Gartner, more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application by 2014. The best will reward consumption and loyalty (My Coke Rewards), feature game winners on brand properties (Domino’s Pizza Hero) and drive even more online word of mouth as winners promote themselves (Ben & Jerry’s Capture Euphoria). Second Screen: More than 80% of people use second screens while they watch TV, with 30%+ using them to delve deeper into content related to the first screen. As laptops, smart devices and tablets become even more pervasive, expect to see marketers leverage this trend to engage viewers in real-time conversation, deliver behind-the-scenes peeks and push bonus content that links directly to retail. Wearable Tech: Miles walked, calories shed, even hours of REM sleep – if humans do it, apps and devices can measure it. The wearable technology market is expected to exceed $6 billion by 2016. Used mostly now for health and wellness applications, expect to see more devices for entertainment , like Google Glass. lMarketers will use this technology to acquire rich data on customer habits and goals, making it easy to target deals: “You’re not sleeping well! Test-drive our mattress today – here’s your closest store.” Cineprint: Amid an ongoing debate over “the death of print,” technologies like CinePrint will breathe new life into the medium. The most popular example of CinePrint was executed by Lexus this October. In the future, we can expect to see CinePrint used for products with features enhanced by a virtual tour or motion. Geofencing: Retailers are welcoming geofencing as they look for new ways to convert window-shoppers and those who visit their stores to check out products they plan to buy online. Brands can partner with retailers to “close the sale” by providing rich mobile content and deal notifications whenever a consumer walks through their store’s door or visits a specific aisle. About one-third of Americans use location-based services. In a recent survey, many said they would exchange privacy for discounts. Augmented Reality: Use of Augmented Reality ("AR") has been forecast to grow at an impressive rate. Although fairly new and still developing, AR can offer consumers a wealth of reality-bending experiences. One might involve a shopper who wants to try on a dress from the comfort of her home. Through an app (or even her Webcam), AR can show her if it’s a perfect fit before she buys. Most of these tools will require some work by marketers, which have to make the experience compelling enough for audiences to opt-in. Once they do, the payoff is a wealth of data and point-of-sale opportunities that can take consumers beyond likes to loyal.