In a major shift for marketers that have traditionally waited for results, social feedback tools from LinkedIn and Switch now gauge content and campaign performance at the speed of a text message or Twitter tweet. This gives social media the features that marketers find invaluable in search engine marketing. LinkedIn’s SlideShare created a feedback loop for marketers in its series of Pro product suite apps, a paid service geared toward marketing experts. It houses presentations, documents and videos on brand channels. The tool, Send Tracker, released Tuesday, allows marketers to manage and track content, as well as develop sales leads, from the social site through emails. Marketers upload content into SlideShare to share publicly or privately and attach it to an email. Send Tracker follows how they interact with it. Users receive a real-time notification via email when recipients look at the content. It records how much time the person spent on each page and whether they clicked or copied the content. Ross Mayfield, director of business development at SlideShare, said the real-time feedback also gives marketers knowledge to better educate existing and prospective clients on confusing features or technical specs. The tool also runs on mobile. Real-time measurement tracking, analytics and reporting tools exist in sites like Twitter, but not all platforms provide instant gratification. That's one reason that Switch created and launched a tracking tool that the company dubbed SMRT, the Switch Mobile reporting tool that is intended to help marketers plan, schedule, measure, and track performance of experiential marketing campaigns in real-time. The software tool lives on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone to provide a broad view of real-time marketing, from the quality and length of engagement to the number of people sampling the product in the shortest time for the lowest cost.
Consumer-facing companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon aren’t the only ones building out app stores. Others are following suit as a way to gain more control over the apps used by employees. By 2017, research firm Gartner projects that one-quarter of enterprises will have their own app stores for distributing corporate-sanctioned apps. Driving the rise of internal app stores is the growing number of companies that allow employees to bring their own smartphones and tablets to the workplace to access proprietary company information. With their own devices, people have also brought their own personal apps, creating an additional security issue for enterprises. "Apps downloaded from public app stores for mobile devices disrupt IT security, application and procurement strategies," said Ian Finley, research vice president at Gartner. "Bring your own application has become as important as bring your own device in the development of a comprehensive mobile strategy." The report points out that corporations are now starting to formalize standard support for smartphones and tablets, especially as they create their own in-house apps to push more complex data to workers’ devices. Until recently, the focus has been on the PC. By setting up app stores, organizations delegate many key pricing and performance decisions down the end-user level. That streamlines the procurement process and allows people to make the best choices to meet their needs, with the understanding that the cost will require management approval or chargeback to their business unit. "Enterprise app stores enable procurement to broaden user choice by encouraging providers to submit competing apps, and to monitor demand for popular apps that may benefit from better negotiation of license terms and prices," said Gartner analyst Stewart Buchanan. As with public app stores, the report emphasizes that a wide selection of titles is the key to success of corporate app stores. "Multi-Ethnic Team photo from Shutterstock" “The primary determinant of success is app supply. As a result, application leaders should be given overall responsibility for any app store initiative, but they should work in a collaborative fashion with other teams,” noted Brian Prentice, another Gartner analyst. “The types of apps downloaded and used provide important information as to what types of solutions are of value to each type of user."
Can mobile video ads offer a viable alternative to TV and online video ads? Despite the immaturity of the medium, early signs of success are emerging. GMC, for instance, recently employed mobile app maker Tapjoy and its mobile videos solution to advertise its new Terrain SUV -- and the results were promising. In a survey conducted and verified by Nielsen, Tapjoy was found to outperform TV and online video norms for indicators such as “general recall” and “brand linkage.” Overall brand recall for the Terrain was 42% for those exposed to the videos through Tapjoy -- as opposed to 27% and 17% as the norms for car and truck videos on TV and online, respectively. Tapjoy also drove an 80% completion rate on a 67-second video, while delivering a 9.4% click-through-rate on the secondary actions after the video ran. "What this data shows is that mobile video ads are a viable, and perhaps more importantly, an effective advertising alternate to TV commercials and online videos,” said Peter Dille, CMO at Tapjoy. “When you look at consumer engagement, mobile has already surpassed TV commercials and online videos,” Dille added. “Brands looking for stronger brand affinity and recall with consumers can use the Mobile Value Exchange model as option to reach them when and where they are most receptive to advertising.” Tapjoy Mobile Videos displays HD-quality videos through a native, in-app video player. Using Tapjoy’s “Mobile Value Exchange” model, consumers are rewarded with virtual currency or premium in-app content in exchange for watching videos. Advertisers pay on a cost-per-completed-view basis, so they are given assurance that consumers view the entire video. Advertisers can also recommend secondary actions upon completion of the video, driving consumers to do things such as “Visit Us on Facebook,” and “Join the Conversation on Twitter.” Last year, Tapjoy and market research firm Interpret found that adults 25-34 were more likely to value the influence of ads, and they recall seeing more ads while using mobile apps -- particularly video ads or fully sponsored/branded apps. In fact, half of those who saw ads on apps clicked on them, while about a quarter used those ads to get another app.
Location-centric mobile ad network Verve Mobile on Wednesday announced closing $14 million in a Series C venture financing, bringing its total raised to date to $30 million. The latest round was led by Nokia Growth Partners and included new investor Qualcomm Ventures and prior backer BlueRun Ventures. Verve’s platform provides location-targeted advertising and optimization across a mobile network of more than 3,500 publishers, including Hearst, AP, McClatchy, and NBC Universal local TV stations. It serves over 6 billion impressions a month and reaches 108 million unique visitors a month. With the new funding, the company plans to invest in refining its location-based technology, which targets mobile advertising according to a grid of city block-sized geographic areas. That allows marketers to reach desired audiences like soccer moms or tech enthusiasts with mobile messages where they are most likely to be, down to the neighborhood level. Verve relies on its own location data as well as other sources, including the U.S. Census, public and private databases, and partners such as PlaceIQ. “Verve’s focus is on combining big data, location-based services and ad technologies to make mobile advertising work better for advertisers and publishers,” said CEO Tom MacIsaac. To help ensure the quality of its targeting, he said the company's technology also scores each impression based on the accuracy of its location targeting. He estimates that only 5% to 10% of mobile ad impressions carry accurate latitude-longitude location information -- the key to “hyper-local” advertising. “There’s lots of bad [location] data out there,” said MacIsaac. Verve released findings last week showing that targeting by designated marketing areas (DMAs) is still the most common type of location-based advertising, accounting for 30% of campaigns on its network last year. Geo-fencing was a close second, at 27%, followed by audience-data targeting, 24%, and geo-aware ads, 14%. Ads delivered by city or ZIP code accounted for the rest. In addition to enhancing its technology, Verve will use the fresh capital to expand staffing from about 70 to 105 employees this year. The additional hires will be split about evenly between engineers and salespeople. Without disclosing dollar figures, MacIsaac said the company increased revenue 300% in the last year and expects to double sales in 2013 and turn profitable in the fourth quarter. He added that the company would benefit from the mobile location expertise of Nokia and Qualcomm in addition to their investment. Nokia itself acquired digital mapping company Navteq in 2007 for $8.1 billion. In connection with the funding, John Gardner of Nokia Growth Partners has joined the Verve board.
The Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject peer-to-peer user Jammie Thomas-Rasset's bid to appeal the $220,000 verdict against her obtained by the record industry.In court papers filed this week, the U.S. Solicitor General says the Supreme Court should decline to hear Thomas-Rasset's case, arguing that it doesn't raise any unsettled constitutional issues. The Obama administration contends that Thomas-Rasset's case "is not an appropriate vehicle to decide" whether a six-figure verdict for non-commercial file sharing violates the Constitution.Thomas-Rasset was among 12,500 people sued by the Recording Industry Association of America during its five-year litigation campaign against individual file-sharers. Many of the other defendants agreed to resolve the allegations by paying four-figure settlements, but Thomas-Rasset is one of just two people who took her case to a jury. (The other person to go to trial, Joel Tenenbaum, also lost; a jury ordered him to pay $675,000 for sharing 30 tracks.)A jury found Thomas-Rasset liable for infringement and ordered her to pay $220,000, or $9,500 per work infringed. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis vacated that award and ordered a new trial for reasons unrelated to the damages.A second jury returned an even higher, seven-figure verdict, which Davis slashed to $54,000, or three times the statutory minimum. The copyright law calls for damages ranging from $750 to $150,000 per work. But the RIAA demanded a third trial, which it was allowed to do for procedural reasons. Those damages also were in the seven-figure range. Davis cut that award to $54,000 as well, ruling that anything higher would be unconstitutional.Thomas-Rasset and the RIAA appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reinstated the original $220,000 award last September. The appellate court said in its ruling that a six-figure award was not unconstitutionally excessive, but that a larger award might have been. "If and when a jury returns a multimillion-dollar award for noncommercial online copyright infringement, then there will be time enough to consider it," the court said in its ruling.Late last year, Thomas-Rasset filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case. She argues that the $220,000 verdict is arbitrary and has no relationship to any actual damages that she might have caused the record industry.The Obama administration counters in its brief that statutory damages in copyright cases don't "simply redress a private injury" but also "vindicate an important public interest, in particular, the exclusive rights conferred by a copyright.""Congress's judgment as to the appropriate amounts is entitled to deference," the administration argues.
“Intel Inside,” the outdated brand tagline, doesn’t necessarily mean computer processors these days. Erik Huggers, the head of Intel Media, confirmed at a conference Tuesday that the chipmaker would introduce an Internet-based TV service and box this year. As an industry in bloom, Hugger said Intel would provide the hardware and services direct to consumers that will let TV viewers watch live broadcasts and on-demand content. He said an Intel chip will power the service, but the company is working with the industry to determine how to provide live broadcasts. The move prepares to support the first generation to consume more media online, than offline. Gen Zers, ages 18 to 23, spend 3.1 hours weekly listening to the radio online and 3.6 hours a week listening to the radio offline. They are also more likely to consume any type of media online, compared with the general population. For example, they spend 3.9 hours a week watching TV online, compared with 1.6 hours for total U.S. adults, according to Forrester Research, which estimates four out of 10 consumers have Internet-connected TV. Aside from Google and Apple, Xbox 360, Roku and variety of smart televisions allow consumers to connect to the Internet. NPD estimates 95 million connected televisions in 2016, up from about 43 million shipments in 2012. Smart TV shipments are linked to content consumption making services critical to the growth of the industry, according to NPD. The report points to the availability of free content in China, where shipment market share accounts for 26%, and Western Europe 34% in 2011, growing to more than 40% in 2012 for both regions.
TargetSpot has added six new pure-play digital radio partners, the Digital audio advertising network announced Tuesday. With the addition of the new partners -- Songza, Radionomy, just hear !t, Thefuture.fm, Soundtracker and HulkShare -- TargetSpot’s advertising affiliates now include more than 85 radio groups and pure-play radio platforms. Songza is a free streaming music service that serves users' curated playlists, based on a variety of factors such as genre, mood, activities, decades and culture. Radionomy allows radio enthusiasts to create their own online radio stations, including promoting and monetizing their audio stream. It currently hosts more than 7,000 Internet radio stations. Just hear !t is a free ad-supported service that claims to allow listeners to hear any song for free, with playlist and social sharing functions. Thefuture.fm allows DJs to share mixes with fans and receive royalties, while complying with DRM rules. Soundtracker is a free service that combines online radio with social networking and location-based elements to help users find live music in their area. The HulkShare platform that allows industry professionals to upload and share songs, demos, and samples. TargetSpot allows advertisers to target online radio listeners based on various factors, including ZIP code, time of day and personal listening preferences. According to research cited by TargetSpot, 42% of U.S. households with broadband access listen to Internet radio, and 22% of these have a household income over $100,000. On the advertising front, 58% of online radio listeners can recall having seen or heard an online radio ad in the last 30 days. The TargetSpot data is drawn from the Digital Audio Benchmark and Trend Study, based on a survey of adult U.S. broadband households conducted from January 7-17, 2012, by Parks Associates.
Just after debuting an original series targeted to adults this month, Netflix will do the same later this year for kids TV, launching a new TV series.Spinning off "Turbo," a forthcoming summer movie from DreamWorks Animation SKG, the movie/TV production company will produce "Turbo: F.A.S.T. ("Fast Action Stunt Team" will launch this December. It will debut exclusively in the U.S. and 40 countries where Netflix has its subscription video on demand service.)Earlier this month, Netflix started a new version of a British series "House of Cards," starring Kevin Spacey. Netflix debut was unique in that it released an entire season -- 13 episodes -- of the series. The company does not disclose viewership numbers. But some estimates are that it pulled in some 2.5 million viewers initially.Netflix movie and TV content keeps growing with kids' viewing usage. Some even blame it for Viacom's Nickelodeon's rating decline over a year ago. In 2012, Netflix members streamed more than 2 billion hours of kids content, which is commercial-free."Turbo F.A.S.T" is about a snail that gets miraculous power of super-speed after a freak accident.Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer of DreamWorks Animation, stated: "Netflix boasts one of the largest and fastest-growing audiences in kids television. They pioneered a new model for TV dramas with "House of Cards," and together, we're doing the same thing with kids' programming."
The shift from print to online has been excruciating for many in the publishing industry. The old economic formula that governed print has been completely transformed by technology, the rise of social media and free-for-all content. The dominance of page views is one unfortunate consequence of the move online. Print dollars have turned to online cents, but publishers still need to create quality content. Social can restore the balance. Publishers now need to embrace what’s happening to their content off of their own site and on the larger social Web. Here's why it matters. Future-Proofing One of the biggest traps that publishers fall into is focusing only on Facebook and Twitter. Depending on the vertical orientation of a site or content, neither may rank as their strongest social channel. The FB/Twitter myopia also prevents them from getting a comprehensive view of their content’s presence on the breadth of the social Web. Most importantly, these two social giants aren’t going to be at the top forever. Look at the rise and fall of MySpace or the rise of Pinterest this last year. Pinterest became the fourth-largest social channel in most categories in terms of Web-wide content sharing.Channels like Reddit and StumbleUpon aren’t to be ignored either, an outbound share typically generates an average of 2,500 and 3,000, respectively. In order to stay ahead of the game and be ready for the next social up-and-comer, publishers need a comprehensive way to gather insights into how their content performs across the entire social Web. Get in the Game Publishers whose social referral traffic is less than half the volume referred by search have untapped potential. If 50% of a site’s traffic is generated from search, then at least 25% should come from social. The best publishers make it easy for readers to not just read, but comment, engage and share their content. As the social activity around content increases, it feeds a virtuous cycle of deeper insights that help editors create better, more social content in the future. Defend CPMs with Social Metric-Based Monetization Greater insights into the social quality of content can help publishers defend the CPMs they’re trying to get and combat the commoditization of online ad space. In print, the focus was on the circulation metric. Now, the standard is site traffic and referrals. Comprehensive social metrics enable publishers to see what’s happening to their content once it leaves their site. The ability to prove this expanded reach to new, equally loyal audiences is reflected in higher CPMs. Publishers need to leverage this proof to restore the balance between producing high quality content and their current fixation on page views. There is a way to get the monetization that great content merits. In the days of traditional, print media, advertisers shaped editorial direction. They put up the money and they got the control. That model is evolving in a highly engaged, multiplatform social environment and the publisher and online editor don’t have that same level of control. Comprehensive social metrics puts them back in control, allowing the model to evolve. With a greater understanding of their social audiences, publishers can improve the quality of their content, distribute it to more channels and actually attract the CPMs they deserve. Amid the noise and chaos of the social Web, tapping into the metrics that measure engagement and the social quality of content can actually help publishers. The key for publishers is to use comprehensive metrics that don’t focus on a single platform to truly understand how their content spreads and returns traffic through social media.
I was interested to note the recent news that Fox is beginning to “heavily promote” it’s second screen app Fox Now, using the might of both on-air and in-show support.In addition to a lower screen promotion encouraging app downloads, an animated logo on TV will call on those with the app to “sync now” in order to access all sorts of program-related goodies – mostly additional content of one sort or another.Aggressive on-screen promotion is logical enough, but there has been relatively little to date on an ongoing basis. Beyond encouraging people to tweet using show hashtags or “Like us on Facebook," second screen behavior — and apps in particular — have been ignored by network promotion.To a large extent, this is understandable. Precious air-time or screen real estate can arguably be better spent promoting upcoming programming rather than trying to engender behaviors that are still emerging and applicable to only a fraction of the population.However, what Fox has announced is likely to yield returns as far as downloads and use of the app is concerned. The extent to which that behavior becomes habitual will depend on the richness of the user experience, but initial results are reasons for optimism.Some years ago, I remember making a presentation to The Collaborative Alliance on data from the UK about how different types of onscreen calls to action prompted interaction with ads. (We addressed interaction on the TV, as there was no second screen at the time.)The data had been aggregated across a range of different ad categories and many campaigns from various broadcasters. As a result, we had good indicators of the relative success of calls to action that were static vs. animated vs.; animated and voice-over vs. static; and voice-over — all by category.No surprise: The results showed that animated and with voice-over were generally most effective, but they also provided norms for the time that set expectations for what kind of response could be achieved by category.The question isn’t whether Fox will see an uptick in downloads of the app, or whether they will be able to report a similar increase in use. The bigger business question facing all TV companies relates to the future impact of an app in terms of its contribution to maintaining or improving viewing figures, word of mouth, engagement with the show and ultimately, revenue.Can users of the app be monetized indirectly by contributing to the growth and maintenance of the viewing base? Or directly through the app itself at a scale that is deemed sufficiently significant?Supporting the second screen by leveraging the big screen is a good move. The question is whether the tangible benefit of doing so will be deemed in the long run to justify the cost, or better still, be seen as a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.