A new study by Adobe Systems underscores the key role tablets play in mobile commerce, with tablet owners far more likely than smartphone owners to use their devices both for shopping and making purchases. The findings were based on a survey of 1,003 American adults conducted from Nov. 28-Dec. 3 who owned a tablet and/or a smartphone. The Adobe study found that 55% of tablet owners reported using the device for buying products, compared to 28% of smartphone users. Furthermore, 44% on the tablet side identified shopping as a typical activity on their devices versus only 20% on smartphones. Tablets' larger screens make them inherently more suited to browse products, compare prices, read reviews and ratings and the like than smartphones. People are also more apt to use tablets to shop from the comfort of their couch. “So the message to retailers should be…when you’re thinking about driving that purchase decision and purchase intent, you need to think about how tablets play into your strategy,” said Lynly Schambers-Lenox, group product marketing manager, digital publishing at Adobe. Research from eMarketer last week indicated that tablets are indeed the preferred mobile instruments for buying stuff. Tablets accounted for 57% of the $24.6 billion in total U.S. m-commerce last year, and are forecast to drive 62.5% of the $38.4 billion total in 2013. Regardless of device type, Adobe’s “2013 Digital Publishing Report: Retail Apps & Buying Habits” showed the growing appetite of mobile shoppers for using apps. Nearly half (49%) of smartphone users and 45% of tablet owners are interested in switching from shopping on the mobile Web to apps. Smartphone users in particular are frustrated by the slow speed of mobile browsers. Of people who don’t currently shop on mobile devices, one in four intends to use mobile apps to shop this year. “What we’re seeing is that apps are catching up to browsers, and I think that’s what’s interesting for retailers,” said Schambers-Lenox. She acknowledged that most traditional retailers have been more focused to date on developing their mobile sites rather than on apps. “But it’s something they need to start thinking about more,” she said, given growing adoption of smartphones and tablets and consumer interest in shopping via apps. Keep in mind that Adobe has an interest in promoting app use since the company makes software tools for converting traditional media like magazines, newspapers and catalogs into tablet apps. A separate report by Shop.org and Forrester Research released Monday showed that the top priority in 2013 for more than half (51%) of retailers surveyed was optimizing their main Web sites. Among 43%, mobile and tablets are among their top three priorities, with plans to invest in new or improved mobile apps and mobile-friendly sites. The Adobe research showed that getting money-saving offers is the most important feature of an app among both tablet (52%) and smartphone (67%) shoppers. Almost half (49%) of tablet users want to have interactive images and slide shows, while many smartphone users (60%) put a priority on geolocation services for finding nearby stores. Both tablet and smartphone users overwhelmingly cited friends as the biggest influence on mobile purchases, followed by emails from a company, online ads, and Facebook. Mobile shoppers share their opinions of new apps mainly in person (53%), as well as on Facebook (21%), and email (19%).
Premium mobile ad exchange Nexage this morning reported that revenues from its real-time bidding platform frew 171% in 2012. Describing it as "above-market growth," Nexage said the momentum was driven by the fact that the overall programmatic marektplace is expanding rapidly, especially from premium publishers and media buyers trading in mobile ad impressions. Nexage attributed the revenue growth to a 72% expansion in inventory volume and a 164% increase in demand volume, indicating that demand outstripped suppy during 2012, which likely expanded premium pricing. "Although volume played a crucial role, value proved to be the more important growth driver," the company said as part of the annual update. "Data-enabled impressions more than doubled on the Nexage Exchange, driven in part by a 30% per month growth in location-enabled impressions." Rich media and video-based impressions grew five times during 2012, which helped expand eCPMs 40% "quarter-over-quarter" during the year.
Another CES is now behind us, and while this remains first a show about new devices, a closer look at the capabilities these devices are touting forecasts a need for a multi-device content (and advertising) strategy for the coming years. “Smart” devices they’re called, referring to Internet-connected devices that can access content from virtually anywhere to make life more fun, productive, or informative. These include the obvious (think tablets, phones, TVs) to the innovative (think automobiles and watches) to the borderline ridiculous (such as refrigerators and dishwashers). So in a world where all devices are connected and have access to universe of content, how should video content providers prepare for distribution to this expanding landscape beyond the TV or the computer? A good stage-setter is the following research released by Nielsen’s U.S. Consumer Usage Report 2012, which shows that while the majority of consumers’ media consumption is done via TV (144+ hours a month), other devices are emerging as notable alternatives, including: - Internet video: 5+ hours a month - Mobile video: 5+ hours a month And we can expect this number to increase, given the diverse number of new hardware these users now own: - 16 % of television homes own a tablet - Of those w/ mobile phones, 56% own a smartphone - 17% own an e-reader So what type of content will be the driver of content consumption on all these devices? Based on the news and chatter at CES, few can argue that video — particularly multi-device video distribution — emerged as the biggest theme of the conference. For instance, Comcast and Intel announced a deal that they’re teaming up to allow users to watch on-demand TV content on Intel-based devices (tablets, PCs, etc.), Dish Network, DirecTV, Verizon and AT&T were all at CES talking up Web TV more than they were their traditional cable infrastructure. And a little drama emerged when gadget news/review site CNET booted the Dish Network’s Hopper service -- which lets uses record content on one device and watch it on another — from its “Best of CES” contest because of parent company CBS’ lawsuit against the product. The upshot is that they’re scrambling to access all these new devices as additional screens for their content, service and brand (depending on the company). This is raising interesting questions that don’t yet have a standard answer, such as what is a fair revenue split between app developers and content producers; who owns the user data generated by this traffic; and plenty of user interface discussions. But in the short term, we can expect to see much more new “smart” TV announcements, new tablets unveiled, and so on as the year moves on. Take a close look at them all and you’ll see how the thrust of these product announcements won’t be the hardware specs (like pixels, screen size, or storage space) – but on what these devices can access. The takeaway is that smart content strategies can no longer be focused just on the content being created, but on how it’s distributed — and monetized — to an increasingly expanding device ecosystem.
You have to hand it to the NRA. They do not shrink from controversy. The gun association was not even modestly cowed by recent gun-related atrocities. The more guns (of all sorts, apparently) the better for public safety and the preservation of the Constitution seems to be their mantra. And their righteousness apparently precludes any common PR concerns. To wit, in the midst of controversy around the organization’s stance in the gun control debate and concern that it represents gun manufacturers' interests above all others, the NRA has released its own mobile target shooting game. In another context, “NRA Target Practice” would be unremarkable. While finger-pointers may be quick to cite the hypocrisy of issuing a shooter-based digital game just as the NRA itself engages in scapegoating violent video games and entertainment as a cause of gun violence, there is nothing about this game that approaches the typical bloody shooter. It is a straightforward target-practice sim. Three different settings and degrees of difficulty move you through basic target arrays. Okay, you can arm yourself with an AK47, or try to. Leveraging the in-app purchase model, the otherwise free game upgrades your arsenal for 99 cents a gun. I never got to see whether the AK47 had an enormous clip to it, however, because the app hung at the upgrade screen repeatedly. Ugh. Gun jam! So the joke is that it may actually be easier to buy an assault weapon at a local gun show than it is to buy one in the NRA's own app. The NRA advises that I stop using the weapon if it shows any abnormality, so I put the app down to let it cool off. The NRA uses interstitial messaging during game load screens to remind you of all the children and police officers it has helped train in safe gun handling. It also ratchets through about 10 gun safety tips that are so obvious and simple (wear ear protection, don’t put your finger on the trigger until ready to shoot) that one is left wondering how deep “gun safety” goes. The app does not integrate too much of the NRA’s more propagandistic content so much as link to it in mobile Web callouts to the blog and regulation news. As a propaganda device, the app missed the mark. This might have been a good time for the organization to app-ify its instructional and gun safety programs. But the app carries the subtext of strident assuredness, shared by the organization behind it.
Social media will be the most important technology channel used by companies to engage with their customers within three to five years, according to a survey of 1,700 CEOs from around the world conducted by IBM. Currently just 16% of companies use social media as their primary means of interacting with customers, but that proportion will rise to 57% three to five years from now. That increase will put social media ahead of Web sites, call centers, and traditional media. Over the same time period, CEOs see Web site utilization increasing from 47% to 55%, while call center utilization will drop from 40% to 31%, and utilization of traditional media will plunge from 39% to 15%. The only channel outranking social media is face-to-face and sales representatives, although this too will drop from 80% today to 67% three to five years from now. The rise of social media as a channel for customer interaction goes hand in hand with growing concern among CEOs about gathering customer and market insights. According to IBM, 72% of CEOS surveyed said they need to improve understanding of customer needs, and the same proportion want to improve their response time to market needs. Meanwhile 66% said customer relationships are a key source of economic value for their companies. Towards that end, 73% of CEOs surveyed said they are making significant investments in their organizations’ ability to draw meaningful customer insights from available data. The proportion is even higher in some industries – 86% in electronics, 80% for automotives, and 78% in both media and entertainment and consumer products. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that companies are doing a good job gathering customer insights: currently only 25% of CEOs identified their companies’ capabilities surrounding data access and data-driven insights as a key source of economic value. The IBM report quoted one North American consumer products CEO as saying: “We have lots of data, but only 10 percent of it is useful information. And even within that 10 percent, we are not using it effectively.” And an insurance CEO from Hong Kong remarked that “Initially, it feels like you’re drinking from a fire hose.”