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Mobile ad blocking is still relatively uncommon in the U.S.
Out of 1.9 billion smartphone users on the planet, about 419 million -- or 22 percent -- of them use mobile ad blocking tools, a new study from PageFair has found. While ad blocking has barely caught on in the United States, more than a third of all the smartphone users in the Asia-Pacific region use an app or browser to stop advertisements from reaching their phones.
Google's fast mobile pages coming (with ads) in early 2016
Google revealed the "AMP" endeavor last month to accelerate mobile page-loading times, the slowness of which is a huge user bone of contention. It now says the fast-loading mobile pages will hit search results by early next year, and also gave more details about the project's raison d'etre: ads. The list of partners supporting the effort include its own AdSense, Outbrain and AOL, Engadget's parent company. The AMP project will cut mobile data use and wait times, but Google's not just being altruistic -- it's trying to curb ad-blockers, which heavily impact the company's ad revenue. Apple recently gave ad-blockers a big boost when it revealed it would support them for Safari on iOS 9.
Google adds confirmation click to mobile ads to combat accidental activation
Smartphone owners have learned to cope with the extra power drain in-app advertising can cause, but accidentally launching a web browser? That's a frustration that lasts forever. Google's hoping to mitigate the pitfalls of clumsy thumbs, however, by introducing two-step click-through for mobile ads. Text banners served through AdMob will now display a humble blue arrow on their starboard side -- clicking here takes the reader directly to the advertiser's preferred destination; touching anywhere else expands widens the blue square to coax users into giving the ad a confirmation click, just in case they fumbled the advertisement by mistake. The team's preliminary tests show that confirmed ad clicks sport a notably higher conversion rate, indicating that folks who clicked through the ad actually meant to. Google says solving what it calls the "fat finger problem" will be beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole. We prefer to think of our fingers as grand.
Facebook's new mobile ad network goes into beta, serves advertisements on third party sites and apps
Facebook already sports advertisements baked into its own website and mobile apps, and now it'll begin serving ads on other handset-optimized websites and smartphone applications. TechCrunch reports that the firm has begun testing a new ad network that leverages user data to display hyper-relevant ads on third party turf. Instead of relying on vanilla tracking cookies to gain insight into visitor interests, the platform accesses information including age, gender, likes, location, which apps friends have used and other data points when users are logged into a site or application with Facebook credentials. Zuckerberg and Co.'s solution lets advertisers bid on certain demographics and uses existing networks such as iAds and AdMob to serve appropriate ads based on anonymous ID's tied to Facebook accounts. For now, Menlo Park's new program is limited to the all-important mobile market, but don't be surprised if the service finds its way to the desktop.
Google patent outlines ads targeted to 'environmental conditions'
The ad game is all about targeting: demographics, locations, keywords -- and really, few companies are more equipped to target users than Google. In case you were worried that the search giant doesn't have enough information to harvest, a newly surfaced patent outlines the company's interesting utilizing environmental conditions, including things like temperature, humidity, sound, light or air composition, in order to serve up advertisements to devices. Of course, as with other interesting ad patents from the company, the fact that Google applied doesn't necessary mean we'll be seeing this specific technology rolling out any time soon -- or ever, for that matter.
Android study finds privacy and security risks related to in-app advertising
Android has certainly taken heat for malware-related bits in the past. Now, a recent study by computer scientists at North Carolina State University reveals that over half of the 100,000 apps from the Android Market Google Play include so-called ad libraries, which are essentially handed out by Google or third-party devs to retrieve ads from servers and launch them on your phone. Of these, 297 were classified as "aggressive," as they're allowed to run code from a remote server. Furthermore, Dr. Jiang along with his squad of researchers found that more than 48,000 of the apps put to the test could track location via GPS, while other accessed info could range from call logs, contact numbers, to the apps list on your device. It's unclear if this also applies to Android slates, though this particular study conducted only included handsets.
Research shows Apple makes top 3 connected devices in US
JiWire culls a requests from approximately 289,000 public Wi-Fi locations in the US and uses this information to produce a quarterly report on mobile devices. Its latest report for Q3 2011 confirms what Apple fans already know -- iOS devices rule in the connected device category. In its broadest sense, a "connected device" is any device that connects to the Internet. For the sake of this study, connected devices are defined as mobile devices that may or may not have a cellular connection. It's the device you pull out of your bag when you're sitting at Starbucks. According to JiWire, almost 80 percent of ad requests in the US come from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The iPhone is number one with 41.9 percent of ad requests, the iPad is second with 23.8 percent and the iPod touch is third with 14.1 percent. Number four is Windows Mobile 7 with 4.9 percent, and the numbers drop precipitously from there. From quarter to quarter, iOS fell 2 percent, but it still has a significant lead over Android in the US. Ad requests from iOS devices (79.9 percent) are 7 times greater than Android (11.0 percent). Interestingly enough, the mobile platform with the biggest jump is Windows Phone. It's in third place with 5.2 percent of the ad requests, but its quarterly share jumped 1.2 percent. Microsoft recently released Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and unveiled its first Nokia Windows Phone handsets; two factors which could explain this jump A similar trend occurred in the UK. The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are the top three connected devices with 71.1 percent of the ad requests. Android is second with 16.6 percent, and Windows Phone is third with 8.1 percent. iOS, though, dropped a significant 6.5 percent, while Windows Phone jumped 5.5%. Android was the only other platform to gain ground last quarter in the UK. It climbed 1.5 percent, while all other platforms fell. In the US, Apple is clearly in the lead and holding its own against the competition. Apple also dominates in the UK, but it appears that Android and, particularly, Windows Phone took a bite from Apple's lead. Now that the iPhone 4S is available, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the current quarter. Show full PR text New Trends in Location and Mobile Data Unveiled in JiWire Mobile Audience Insights Report 66 percent prefer to make a purchase in a physical store when within a five-mile radius SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6, 2011 - JiWire, the leading location-based mobile media company reaching the on-the-go audience, today announced its latest Mobile Audience Insights Report, which examines connected-device adoption, location- and mobile-shopping trends, as well as check-in behavior and public Wi-Fi trends. This quarter's report uncovers several key emerging trends in the location and mobile markets that include the following: Proximity Marketing – 66 percent prefer to purchase in a physical store within a five-mile radius. Tablet adoption continues – Tablet usage is up 84 percent since Q4 2010. Checking-in – Consumers are split evenly between liking, disliking and not interested. Mobile Device Trends Adoption – iPad, Android and Windows Mobile 7 gain market share in the U.S and U.K. Mobile Shopping Behavior & Proximity Marketing Trends In the midst of the U.S. holiday shopping season, the study looks at mobile-shopping behaviors between genders and also highlights consumer attitudes toward shopping online versus in store. Male consumers surpassed female consumers in the shopping department – 73 percent of males make purchases on their mobile devices compared to 61 percent of females. A consumer's proximity to a store significantly influences purchasing behaviors as well. Sixty-six percent of consumers prefer shopping for a $50 dollar item at a regularly visited store if within 5 miles; however, when the same consumers are 20 miles outside of the same store, 72 percent prefer making purchases on their laptop and mobile devices. Other findings include: 18 percent are using a connected device to actually make purchases even when physically in the store. 28 percent of respondents said they comparison shop on a mobile device when in a store. 63 percent of consumers prefer to shop both in store and online; 22 percent prefer to shop exclusively in store. "The retail experience remains critical. While consumers are increasingly using mobile to research and make purchases, we are seeing that the in-store shopping experience is equally if not more important, even with a tech-savvy audience," said David Staas, senior vice president of marketing at JiWire. "This holiday season, brands have a great opportunity to not only leverage digital and mobile, but also execute 'clicks-to-bricks' approaches to drive in-store traffic, utilizing location and proximity to deliver the right advertising experience." As people continue to become increasingly mobile and strive for constant connectivity, mobile-device habits have shifted from larger devices like laptops to smaller, more portable devices like smartphones and tablets. Tablet usage has nearly doubled in the past year, growing by 84 percent since Q4 2010. Since last quarter, tablets and smartphones are showing relative growth in usage while other devices like netbooks and laptops have remained stable or declined. Tablet usage is up 20 percent, smartphone usage is up 24 percent and by comparison, laptop usage is down 10 percent. Other key findings include: Consumer purchase intent is 50 percent higher for smartphones and/or tablets compared to laptops over the next six months (25 percent versus 16 percent), continuing to accelerate the shift in device ownership. Adults 24 years old and under are more likely to purchase a smartphone and/or laptop in the next six months while adults between the ages of 25 and 44 are more likely to purchase a tablet. Tablet Adoption Continues, Fueling Mobile Commerce Since inception, tablets continue to gain popularity with on-the-go consumers, having nearly doubled in growth over the past year. The study determined that the tablet audience is very comfortable making purchases on their device, purchasing items more frequently than just smartphone owners, and often spending more. For example, 82 percent of the tablet audience is willing to make purchases directly on their mobile devices (smartphones or tablets) compared with 76 percent of smartphone owners. Other purchase preferences include the following: 67 percent of tablet owners are willing to spend $50 or more, compared to 57 percent of smartphone owners and 52 percent of laptop. Electronics, retail, entertainment and travel are the most frequently purchased categories, with tablet owners leading all of these categories in terms of purchase frequency. Location Media: Consumers Remain Split on Value of the Check-In Despite all the attention and focus on checking in, the jury is still out when it comes to consumer attitudes around this component of location media. In fact, consumers are split three ways; 35 percent feel positive toward it, 35 percent either do not like it or understand it, while 30 percent do not care about checking in. Additionally, the primary drivers of this trend appear to be among males. For example, 39 percent of males claim that they "like" or "love" checking in while only 30 percent of women feel that way about checking in. Not surprising, the most popular check-in categories are restaurants, hotels, pubs/bars and health clubs. Mobile Device Trends and Adoption In Q3 2011, the iPad, Android and Windows Mobile 7 continue to gain market share not only in the U.S., but in the U.K. as well. Likewise, market share continues to decrease when it comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch – in the U.S. and U.K. Additionally, the U.S. and U.K. both saw a drop in market share with the iOS, but in both cases, it still holds the No. 1 ranking.
Survey: 41% of smartphone users set to buy iPhone 5
Ad network InMobi has been asking its customers what they think of the rumored upcoming iPhone 5 (purportedly to be announced at the event in Cupertino next week), and as you might imagine, the response is overwhelmingly positive: 41% of current mobile customers in North America say that yes, they're planning to buy an iPhone 5. That's even before the phone's features or specs are officially announced, and again, that's all mobile users in the US, Mexico and Canada. 50% of those planning to buy the phone say they'll do it in the first six months. Now, as any sales exec will tell you, intent doesn't actually equal action, so there's no guarantee that these people will actually buy the phone. But demand, it's safe to say, is high. Those numbers drop off a bit if you start talking about a possible "iPhone 4GS", however. Fewer than 15% of customers say they'll go after a revised version of the iPhone, rather than an actual numbered iteration. We just don't know what Apple's planning -- there was no 5, or 4, or 4GS included in the official announcement at all. But it's clear the public is more interested in a brand new phone rather than a faster version of what we've already got. And finally, the most troubling numbers here are for the iPhone's competitors: 52% of current Blackberry users and 27% of Android users are planning to jump to an iPhone 5, and even if it's a 4GS, 28% of Blackberry users still plan to switch over. Apple's certainly got users drooling for a new iPhone -- we'll have to see what they unveil next week. [via 9to5Mac]
Ad network revenue shows iOS and Android are almost tied
A monthly report from Mobile ad network Millennial Media paints a familiar picture of the smartphone market. According to impressions data, the iPhone is the top individual phone on the ad network, while the iPad is on the rise with a 29% jump in impressions from last month. Apple was the top manufacturer with a 30% impression share. On a platform basis, Android was the leading smartphone OS with a 53% impression share, while iOS was a distant second with a 27% impression share. Rounding out the platform listing is RIM at 17%, Symbian at 2% and Windows Phone 7 at 1%.This impressions data reflects the number of times an ad is viewed. Ad revenue from apps paints a different picture than the impressions data. In ad revenue, iOS and Android are neck and neck. iOS had a slight lead with 45% share, while Android had a 43% share. RIM grabbed 9% of ad revenue, while the remaining 3% is picked up by other platforms. iOS is holding a slight lead over Android, but the green robot is closing in fast. In April, iOS was at 50% and Android was trailing with a 39% share. In May, that gap narrowed, and the two platforms may trade places in June.
Mobile share reports put Android in first for ads, RIM with most subscribers
Two big mobile market share reports have just released, both of them offering up some interesting news for Apple in the world of mobile phone OS users. First up, IDC's report sends Google's Android OS to a whopping 59 percent share, up from 48.6 percent last year. Apple, IDC says, will likely finish with less than 10 percent of the total market. That's not necessarily bad news -- Apple is one company, and Google's Android phone comes in a variety of flavors from different manufacturers. IDC also says the mobile ad market has reached US$368 million, double what it was last year, and may double again next year to almost $2 billion. That's a big pizza pie, of which Apple currently has around 8 percent thanks to iAd. comScore has also released a mobile trends report, sitting Apple behind RIM in the top smartphone subscribers. The difference here is that comScore's looking at subscribers, not users, and RIM's large enterprise base allows it some leeway here. RIM has 36 percent of the market compared to Apple's 25 percent, though in just the past few months, RIM has fallen over three points. There's also some information about how people are using their smartphones, and the number one usage, according to comScore, is text messaging, with 68 percent of mobile subscribers texting. Browsing on the phone, and downloading and using apps also both score high, but strangely, nowhere on the list is there information that anyone, you know, actually uses their phones to call people. Maybe that's just assumed?
Steve Jobs: 'we tried to buy a company called AdMob'
We'd previously heard rumors that Quattro Wireless was Apple's consolation prize after a deal with bigger mobile advertising rival AdMob fell through, and Steve Jobs confirmed it on no uncertain terms at the Q&A session following today's iPhone OS 4.0 event: "we tried to buy a company called AdMob... but Google snatched it away." Indeed they did, though that deal hasn't yet been approved by the Federal Trade Commission while Apple's already up, up and away with its iAd solution, so it seems like everything shook out for the best -- if you're an iPhone developer, anyway.
Apple iAd brings ads, cash money to third-party iPhone apps
If you were wondering exactly what Apple had in mind with its acquisition of Quattro Wireless a few months back, the picture gets a little clearer today with the announcement of the iAd mobile ad platform alongside iPhone OS 4.0 today with the company saying that iPhone devs have a billion "ad opportunities" per day. The idea is to keep users in the apps to see interactive, "emotional" ad content as often as once every three minutes -- not to "yank" them out, as Steve puts it -- while developers are rewarded with a 60 percent cut of the revenue. Ads are hosted and served by Apple, and while there'll be some sort of approval process, Steve's describing it as a "light touch," so it probably isn't the same process traditional apps go through. This makes things considerably more interesting for the mobile advertising business as a whole, since Google's been trying to seal the deal on an acquisition of industry leader AdMob for a while now in the face of some pretty intense FTC scrutiny. Certainly seems like this would grease the wheel a little bit, doesn't it?%Gallery-90060%
Apple to announce iAd / AdKit 'mobile advertising system' on April 7th?
Since Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless in January, both parties have been keeping mum on plans for Madison Avenue domination, but now MediaPost claims to know a thing or two about the newlyweds. According to the report, Apple will apparently unveil "a new personalized, mobile advertising system" which will go by the underwhelming name of "iAd" on April 7th. The article speculates that the service could be heavily focused on location-aware advertising, though that angle could hit some snags as apparently coffee-partner / arch nemesis Eric Schmidt and a little company called Google hold patents on said functionality. Of course, something that drives a wedge between these two players wouldn't exactly be a surprise at this point -- and we'd be happy if Apple doesn't cash in on those ad-supported OS ideas it's recently had. Really, we're not surprised to hear this may be coming, as a tipster just pinged us with info that an "AdKit" reference has shown up in a special file on Apple's public "Phobos" server. This file, which is called StoreBag, provides a public XML interface into iTunes. That interface describes how applications and web browsers can "call home" to either retrieve iTunes information pages or to request that iTunes jump to a given product listing. What you see here is a key-value pair from that file. The URL string that follows after the "adkit-product-url" key suggests that Apple is about to introduce a way to link ads with product URLs. How will this URL work exactly? It's hard to say without any further details, which are regrettably sparse on the ground, but it suggests that ad sourced product links can be used in a similar way to affiliate-driven links. <key>adkit-product-url</key> <string>http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/adkitProduct</string> Not much else is known about Apple's first venture into the ad business at this stage, but Steve Jobs has allegedly told some executives that this will be "revolutionary" and "our next big thing." Frankly, we're starting to get a little concerned with just how often the folks in Cupertino are bandying around the word "revolutionary" -- but we'll hold our judgments until after this announcement happens (if it happens at all).
Apple hires two more for mobile ad sales
In addition to their Quattro Wireless buy last month, Apple has picked up two more new employees that seems like additions to an incoming mobile advertising business. Theo Theodorou was picked up from Microsoft's mobile advertising sales department and will head sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. And Todd Tran, from mobile ad agency Joule, will serve as general manager in Europe. Apple hasn't announced exact details of what they plan to do with all of this mobile advertising, but they did say in the conference call last week that they plan to use their Quattro Wireless acquisition to help app developers make money, especially on free apps. We don't yet know the exact specifics of that plan ("iAds," coming soon to an App Store near you?), but it looks like Apple is making a significant investment in putting mobile ads on their devices.
Blyk-powered 'Orange Shots' service coming next month to Monkey customers
Now that Blyk's free-service-for-ads model has officially bitten the dust, we're starting to see new ideas come out of the woodwork from the Dutch company that might (or might not) stand a better chance of striking a survivable balance of value and profitability. Orange UK has announced that it'll be launching Orange Shots as of February 1, a program for advertisers that lets them target subscribers of its Monkey prepaid service in very specific ways. Sound familiar? Yeah, that was pretty much what Blyk had been doing all along -- difference being that they're no longer trading access to that targeted group for free minutes and texts. As far as we can tell, Orange is simply offering its subscribers the hope of getting special offers from advertisers, meaning its margins are probably going to be a lot higher here than Blyk's ever were before -- assuming Monkey customers agree to sign up, of course. For now, it's purely opt-in; let's hope it stays that way.
Apple makes it official, acquires Quattro Wireless
Following up on last evening's rumor, Apple has pulled the trigger and made its acquisition of mobile ad network Quattro Wireless official. A sale price wasn't disclosed -- $275 million is the popular number being thrown around -- but the company's CEO Andy Miller has been immediately elevated to Apple's newly-minted VP of Mobile Advertising position. In a news post on Quattro's site, Miller says that its products and services won't change "for now" -- but considering that it offers tailored advertising across a huge bounty of devices and platforms, we have to imagine Apple's long-term strategy is going to involve making this framework more of an App Store value-add for developers. Time will tell, but one thing's for sure: this is good news if (and only if) it either makes life easier on devs that want to offer awesome free apps or finally ushers in the era of free, non-carrier-subsidized, ad-supported smartphones that don't suck.
Apple buying mobile ad network Quattro Wireless for $275M?
Now that everyone and their mother's got a smartphone, you've got a pile of sweaty capitalists pounding on the door trying to find every last conceivable way to turn the trend into cold, hard cash. One of the most obvious -- quality apps from a central clearinghouse -- is proving fruitful through countless official platform app stores, but targeted mobile advertising has to be a close second. Google saw the writing on the wall and snapped up AdMob not long ago; one of AdMob's competitors, Quattro Wireless, is now rumored to be locked up for a purchase by Apple for a cool $275 million as early as tomorrow. While mobile ads (or ads of any sort, really) aren't event remotely in Cupertino's repertoire, it's easy to see how this could give the company an opportunity to capitalize on the iPhone's vibrant free app ecosystem, centralize revenue for devs (while stealing a nice little cut for itself), and take back a cottage industry that's flourished since the App Store's debut. At this point, it's unclear what this means for iPhone users -- or would-be tablet users, for that matter -- but seeing how this jibes with recent Apple IP, this tie-up might actually make a frightening amount of sense.
Norwegian ski billboard gets snowy when texted
We've certainly seen mobile-activated bus stop ads before, but the cool factor on this one was just too impressive to overlook. Tryvann Winter Park, a ski resort that sits just 15 minutes away from downtown Oslo, was searching high and low for ways to better market itself to residents of the bustling Norwegian city. In order to do so, it turned to JCDecaux, who conjured up the brilliant idea you see to the right. Essentially, this advertisement packs a few internal fans and a bucketful of faux snow; whenever it starts snowing up at the ski resort, someone sends a text to the billboard and the flurries start to fly. This way, residents and workers in Oslo can easily see when conditions are good some 500 meters up. We're told that Tryvann "loved" the campaign and the resulting crowds that came, though there's no mention of whether it'll be implemented next season or elsewhere in the world.[Via textually, thanks Charles]
Fox joins with Third Screen Media for mobile advertising
Third Screen Media has been making bigger inroads to the mobile advertising scene in recent years as mainstream news properties and companies realize the simple arithmetic of having more mobile screens in use compared to even TV sets. Fox, not one to miss the trend, has agreed to partner with Third Screen Media to ensure it has the best advertising presence possible on all those mobile screens. With YouTube starting to get itself onto those same screens as well, Fox News is even reportedly likely to add video advertising and other forms of advertising on mobile screens sometime in the near future. Are we all ready for ads to take over our mobile web browsing experience? One thing is for sure -- consistent high data speeds will be a must for all that mobile video advertising to work optimally, right?
