Samsung Near Bottom of Satisfaction Index for Handset Makers
The University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index for May is out. I've pulled two categories: wireless carriers and mobile handsets. The chart immediately below reflects that of the four major US mobile carriers Sprint beats Verizon by a single satisfaction point. They're all clustered very closely together however.
The next chart is more interesting. It shows consumer satisfaction with smartphone brands.
Apple comes out on top (83), followed by Nokia, LG and HTC (75). HTC and Motorola are two points behind them. Interestingly, Samsung -- which is now the largest handset maker in the world -- is 12 points behind Apple (71). The only company to score more poorly than Samsung is RIM.
People at the ACSI say that these numbers are predictive of future consumer behavior. A low score implies declining future sales. By the same token a high score should predict positive sales activity.
Certainly Apple is doing well and RIM is in decline. But Samsung is an anomaly. It continues to see massive sales and would thus appear to defy the predictive wisdom of the ACSI scores.
Survey: 75% Using Smartphones for LBS Information
On Friday the Pew Internet Project released survey data that showed significant usage of "real-time location-based information" by smartphone owners in the US. Earlier consumer surveys have shown that 90% or more of smartphone owners have used their devices to get "local" or location-based information (at one point or another).
When you consider that Google Maps is either the top app or one of the top two apps on the iPhone and Android the Pew finding is obvious and not a surprise. Indeed, Pew never clearly defines the cluster of sites, apps or services that constitute the location-based information category. That may be because the question is asked in that way, without further definition, to consumers.
An additional finding from the survey is that 18% of smartphone owners are using "check-in" services like Foursquare:
In November 2010 Pew said that only 4% of survey respondents were using "geosocial" or "check-in" services.
We should see "location-based services" hit 100% usage or penetration among smartphone owners, depending on how the category is defined. That's because every smartphone owner is going to eventually use a map or check the weather or look up a restaurant.
Finding the “L” Spot: The Importance of Localization to Mobile Ad Performance
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Precis
The long awaited “year of mobile” is finally upon us. Approximately 85 million people access the mobile Internet (in the US) on a daily basis. Consumers now spend more time with apps than on their PCs. And consumer response to mobile ads is typically stronger than to PC ad campaigns.
Local is the “sweet spot” for mobile advertising, with a majority of users expressing a preference for localized ads. But local targeting can be challenging and elusive. Mobile ad networks offer different definitions of “local” and some even misrepresent their capabilities. Despite the capacity of smartphones to precisely locate their owners in space and time, most networks can’t match that precision for ad campaigns.
We wanted to test the hypothesis that local targeting improves mobile ad performance with a real-world "apples to apples" comparison. Accordingly, we ran the identical hotel ad campaign on three major mobile networks and two specialized local-mobile ad networks to compare performance. The attached report contains the complete results of the study.
One local ad network came out on top; the other did not. The campaign also revealed the importance of multiple forms of tracking and how online impression and "CTR" metrics are not enough to capture and communicate true mobile ROI.
Featured Research is available to registered users only.
For more information on becoming an I2G client, please contact Pete Headrick (pheadrick@opusresearch.net).
Are Facebook Users Fleeing to Mobile to Escape Ads?
Facebook has again updated its S-1. There are a few reasons for this, including the awarding of additional stock to employees. However there's a very interesting discussion of mobile in the revised document (pointed out by TechCrunch). On page 14 of the document Facebook reiterates uncertainty around its ability to make money off mobile users:
We had 488 million MAUs who used Facebook mobile products in March 2012. While most of our mobile users also access Facebook through personal computers, we anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile usage will exceed the growth in usage through personal computers for the foreseeable future, in part due to our focus on developing mobile products to encourage mobile usage of Facebook.
We have historically not shown ads to users accessing Facebook through mobile apps or our mobile website. In March 2012, we began to include sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds. However, we do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered. If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.
(emphasis added.)
The only mobile ad unit currently used by Facebook is Sponsored Stores, which put brand and advertiser messages in the user news feed. These units have proven to be successful on the PC but could become annoying to users on mobile devices. I have not yet seen any of these ads myself.
One reason why mobile usage is growing so rapidly for Facebook is a result of general smartphone adoption among Americans. There are also things about the user experience in mobile that are superior to the PC: the ability to take and immediately upload pictures, for example.
There may be another reason why usage is migrating to mobile: ad avoidance. People may be choosing the mobile version of Facebook over the PC site precisely because there are fewer ads; it's a "cleaner" experience. If my theory is correct then Facebook has a major problem on its hands. As Facebook puts more ads in mobile to make money it risks alienating users if the company is not very careful and thoughtful.
Mobile ads on Facebook will have to add value, be compelling (offers) or highly relevant (local) in order to work. For this reason I expect Facebook to make a major mobile ad-network acquisition. This would be for the "infrastructure," the expertise and the inventory. It would be analogous to what Google did with AdMob.
Finding the L Spot: The Hype and Reality of Local-Mobile Advertising
Wed, 05/09/2012 - 10:21 by AdminLive Webcast: Wednesday, May 23rd - 1pm ET / 10am PT
Somewhere between 20% and 30% of traffic to many websites is now coming from mobile devices, depending on the category. In specific local categories the number is as high as 50%.
Consumers have repeatedly indicated their preference for localized ads and see them as more relevant than “generic” ads. There are also several very bullish forecasts for localized mobile advertising. Yet most “local” mobile ads aren’t more specific than regional or metro-area targeting. And only about 5% of mobile ads carry a precise “lat-long.”
Why is this the case and what must happen to realize the promise of “LoMo” advertising? Join Monica Ho, xAd Vice President of Marketing and Opus Research's Senior Analyst Greg Sterling for a discussion of the opportunities – and challenges – of locally targeted mobile advertising today.
Sterling will provide findings on consumer preferences for localized advertising as well as performance data comparing local-mobile ads to national ads. He’ll also present a recent case study comparing ad performance across five mobile ad networks.
xAd’s Monica Ho will talk about the opportunities and challenges of location targeting .She’ll also present the 5 mobile marketing best practices that every marketer / agency should know in order to drive true performance out of mobile advertising.
Insurance, Banking Dominate Mobile Advertising in Financial Vertical
Millennial Media released an extensive report this morning, supported by research from comScore, on the mobile finance vertical. It contains in-depth audience profile and behavior information. It's also partly devoted to discussion of financial sector advertisers, their mobile campaigns and tactics.
The company found that finance-related mobile ads grew 34% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. Millennial reported that insurance was the leading sub-category, with 42% of display ads on its network. Those ads were mostly lead-gen or directed people to call centers (to close).
Banking was next, with an emphasis on branding/awareness. Interestingly Millennial said that "This was also the only Finance sub-category to focus on driving foot traffic into brick and mortar locations, such as ATMs/cash points and bank branches."
Financial services/credit cards followed those categories. These were national campaigns largely focused on a mix of awareness and direct response:
Spend in the Financial Services category varied throughout the year, as brands increased their mobile ad spend ahead of key seasonal events like the April US tax deadline. Credit Card brands heavily focused on campaigns designed to easily allow consumers to apply for new cards.
Apps Crush Mobile Web in Time Spent -- comScore
There has been an ongoing debate about whether the mobile web would ultimately prevail over apps, with web partisans in disbelief about the persistence and growth of apps. Flurry Analytics famously reported last year that apps were consuming more time than the PC. Now comScore confirms what Flurry has been saying: mobile users spend far more time with apps than the mobile browser.
The reason is simple: it's a better user experience. Publishers don't like being captive to app stores but consumers have clearly expressed their preference for apps. According to comScore:
Analysis of the share of time spent across apps and browsers revealed that even though these access methods had similar audience sizes, apps drove the lion’s share of engagement, representing 4 in every 5 mobile media minutes. Analysis of the top properties also revealed widely varying degrees of time spent between app and browser access methods. On Facebook, the top ranked mobile media property by engagement, 80 percent of time spent was represented by app usage compared to 20 percent via browser.
Among all measured sites/apps, according to comScore, Facebook saw the greatest engagement among US users, with people spending 7 hours with Facebook's mobile site or apps in March. The chart measures average mobile minutes spent on popular social sites/apps.
Source: comScore, March 2012
iPad: How Do We Reconcile Tablet Projections with Actual Traffic Data?
IDC and Gartner both released revised tablet projections in the past month. According to Gartner Apple will control 61.4% of the tablet market in 2012. IDC says Apple had a 68% share of the global tablet market in Q1 2012. Gartner is counting projected sales, while IDC is measuring shipments.
Shipments have been definitively shown to be an inaccurate metric in the past. Shipments do not equal sales.
Yet late last week ad network Chitika found, based on millions of impressions on its US-based network, "that the iPad accounted for 94.64% of all tablet based traffic." By contrast Chitika said that the nearest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy tablet, "boasts a lack luster market share of 1.22%."
The ad network found that for every 100 iPads there were just over 1 Samsung Galaxy Tabs, as measured by traffic generated. For every 100 iPads there were 0.8% Kindle Fires. As an aside Kindle Fire sales have dramatically slowed this past quarter.
While Chitika's network is not synonymous with the entire Internet it's going to be generally representative of traffic trends. In Q3 2011 comScore reported that "iPads delivered 97.2 percent of all tablet traffic in the US."
There's something really out of alignment between what IDC, Gartner, NPD and several others are reporting in terms of tablet market share and what's actually happening "on the ground" in terms of usage.
Nielsen: Windows Phone Has a 1.7% Share in US
Nielsen has released some smarpthone market share figures for March. The metrics firm says that 50.5% of US mobile phone owners now carry smartphones. The data show the following breakdown by operating system:
- Android OS -- 48.5%
- iOS -- 32.0%
- Blackberry -- 11.6%
- Windows Mobile -- 4.1%
- Windows Phone -- 1.7%
- Other -- 2.1%
Here's comScore's March data for comparison purposes:
- Google -- 51.0%
- Apple -- 30.7%
- RIM -- 12.3%
- Microsoft -- 3.9%
- Symbian -- 1.4%
Comscore puts smartphone penetration at 45.2% in the US by comparison.
There's a meaningful difference in the numbers in terms of Android and iOS market share percentages in both data sets. In addition Nielsen shows 5.8% penetration of Windows, while comScore shows 3.9%. That's also a fairly significant difference.
They both agree however that the Windows Phone platform so far hasn't moved the needle and Microsoft's overall share of the smartphone market is declining.
Facebook Has Bought Gowalla, Instagram and Now Glancee
A couple of days ago local-social startup Glancee announced that it was being acquired by Facebook:
We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering social discovery. We are therefore very excited to announce that Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have joined the team in Menlo Park . . .
Glancee, which is really just a 2.0 version of the original Loopt, adds to Facebook's growing arsenal of mobile assets. The social network has identified mobile as both an area of vulnerability and opportunity. In the Facebook IPO roadshow video COO Sheryl Sandberg calls out mobile as "a key area of growth for Facebook."
What she's talking about is revenue rather than usage. The company already has more than 500 million active mobile users. And Flurry Analytics recently said that social networking activities now consume as much daily mobile app munitues as games, the former number one category. Much of that activity takes place within Facebook.
The purchase price of Glancee was not disclosed but we can assume it was an "acquhire," rather than a technology acquisition -- though there may have been a bit of technology that motivated the purchase.
Glancee was part of a group of "passive" or "ambient" location startups that include the over-hyped Highlight and a dozen others. I have argued in the past that ordinary people (as opposed to those in the tech industry) don't want to continuously broadcast their locations even to close friends and colleagues. Accordingly these friend finding and pseudo-dating apps are destined to fail unless the offer some other angle or utilitarian functionality.
Facebook may choose to use some of Glancee's capabilities as part of a new version of its app. But my guess is that Glancee, like Gowalla, will be completely shuttered and that Facebook won't turn its app into a ambient friend finder. That would complicate the privacy picture for Facebook -- though I expect geofencing and geotargeted advertising to be part of what Facebook eventually develops for mobile marketers.
We're likely to see more acquisitions from Facebook as the company continues to build up its mobile capabilities. What the company hasn't figured out is how to make money in mobile, commensurate with its mobile usage. It now pumps Sponsored Stories through its users' news feeds, having just introduced mobile advertising. However that by itself won't fulfill the mobile ad revenue imperative about to be imposed on Facebook by its IPO.