MSearchGroove

In-brief: Reports & metrics that matter. Companies covered include AdMob, Dentsu, Pyramid Research, Jamster & innerActive Smart Media.

ADMOB: Thanks again to Jason Spero, AdMob VP Marketing, who regularly sends me the monthly AdMob report (often before he releases it to anyone else). A highlight: The January Mobile Metrics Report (true to AdMob’s word to use its vast stockpile of data to track trends in the mobile ecosystem) shows trends in device manufacturers’ market share as defined by the percentage of ad requests in the AdMob network coming from a specific device. The graphs below show the top device makers worldwide and - in particular - illustrate the gains made by Apple iPhone in the U.S. & U.K.

AdMob noted big-time growth in U.K. requests and impressions. A whopping 19.9 percent in January over December. If this jump could be linked to the long-awaited arrival of Vodafone’s lower data tariffs? Another point of interest is the activity around the Superbowl. AdMob witnessed a “significant spike” in U.S. network traffic during the hours around the championship football game. (In addition to download, community, entertainment, news & information and portals channels, AdMob also has a strong offering of sports content in its growing network of publishers.) Overall, network impressions worldwide increased 17.4 percent in January over the previous month.

JAPAN: Dentsu (via Japan’s Cellphone Edge) has released its annual report on Japan’s advertising spend in 2007. Mobile ad spending accounted for more than 10 percent (or $574 million of online advertising budgets), growing by a whopping 59.2 percent year over year. Dentsu also provided a breakdown of mobile advertising, revealing that 13.7 percent (more than $78 million) was search-based advertising.

MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING: A new report from Pyramid Research estimates today’s active social networking members at more than one-third of the total worldwide Internet user base, or roughly 530 million. The future of social networking sites will be shaped by mobility and the “industry-wide trend toward presence and personalization.” In line with this trend, the ability of members to access a social networking site on the fly will boost data usage for operators and advertising revenue for all. (Not so sure on the logical leap, since even Google isn’t thrilled by the response of social networks to advertising - yet.) Anyway, Pyramid forecasts 300 million mobile social networking users by 2010, representing 7 percent of worldwide mobile subscribers. By 2012, it expects roughly 18 percent of mobile users (the equivalent of 950 million users) worldwide to be accessing at least one social networking site via their mobile device.

But the report conclusion is a clear warning to mobile operators who seek to lock members into their walled garden networks. “Yet despite the clear financial rewards of mobile social networking, there is risk that operators will be disintermediated or cut off from their customers through flat-rate Internet access or, more broadly, the rise of asynchronous communications over synchronous channels.” Pyramid Research believes this future can be avoided so long as mobile operators keep in mind a vital imperative as they move forward with their strategies: to continue to delight their customers by enhancing their everyday experiences.” Translated: Cultivate rather than control and you’ll be around to celebrate.

AD-FUNDED TRIAL RESULTS: A trial of mobile in-game advertising in the U.K. - conducted by D2C content provider Jamster and innerActive Smart Media, a provider of ad-funded entertainment channels - generated a 39 percent average click-through rate. The six-week trial, which exposed U.K. mobile users to contextual, dynamically embedded advertising and promotions - from brands such as Adidas, Domino’s Pizza and Calvin Klein - in exchange for free games, gave users the opportunity to download six free games from the Jamster site  in return for viewing advertising and promotions from sponsors. The companies claim the ads were completely non-intrusive ads because innerActive’s self-learning mechanism delivers a highly granular level of detail about consumer behavior that enables more accurate tailoring of future offerings. (Intriguing - but more after a briefing with innerActive to find out further details about the level of targeting it can enable, and how.) In any case, the trial results support the view that relevant ads will always have their audience.

• Posted in
• Mobile Research, Mobile Social Networking, Mobile Search, Mobile Advertising

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