Google's switch to an all-paid shopping search experience, featuring Product Listing Ads (PLAs), was the single largest change to the retail paid search landscape last year, and the offering continues to evolve as the official release of PLAs on smartphones was announced last month. PLAs are not only a new ad format but also a new marketplace, with auctions running independently of traditional text ads although they're often being served alongside them on search result pages. Now that the new market has had time to mature, we can take the opportunity to step back and review what we have lea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Google: Search | How To | Marketing Metrics | Search Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising

According to new forecasts from local media analyst firm BIA/Kelsey, U.S. social ad revenues are projected to grow from $4.7 billion earned in 2012 to $11 billion in 2017, an $18.6 compound growth rate (CAGR). While BIA/Kelsey expects mobile local ad revenue to experience an astounding 49. 3 percent growth rate during the next four years, locally targeted social ad revenues are expected to grow as well, generating $3.6 billion by 2017, an increase of 26.4 percent from $1.1 billion earned in 2012. The analyst firm attributes this growth to more local penetration by both brands and SMBs as so [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Mobile Marketing | Social Media Marketing: Advertising | Statistics: General | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Social Media | Statistics: Spend Projections

'Tis the season of mobile advertising forecasts. Within the last week three have been released from eMarketer, BIA/Kelsey and now IDC. Emarketer said that US mobile advertising was worth $4.1 billion in 2012, BIA estimated $3.2 billion and IDC now asserts that US mobile ad revenues came in at $4.5 billion for the year. IDC expects mobile advertising to reach $7 billion by year end, compared with eMarketer's $7.29 billion and BIA's $5.39 billion. The IDC forecast also says the following about 2012 mobile ad revenues: Search: 61 percent of mobile ad spending  ($2.8 billion) Display: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Facebook | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Mobile | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Statistics | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Spend Projections | Top News | Twitter: Advertising | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Mobile

Facebook has been the dominant source of social logins, but Google is closing the gap and now accounts for more than one-third of all social logins. That's according to the latest quarterly report from Janrain. After a couple years of consecutive gains, Facebook's share of social logins has dropped for two straight quarters now. In Q1 2013, Janrain estimates that Facebook accounted for 46 percent of social logins -- down from a high of 54 percent in Q3 last year. Google, meanwhile, has grown from 25 percent of social logins in Q3 2012, to 31 percent at the end of the year, and now up to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Facebook | Facebook: Statistics | Google | Google: Google+ | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Social Media

According to a new survey conducted by Dimensional Research, an overwhelming 90 percent of respondents who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influenced buying decisions, while 86 percent said buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews. The survey, sponsored by Zendesk in the early part of 2013, included responses from 1,046 participants. Respondents had to be in the United States, and had to have experienced a recent customer service issue with a midsized company, either as a consumer or in a business context. Approximately two-thirds of [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: General | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News | Word Of Mouth Marketing

TripAdvisor ushered in a big change to their display ad placement platform last week that could have repercussions well beyond the travel industry.  In a proactive response to ad industry initiatives to move from a "served" to a "viewable" impression metric, the company announced last week that it launched "Delayed Ad Call". Advertisers will be charged for an impression only when a user scrolls to the area of the page where the ad is shown. TripAdvisor's VP Global Display Sales, Martin Verdon-Roe told Nick Vivion at Tnooz.com It means that not only are our ads more trustworthy but the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Internet Marketing Industry: Stats | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News

EMarketer reports that many businesses are leveraging social analytics vendors, digital agencies and PR firms for a variety of real-time marketing initiatives, moving beyond simply analyzing their social media data to gauge brand awareness or respond to comments via their social media pages. According to the report, 53 percent of the marketers surveyed plan to make greater use of real-time data in their 2013 marketing campaigns. Also, in the eMarketer report, many big brands including Cisco, Dell, McDonald's and SAP share how they are using social analytics to make on-the-fly decisions, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: Social Media

According to eMarketer, mobile advertising will reach $7.29 billion by the end of this year with Google projected to take home more than half, earning $3.9 billion in US mobile ad revenue for 2013. According to the report, US mobile advertising grew 178 percent last year and is expected to grow 77.3 percent this year, a five fold increase since 2011. Mobile ad dollars represent display, search and messaging-based formats served on mobile devices. Mobile advertising will continue to climb dramatically, with an expected $27.13 billion in total mobile ad revenue by 2017, just under 45 percent [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Mobile | Google: Display Advertising | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: General | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News | Twitter: Advertising

Local media analyst firm BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. mobile local advertising revenue will grow from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $9.1 billion in 2017, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.3 percent. "Though inventory growth currently outpaces advertiser demand, we believe the latter will begin to accelerate," said Michael Boland, senior analyst and director of content at BIA/Kelsey. The outcome of such acceleration will be increased over all mobile ad spending along with increased mobile ad rates, including CPMs and CPCs. Defined as advertising that is targeted based on a us [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Spend Projections

Our friends at comScore have released February US mobile market share data. The story is largely the same as it has been over the past six months but with a couple of wrinkles. Apple gained almost 4 points during the measured period (Nov - Feb) and grew its smartphone lead over Samsung in the US. Samsung dominates Apple, however, in international markets. Simultaneously, Apple gained some ground on Android, now at just under 39 percent to Android's 51 percent. After a lackluster Galaxy S4 launch, a strong iPhone 5S could build further on this momentum. That remains to be seen, howeve [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Popularity & Usage

There's always been a kind of paradox at the heart of the Android ecosystem: it's the dominant smartphone OS, but its users don't dominate the mobile Internet. Mobile browser and Internet usage numbers don't line up with handset market share. Google has always promoted its raw Android activation numbers as a way to show momentum (and boast vs. Apple). However, now that it has essentially won the market share contest, it's starting to focus on different metrics that are more meaningful -- a substantial percentage of Android users are relatively "passive" when it comes to apps and the mobile [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Statistics: Popularity & Usage

According to a study commissioned by iContact, small and midsize businesses are allocating the largest share of their marketing budgets to email, with more than half spending up to 20 percent of their total marketing dollars on email marketing efforts. Edge Research was commissioned by iContact, an email service provided by Vocus, to conduct an independent study surveying 601 email marketing decision makers at companies with an annual revenue of $1 million to $50 million and no more than 1,000 total employees. Respondents had to be involved in email marketing decisions, have knowledge of ho [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Features & Analysis | Statistics: Email Marketing | Top News

Email is the most common activity that U.S. adults do on their smartphones, with Web browsing and using Facebook a close second and third, respectively. That's according to "Always Connected," a new study from IDC that was done earlier this month and includes responses from more than 7,400 iPhone and Android users between 18 and 44 years old. Facebook sponsored the study, and so much of the data surrounds how Facebook helps users connect with others via their smartphones. According to the study, 78 percent of respondents say they check email on their smartphones, compared to 73 percent w [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Facebook | Facebook: Mobile | Facebook: Statistics | Features & Analysis | Mobile Marketing | Social Media Marketing | Statistics | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Social Media | Top News

According to a recent report published by Radware, load times for the top U.S. retail websites are 22 percent slower than in December 2011, continuing to go well beyond the ideal three-second load time. For their Spring 2013 "State of the Union" report, Radware evaluated load times for the top 2,000 U.S. retail websites as ranked by Alexa.com. The sites were tested using three different browsers: IE 9, Firefox 17 and Chrome 23, all on a DSL connection. The study found that the median load time for first-time visitors to a retail website's home page was 7.25 seconds, a 22 percent increase [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News

Are mobile devices complementary or do they cannibalize PC usage? There are competing data and answers. It does seem clear that people use different devices in different contexts, but some simply prefer smartphones across the board. Regardless, people are now using multiple devices throughout the day. Ad network Chitika analyzed traffic patterns in the US and Canada last month to map differences in usage behavior. The data reflected in the charts below are drawn from "tens of millions of mobile- and desktop- based online ad impressions within the Chitika Ad Network." What they show are [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Popularity & Usage

DG MediaMind released the 2012 Global Benchmarks Report, an analysis of more than 600 billion display ad impressions in 2012 from standard banners, rich media and video. The study showed that engagement improved with the inclusion of rich media and interactive video elements in ads. Globally in-stream video ads grew, and video ads met the threshold to be included in the benchmarks for 23 countries versus just 16 previously. Here is a breakdown of CTR in North America by ad type: 0.10% Standard Banner 0.14% Rich Media 0.16% Expandable Banners 0.85% In-Stream Video 1.92% Intera [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Statistics: Online Advertising

A huge percentage of TV watchers (as much as 80 percent) are now on a "second screen" during a program, though they may not necessarily be engaged in a "social conversation" about the show they are watching. They may be shopping, writing emails or reading news, instead. However, a new study from SocialGuide (and Nielsen) found that Twitter activity and conversations were positively correlated with TV ratings. Twitter was one of three "statistically significant variables" associated with positive TV ratings. The other two were past ratings and TV advertising (on behalf of the show). Ni [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Statistics: Social Media | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Advertising | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Mobile

Findings from a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and inContact, a provider of cloud contact center software, prove companies cannot rely on brand loyalty when it comes to keeping existing customers or winning new ones. The survey, conducted online February 11 through February 13, 2013 using a nationwide sample of 2,191 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older, examined changing consumer behavior trends and customer service preferences. Survey findings confirmed that consumers are less likely to make buying decisions based on brand loyalty, and more likely to choose a company that of [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Statistics: General

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s has served up its annual and comprehensive “State of the News Media" report. It offers a mostly pessimistic assessment of the condition and trajectory of various news media in the US today. In perhaps its most striking finding, the report shows how declining revenues leading to repeated cost-cutting have hurt readership and audience loyalty. Based on survey data, the State of the News Media argues that slipping quality and diminished coverage have alienated large numbers of people who've abandoned news publications o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content Marketing | Facebook: Statistics | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Statistics: Social Media | Top News | Twitter: Statistics | Yahoo: News

We all know the day of multi-device and cross-screen usage is here. The challenge for marketers is to understand how to communicate effectively with consumers as they engage with multiple devices simultaneously and sequentially throughout the day. A new study commissioned by Microsoft, titled Cross-Screen Engagement, aims to help marketers learn how users are engaging with multiple screens and to find opportunities to reach consumers "in their moment". In the two-phase study, Flamingo Research and Ipsos OTX interviewed consumers in five markets—Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK and t [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Features & Analysis | Internet Marketing Industry: Stats | Microsoft | Mobile Marketing | Search Marketing | Social Media Marketing | Statistics | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Top News