3rd Space Delivers Ad-funded Video for Reliance

Indian telco Reliance Communications has announced a partnership with UK mobile marketing firm, 3rd Space Services, to launch ad-funded videos on its Reliance Mobile platform. Under the tersm of the agreement, 3rd Space will supply mobile video content to Reliance Communications. It will also offer premium content such as ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’, Bollywood songs and films, and sports content. The service will be available on every data-enabled handset within the Reliance network. Customers will have access to the content in exchange for watching an ad embedded within the video.
“Our tie-up with 3rd Space will be mutually beneficial,” says Krishna Durbha, Head of Value Added Services at Reliance Communications. “It will not only increase the viewership, but also the revenue for both companies. Besides, the application offers outstanding video quality hitherto not experienced by mobile users, and will be accessible on every handset in our ecosystem. Our initiative will act as a launch pad for ad-funded videos in India, with more exciting things to follow.”

S. Africa - Land of Opportunity

Hemant Kumar, Assistant Manager, Online Marketing and Advertising Sales, at mobile ad network Mkhoj, looks at the mobile advertising opportunities for brands in S. Africa

S. Africa is considered the fourth fastest-growing mobile communications market in the world. It has witnessed a huge success in the adoption of mobile communications, and also in the acceptance and growth of mobile advertising. The secret behind this tremendous success lies in the inherent behaviour or the market, including social and economic factors.
If we examine the success of S. Africa closely, some interesting facts emerge. Firstly, mobile penetration in S. Africa outnumbers PC penetration by a ratio of 2:1. Credit has to also go to S. Africa’s highly progressive user base, which has adopted the mobile Internet in a huge way. Mobile data usage is encouraged by the competitive operator market, which provides low-cost Internet access. In fact, S. Africa recently witnessed a whopping 90% cut in data charges, with the average now standing at approximately 2 Rand/MB (£0.16). In all, the favourable ecosystem, working in tandem with the competitive market, provides the right environment for the growth of mobile advertising.

Market insights
This market has shown some unique trends that create a good mobile advertising opportunity for publishers and advertisers. The number of publishers in S. Africa is significantly lower than the number of advertisers. The reason for this boils down to a simple supply and demand phenomenon. The user base in S. Africa is more inclined towards international sites rather than local sites. Over time, seeing the successful adoption by users, the number of local advertisers began to grow at a fast pace. The increase in the number of international publishers was much slower. This resulted in a large number of advertisers compared to the number of publishers, creating a high demand for publishers in the market. The outcome of this is high cost-per-click (CPC), giving publishers opportunities to generate high ad revenues.
At mKhoj, we strongly believe that in S. Africa, publishers stand to gain from the advantages of early adoption, such as lower competition. We have seen our partners have a great experience wiuth their mobile advertising campaigns, due to the high monetization capabilities of the S. African market.
From an advertiser standpoint, though the industry standards demand a high CPC, the customer usage helps to maintain the profitability levels and justify the investment. The user base is very content download-friendly. In fact, in the month of May, 85% of our network traffic from S. Africa was driven by content downloads.

Useful services
We believe that the services that are valuable to S. African mobile users will be the ones that are useful, simple, uncomplicated and easy to use. They will make users’ lives easier, or give them access to services that were previously unavailable or too expensive.
Over the past couple of months, the mKhoj network has seen a tremendous growth in mobile Internet traffic in S. Africa. Mobile advertising in S. Africa is being demystified. The time for advertisers, agencies and publishers to capitalize is here.

Karnstedt Joins Jumptap Board

Mobile advertising firm Jumptap has appointed David Karnstedt, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, to its Board of Directors. Karnstedt has had a high profile career in both search and display advertising, and his experience includes establishing many significant industry firsts.
As President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, Karnstedt leads overall strategy and is responsible for the management and operations of the company. Prior to that role, he served as Executive-in-Residence for Redpoint Ventures, a current Jumptap investor. He also served as Senior Vice President of Yahoo!’s North American Sales, where he drove $3 billion worth of revenue. He has also worked for Wired Digital, AltaVista and Overture.
“The mobile advertising market is rapidly evolving, and Jumptap’s strategy and advanced targeting technology have uniquely and defensibly positioned them for success,” says Karnstedt. “The company offers a tremendous value proposition to advertisers seeking higher ROI, publishers that want to optimize their mobile revenue, and carriers that seek to leverage their data assets to build targeted user profiles.”

Juniper Report Analyses Mobile Messaging Prospects

Mobile messaging revenues are set for measured growth over the next five years, as market forces take effect. That’s the conclusion of the latest report from Juniper Research, ‘Mobile Mobile Messaging & IP Evolution: Players, Strategies & Forecasts 2009-2014’.
The report concludes that SMS, MMS, mobile email and IM (Instant Messaging) traffic volumes will continue their inexorable rise, but nots also that the IP evolution is resulting in disruptive business models, increased competition from the web, and commoditisation of established services.
It also finds that the move from per-transaction to per-month billing models, incorporating up to unlimited data and messaging bundles, will see total P2P (peer-to-peer) revenues in Western and Eastern Europe post declines, balanced to some extent by a healthy rise in revenues in developing markets, plus growth in ad-funded tariffs. Meanwhile, web-based communities will continue to integrate new messaging mediums, which could impact operator revenues in the increasingly open mobile web-browsing environment.
The report investigates the future for the mobile messaging market, providing forecasts and analysis for both network-based services (SMS, MMS) and IP-based services (Mobile Email and Instant Messaging). It includes a discussion about the shift in the mobile messaging dynamic, looking at how the social web will drive evolution in the messaging world, in combination with the emerging paradigm brought about by IP-based messaging services.
Key projections within the forecasting suite include total global revenues, forecast by region and by product sector; mobile messaging user numbers and annual volumes of messaging by product; volumes of paid-for messages and total operator-billed revenues; and total mobile messaging advertising revenues.
The report also explores a number of business models, such as value-chain disruption, evolution of mobile networks, and the emergence of mobile ad-funded tariffs, plus the various types of value-added services being developed to complement the growing number of messaging services available.
It also considers the following questions:

• What is the market opportunity for mobile messaging services?
• What are the factors driving market demand and evolution, and where are the various services being adopted?
• How are services delivered and revenues derived?
• Who comprises the value chain & what strategies are they adopting?
• How do next-generation mobile messaging services, convergence and VAS (Value Addes Services) impact current offerings?
• Who uses mobile messaging services, and what are the various use case scenarios?
• What are the enabling technologies and industry/standards developments?

The report costs £1,750 for a single-user PDF or hardback copy; £2,500 for a multi- user licence; or £3,750 for an enterprise-wide licence.
There’s more information here. And you can download a free Whitepaper here.

Xtract Secures Finnish Deal

Xtract, which develops ‘social intelligence’ software, has revealed that Finnish operator DNA has deployed its ‘Social Links On-Demand' solution, bringing the benefits of its targeted and personalised marketing offering to DNA’s 2.4 million subscribers.   
Social Links On-Demand is a new delivery channel for Xtract's flagship solution Social Links. According to Xtract, it helps operators to gain a three-dimensional picture of its subscribers for use in more targeted marketing. Social Links analyses behavioural, demographic and social network data from subscribers in an anonymized form, thus protecting privacy.
Social Links On-Demand's key components include social network analytics; data warehouse/storage; database maintenance; and infrastructure services such as virus protection and firewalls. Operators can revolutionise strategies such as churn management based upon the service's three-dimensional subscriber profiling, says Xtract. 
“This is a revolutionary solution for customer insight,” says DNA’s Head of Business Intelligence, Jarkko Utriainen. “It helps us increase our marketing efficiency by harnessing the viral effects within social networks. At the same time, deploying the solution as an on-demand service that is hosted by Xtract saves us cost, resources and time in implementation.”

Adfonic Launches Mobile Ad Exchange

Adfonic has announced the release of its mobile advertising exchange of the same name. Adfonic will enable advertisers and agencies to bid for advertising on mobile sites and applications, creating a new revenue stream for mobile publishers. Adfonic’s self-service global mobile advertising platform will address the advertising community’s increased demands for more sophisticated mobile campaign management and maximise the earning potential for a new generation of mobile Internet sites and applications worldwide.
Adfonic says that advertisers and publishers will benefit from “the most advanced targeting capabilities in the market, detailed web-based real-time reporting and analytics, and an intuitive user experience”.
“We are creating a transparent marketplace for advertisers to buy mobile inventory using a bidding model which will keep costs low whilst protecting their brand,” says CEO Victor Malachard. “Mobile has the potential to be the most powerful channel in the marketing mix. Our goal is to turn that potential into reality.”
Adfonic says its campaign management tools have been designed from the ground up to allow advertisers and agencies to connect with their desired audiences. Targeting options include location, device, mobile operators, demographics and day-time parting Web 2.0-style ‘tag’ approach further helps advertisers reach a contextually relevant set of publishers, who in turn benefit from increased earning potential.
Harry Dewhirst, operations Director at mobile media planning and buying agency RingRing Media, has welcomed the launch of Adfonic. He told Mobile Marketing Magazine:
“I think Adfonic is a great startup. They have already been in to demo the platform to the Account Management team at RingRing and we were all very impressed. In terms of functionality, its right up there with Admob. The blind network space is competitive, but providing they get quality publishers within their network, which I’m sure they will, then the advertisers (and agencies) will follow. RingRing Media are already planning some campaigns with Adfonic and look forward to great success.“
Mick Rigby, Chairan of media agency Yodel, also feels the company has a decent offering. He told us:
“The founders each have excellent mobile pedigree and have done an awful lot of research on other mobile ad networks prior to launching Adfonic, so hopefully it will live up to its billing as having the most advanced targeting capabilities and bringing something new to the mobile ad market.
“The risk they take is becoming a ‘me too’ to the likes of Admob and BuzzCity who are already established. The key to their success will be the publisher partnerships they manage to establish. To really get Yodel excited they’ll need to get on board the big consistent traffic sits as well as some of the premium publishers that aren’t currently in blind networks.
“Their targeting capabilities, especially the daypart and the keyword tagging, do offer something that we’ll find really useful. Lower CPC’s are beneficial to the advertiser but are only worth the money if the click turns into a conversion; better targeting tools will allow agencies to focus on the right audiences and help optimise the campaign conversions."
The Adfonic platform will serve display advertising to mobile sites and applications at launch, and publishers and advertisers can create an account for free in minutes here.
The interface is designed for companies ranging from larger brands and established mobile destinations to bloggers and small developers seeking to monetise or drive traffic to their sites and iPhone applications.
The three co-founders of Adfonic – Victor Malachard, CEO; Wesley Biggs, CTO; and Paul Childs, CMO – collectively bring 40 years of mobile marketing, mobile technology and start-up experience to their roles. Adfonics says the company is founded on the principles of trust, openness, flexibility, innovation and continuous improvement, which it says are essential elements for the development of a vibrant mobile community.

Alcatel-Lucent Targets Operators with Mobile Ad Solution

Alcatel-Lucent has launched its Advertising Selection Server through its subsidiary Gettings and unveiled EPlus group in Germany as the first customer for the service.
The Advertising Selection Server features advanced targeting algorithmsa , and is designed to help mobile operators sell advertising inventory across a variety of formats, including SMS and MMS Push, mobile websites, Ringback Tones, pre- and post-roll video ads, and in-game advertising.
The solution is a key element of the Gettings business model around mobile advertising which was developed through extensive collaboration between Alcatel-Lucent and E-Plus group in the creation of new service features and system testing. Gettings enables advertisers to deliver targeted mobile advertising campaigns to all customers of the E-Plus group in an opt in model.
In the Gettings application E-Plus’ consumers choose between three packages - S, M and L - where they will receive between 10 and 25 mobile ads per week, in return for €1, €1.5 or €2 of credit. The Advertising Selection Server enables users to provide their preferences so they receive only mobile ads that interest them.
“Advertising must not be perceived as a nuisance. This is especially true for ads on a mobile phone,” says Daniel Euler, managing director of E-Plus’ Gettings. “Mobile Advertising only works if it strictly centres around the recipients' interests.”
The Advertising Selection Server provides mobile service providers with a single platform that is able to deliver a mix of push and pull targeted advertising campaigns tailored to an individual subscribers’ opt in preferences. The solution also offers a user-friendly interface for inventory and campaign management and acts as a single front-end for advertising players, with a suite of APIs for tight integration with third party services, profiling, and billing systems. The solution is generally available worldwide as a turnkey product, or as a hosted service.
Alcatel-Lucent says the Advertising Selection Server supports its broader personalized content and advertising strategy, which is geared toward enabling the delivery of relevant, interactive and personalized advertising to consumers over communications networks of all kinds.

IAB Study Finds Mobile Ads Increase Brand Awareness

A research study from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and research company Brand Driver, in conjunction with Kit Kat, has found that mobile display advertising can increase brand awareness and recognition.
The UK’s first publicly available mobile brand study to cover effectiveness across a range of mobile properties used a sample of 600 mobile Internet users. Respondents were exposed to banner ads for FMCG brand Kit Kat across four major mobile sites – Orange World, O2 Active, Planet 3 and Heatworld - which promoted free downloads or the chance to win an ipod.
Respondents who clicked on the ads were sent to the relevant page within the Kit Kat mobile Internet site, where they could enter the competition or download free mobile games or wallpapers.  
The results of the study have formed the basis for a new set of five IAB guidelines, designed to increase the effectiveness of mobile ad campaigns:

1. Use mobile to raise awareness
The mobile ad campaign had a positive impact on raising awareness of the brand, with a 36% increase in spontaneous awareness levels of Kit Kat and 267% increase in first mention - people spontaneously mentioning Kit Kat before any other brands. Furthermore, 76% of those who had clicked on any Kit Kat banner ads said they would be likely to buy the product.

2. Mobile advertising can be effective across all demographics, but especially 18-34s
The campaign resulted in uplifts across all age groups, and for both men and women. The results were most impressive though among 18-34 year olds. Spontaneous awareness increased by 50% compared to a 21% increase for 35-44 year olds.

3. Brands and mobile Internet sites should put the user experience first
The research found that the context of mobile advertising is extremely important. People that enjoyed the site they were surfing were 76% more likely to recognise the ad. Heavy mobile Internet users were also more receptive to the advertising, and were 80% more like to recall the ad..  

4. Mobile display advertising needs a clear focus
The mobile campaign improved perceptions of Kit Kat across all statements asked, particularly “is a product perfect for a break” but the uplift amongst some of the other statements was minor. This means with just one banner creative, you are unlikely to change a vast array of brand metrics, therefore the creative needs to be focused and streamlined according to what you want to achieve.

5. Mobile is more effective when something of value offered
One in four people who saw the Kit Kat banner ad clicked through to the mobile site. Of those who clicked through, 43% had done so because of the competition to win a free iPod. 51% of respondents said they were more likely to interact with mobile advertising if something was offered to them. The results also highlighted the need for mobile creative to be eye-catching and engaging: 41% of respondents who clicked through were simply interested in the advertising.

The research also looked at general attitudes and mobile Internet behaviours. In terms of attitudes to mobile Internet advertising, 72% of respondents expect the amount of advertising on mobile sites to increase over the next couple of years, and 53% would be happy to receive advertising in return for free content.
According to the first IAB-PricewaterhouseCoopers study of mobile ad revenues, expenditure on mobile advertising in the UK exceeded market expectation in 2008 to reach a total of £28.6 million. The market doubled in size on a like for like basis in 2008, increasing by 99.2% year on year. 
“Mobile advertising is still in its infancy and consumers are yet to be fully sold on it because marketers need to learn the emerging rules of engagement,” says IAB Head of Mobile, Jon Mew. “What the Kit Kat research tells us is that most effective mobile campaigns follow five simple steps, and we hope that publishing these basic guidelines will help accelerate investment in the medium.”

Ukrainian Brief for Out There Media

Mobile advertising firm Out There Media has been appointed as the mobile advertising partner for Kyivstar, Ukraine’s number one mobile operator, with a customer base of more than 22.7 million mobile subscribers. Out There Media will provide Kyivstar with its multichannel mobile advertising solution, Mobucks, as well as operations, sales and business development services, in order to enable the mobile operator to monetise its mobile inventory effectively on a non-exclusive basis. In particular, Out There Media will enable Kyivstar to offer SMS and Mobile Portal Advertising, with the latter being a unique offering to advertisers in the Ukrainian market. Out There Media opened an office in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, earlier this year.
The partnership kicked off with a mobile ad campaign for Sony Ericsson that launched earlier this month. The campaign was supporting the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, a premium Smartphone. The campaign was targeted at customers who were directed to a custom-developed mobile mini-site through text messages and mobile banners within Kyivstar’s on-deck mobile portal, Starport. On the mini-site, customers were able to find information and technical specifications for the phone. They also had the opportunity to take part in a prize draw to win the an Xperia.
The campaign ran for two weeks, and produced a total of 1.55 million page impressions, with a 5% clickthrough rate of 5%, making it one of the most successful mobile ad campaigns Out There Media has executed in Central and Eastern Europe to date.

Smaato Launches Mobile Advertising Whitepaper

Smaato has published a whitepaper on Mobile Advertising, titled ‘Higher Revenues with Mobile Ad Optimization & Global Ad Network Aggregation’.
The whitepaper outlines the opportunities available to mobile publishers and developers to monetize their inventory worldwide. It explores how different mobile fill rates can be expected from mobile ad networks and what types of pricing tiers there are for mobile inventory. It also explains how ad revenue optimization works, and helps to realize the true potential of mobile inventory.
Publishers of mobile websites and developers of cool mobile apps face the growing challenge of matching their expanding global popularity with the daunting task of filling their ad inventory associated with those very services, says Smaato. The company is capitalizing on the provision of global mobile ad optimization using its SOMA platform.
You can download the whitepaper for free here.

Case Study: Mobile Campaign is Picture Perfect for Kodak

Objectives
Kodak is a leading global provider of innovative solutions for conventional, digital and blended photo print production environments, with a brand that is recognized worldwide. Kodak Express outlets, located in cities around the world, are a one-stop destination for photo printing, products, and accessories, as well as photo customization and personalization.
Seeking ways to both increase foot traffic to stores in India, and gather and consolidate user profile and preference information from Kodak Express customers, Kodak decided that a mobile advertising campaign would be the best option.
The advantages of mobile for the campaign were clear. Usage of the Internet on mobile phones is huge in India. At the end of last year, there were more than 346 million Indian wireless subscribers, and the market was growing at the rate of approximately 10 million new subscribers per month. Much of the growth of the mobile Internet in India follows a trend seen in many countries throughout the world, where the mobile web is used as a primary Internet connection by people who do not have access to a PC at home. 

Strategy
To execute its mobile campaign, Kodak turned to the BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network. In addition to providing a platform, BuzzCity helped devise a strategy that allowed Kodak to effectively execute the campaign and get the most out of its budget. 
“We brought some specific experience to the table that was particularly important to Kodak,” says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. “First of all, and perhaps most significantly, the BuzzCity network is global, and we have extensive experience serving the Indian market. In fact, the Indian market is currently number two in total mobile advertising page views generated though the BuzzCity network. Secondly, our system allowed Kodak to run a highly-targeted campaign. The company had the ability to target ads by geographical area, makes and capabilities of handsets, and more specific demographics like age and interests.”
Kodak decided to target mobile internet users in the ‘Community, Entertainment and Lifestyle’, ‘Information’, ‘Mobile Content (news and related content)’, and ‘Search/Portal Services’ categories. Additionally, the BuzzCity network allowed Kodak to utilize different types of mobile ads and easily implement a mobile survey that would allow it to gather information from users.
Kodak wanted to attract a broad range of potential customers, which was reflected by its tactical approach to the campaign. It decided to run both text and banner ads and target its campaign broadly to men and women between 15 and 40 years-of-age throughout India, with no specific city or regional targeting. For its ads, Kodak went with simple, concise messages, such as: ‘Kodak Express Shoot It Win It!’, and ‘Print them now. Win them now!’
As an incentive to complete the survey, the company devised a contest that required users to make 50 prints at a Kodak Express outlet from a digital camera or cameraphone. Once potential customers completed the survey, they were entered into a draw to win a 2GB iPod Nano or a 1GB memory card. In order to complete their contest entries, they were prompted to enter their name, mobile number, and camera capacity. They were then redirected to the nearest Kodak Express outlet to complete the process by ordering the 50 prints. 

Results
The results of the campaign were impressive. In one month, it generated 11 million visits to the survey landing page, with a clickthrough rate of 1.7%. But beyond the numbers, Kodak also gathered important information for future interaction with its customers through the survey component. The Kodak team also gathered mobile numbers it could use for future SMS marketing, and was able to gather information about its customers’ camera capacities and functionality so it could better serve them in the future.
There were a couple of distinct takeaways from the campaign that advertisers can take to heart.  The first is that engaging potential customers in a multi-faceted mobile marketing experience is essential for strong results. In this case, contact with the Kodak brand started with the ad banner, which redirected customers to a landing page that allowed them to take the survey, enter the contest, prompted them to find the nearest Kodak Express outlet from the ‘store locator’, and finally, encouraged mobile web users to become customers - thus completing the cycle of customer engagement. The second lesson is comparatively simple but no less important: use clear, straight-forward marketing messages - a particularly important piece to mobile marketing campaigns because of the inherent limitations of the screen size.
The success of the mobile campaign was validated Kodak’s choice of mobile for its Kodak Express initiative,” says Lai. “But even more significantly, the results validate the strength of mobile advertising’s value proposition and its potential, if well executed, to help brands achieve an unprecedented level of bang for the advertising buck.

Ad-funded MMS To Hit $8.7bn by 2014, says Juniper

Ad-funded MMS revenues are set to take-off over the next five years, with annual growth rates reaching 94% to deliver revenues of $8.7 billion (£5.4 billion) by 2014. That’s the conclusion of new mobile messaging research from Juniper Research, ‘Mobile Messaging & IP Evolution’. The study finds that the Far East and China will lead the global ad-funded MMS market by a considerable margin, followed by North America and Western Europe.
The number of brands using MMS as an advertising medium is growing rapidly, says Juniper, with push MMS and SMS being employed to great effect in both mature and emerging markets. Crucially, this has enabled network operators to support ad-funded voice and SMS tariffs, and combat falling ARPU, while providing brands with new advertising channels.
The report also forecasts that the number of mobile email users will climb by 21% to reach 1.1 billion in 2014; and that SMS’ share of total global P2P (person-to-person) mobile messaging revenues will decline by 18% over the forecast period.
“Despite the global economic meltdown, mobile messaging continues to grow significantly,” says Steve Reynolds, Chairman of the Mobile Data Association. “This report provides valuable intelligence to empower mobile messaging-centric businesses in developing future demand-based commercial strategies.”
The report notes the significant influence of social networking and Web 2.0 applications on both operator and vendor strategies. RIM in particular, says Juniper, has broken new ground in the consumer market with the addition of custom-built social networking applications for Facebook and MySpace, plus AOL instant messaging and other applications. For these reasons, Juniper has awarded RIM its Future Mobile Gold Award for Mobile Messaging.
“The inclusion of popular messaging and social networking applications has broadened its appeal and ensured the BlackBerry has maintained its position as a compelling mobile messaging device,” says report Author and Future Mobile Awards panel judge, Ian Chard.
Other mobile messaging vendors such as Acision, Airwide Solutions and Miyowa were noted for driving significant innovation, but the Silver Award for Mobile Messaging was given to SpinVox, for its ‘Voice-to-Text’ messaging service.
Mobile Messaging whitepaper and further details of the study ‘Mobile Messaging & IP Evolution: Players, Strategies & Forecasts 2009-2014’ can be freely downloaded for free from the Juniper website.

Jumptap Secures US Patent

Mobile advertising firm Jumptap has been awarded Patent No. 7,548,915 by the United States Patent Office. The Patent was awarded on 16 June, 2009, and relates to a method for presenting an advertisement in association with a web page displayed on a mobile communication facility, the method comprising the steps of:

• Determining a first relevancy score based upon a statistical association between at least a first advertisement and one or more keywords;
• Determining a second relevancy score based upon a statistical association between at least a second advertisement and the one or more keywords;
• Receiving a web page request from the mobile communication facility;
• Receiving contextual information from the web page, wherein the contextual information includes at least the one or more keywords; and
• Presenting the first advertisement in association with the web page to be displayed on the mobile communication facility based upon a determination that the first relevancy score is greater than the second relevancy score.

“Jumptap plays a unique role in the mobile advertising ecosystem and our first patent issue is a major milestone event for the company,” says Jumptap President and CEO, stated Dan Olschwang, “Our growing intellectual property portfolio reflects our mobile technology heritage and early defined dedication to innovation. Our proprietary technology is an important strategic facet of our business that allows us to deliver tangible benefits to our partners and the various stakeholders in the mobile advertising industry.”
The GTC Law Group, Webb Law Firm, and Strategic Patents, P.C. assisted in the development of the patent. Jumptap currently has over 70 published patent applications and expects to receive additional patents over the coming quarters. 

Targeting Key to Mobile Advertising's Future, says Xtract

Leading research organisations including the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) and Juniper Research have recently released reports on the current mobile advertising market and its future.
This year represents the first time truly quantitative research has become available on mobile advertising, but the numbers indicate conflicting trends in this nascent market, according to Jouko Ahvenainen, Co-founder and VP at Xtract, which provides social intelligence software for mobile operators.
Ahvenainen notes that while the first expenditure study on mobile advertising in the UK, carried out by the IAB and PWC, showed that the mobile ad market is growing 99.2% year on year, a report from Juniper Research released this month indicates that by 2014, mobile advertising would still only account for up to 1.5% of total global adspend, despite mobile advertising offering “substantially higher” response rates than advertising in other media.
“There is clearly a conflicting trend at present,” says Ahvenainen. “Mobile ads are the most interactive, compelling form of advertising for many brands, and offer far better response and clickthrough rates when they are done well. And usage of the mobile web is growing rapidly. Other forms of media are struggling to sell advertising - in particular newspapers - and are shutting down. Yet even in five years, mobile advertising is predicted to remain a mere drop in the ocean in terms of overall global ad spend.”
Ahvenainen believes the conflicting reports are leaving the industry scratching its head about how to cash in on the promise of mobile advertising, and that targeting and accountability are key. 
“One thing that we constantly hear from advertisers and marketers, who hold the purse strings, is that they need far more intricate levels of targeting than are generally available today, as well as measurability, accountability, and clearly defined ROI, in order to choose mobile over other media platforms,” he says. “Clearly, highly-targeted advertising that can be measured back is the way to continue the upward trend in mobile ads. If marketers can't see exactly who they are targeting, and understand the likely behaviours of these customers socially, they can't trust the most personal advertising channel available today, and mobile will continue to be insignificant in the overall global ads picture.”

Get Ready for the SMS Advertising Revolution

Alan Pascoe, Senior Product Manager at Tekelec, explains why SMS is set to fulfil its potential as a mobile advertising medium

Last December, marketing and media information firm The Nielsen Company succinctly stated why SMS-based advertising campaigns will flourish, saying: “Where there's an audience, marketers are not far behind.”
Industry analyst Informa has estimated that the mobile advertising market will be worth $11 billion (£6.8 billion) globally by 2011. The key to that forecasted growth is the fact that mobile advertising offers brands an unprecedented ability to build highly targeted, personal relationships with consumers. Mobile is unique because of the sheer number of devices, outstripping the number of televisions or personal computers. Match this with the mobile operators’ control over their networks, and you have a very exciting proposition for brand advertisers and marketers. 

Consumer reach
In-message SMS advertising provides the widest possible consumer reach of any mobile channel. This method enables operators to insert advertising content - such as commercial text for sponsored SMS or voicemail enrichment - into the unused portion of text messages.
Its growth in the UK and other mature markets has, until now, been slowed due to several factors. For one, many mobile marketing channels, such as mobile browser banner ads, have limited the uptake of sponsored text messages. In addition, the 2007 GSMA Mobile Advertising Programme (MAP) focused on non-SMS channels, driving initial attention to other communication methods.
SMS is practically a ubiquitous service globally, with more than 3.5 trillion messages sent in 2008 according to Portio Research. Or as Juniper Research said in its report, ‘Mobile Messaging & IP Evolution: Players, Strategies & Forecasts 2009-2014’: “The ubiquity of SMS in terms of being supported by almost every mobile phone model creates a large addressable market for SMS-based advertising campaigns.”
Also, in-message advertising is particularly suited to ad-funded SMS business models, where subscribers opt in to receive commercial content in exchange for reduced rates.

Operators redefine targeting
The characteristics that make SMS a great tool for personal communication -  pervasiveness, immediacy and relevance - make it an ideal tool for advertisers and a great source of revenue for operators. 
Operators own three unique assets that make text advertising an ideal money maker:

• Real-time demographic and behavioral data - Subscriber information, coupled with presence and location awareness, enables operators to offer distinct, personalised and relevant communication. The result is higher open rates; a Direct Marketing Association survey in August 2008 revealed that almost 70% of respondents reacted to SMS messages sent from suppliers, compared to only a 30% success rate for email.
• The “white space” remaining when text messages contains fewer than 160 characters, providing the real estate to send targeted communications - The average text message comprises about 80 of the 160-character allotment.
• A direct link to recipients of advertising campaigns, providing granular measurability for advertisers and subscribers.

Advertisers and operators, of course, have to tread carefully on consumers’ privacy and be diligent to not send unsolicited advertising. A win-win situation requires that mobile advertising offers consumers something in return, in the form of rebates, coupons, prizes, or extremely relevant and targeted advertising that is perceived as valuable and original information.

SMS ad potential
Operators can create time- and location-based advertising programs and, by using subscriber profiles, target content to match individual preferences. Examples of text feeds that subscribers would value in incoming SMS messages include:

• Commercial text, such as an advertisement based on the recipient’s city – or even block – or based on a keyword in the message.
• Text ads for operators’ new service offerings
• News and sports flashes linking subscribers with their favourite topics and teams, and giving local, national and international media organisations an opportunity to identify new consumers.
• Voicemail enrichment when operators send SMS voicemail notifications. This type of application-to-person message makes voicemail more engaging to customers. Operators can include a variety of text with the notification, such as holiday greetings, trivia questions and the above-mentioned examples. In addition to revenue opportunities through sponsored ads, this service also strengthens subscriber loyalty by providing voicemail differentiation from other operators.

Operator benefits
The benefits to operators go well beyond the success of any singular campaign. Most importantly, in-message SMS advertising increases operator revenue from SMS.  Service providers are seeking to extend SMS value, as message volume is outpacing revenue. According to Frost & Sullivan, the number of text messages is forecasted to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6% from 2007 to 2011, while SMS revenues are only expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.9% over that same period.
In-message SMS advertising also reduces subscriber churn by offering incentives to take part in mobile advertising programs. In addition, the service generates accurate sponsor charging and ROI calculations by recording successful delivery, and enabling customized responses, such as calling or texting a number, or visiting a website through a mobile browser. Also, operators can offer advertisers the ability to send timely and relevant content, based on recipient profiles, the latest news or new products and services.
With sizeable subscriber bases and the unique ability to track those subscribers’ behaviour and personal preferences, operators can tap into the growing and potentially lucrative mobile advertising market with in-message SMS advertising.  It has the potential to be the largest advertising opportunity in the mobile world, and one that operators can tap today using their existing SMS networks to generate new revenue and deliver attractively priced services and programs that create subscriber loyalty.

Blyk Promises Numbers Update

Ad-funded mobile network Blyk says it will update its membership numbers over the summer. The company launched in September 2007, offering 16-24 year olds 217 free texts and 43 minutes of free talk time each month, in return for accepting targeted advertising on their phone each day.
A year later, Blyk, which relies on a member-get-member promotion to sign up new members, said it had signed up 200,000 members in the UK, but since then, has issued no updated membership numbers, and recently changed the terms of its offer, replacing the 217 free texts and 43 minutes of talk time with £15 of credit each month.
But speaking to Mobile Marketing Magazine this afternoon, Blyk COO Leif Fågelstedt said that the company would issue an update on UK membership numbers “before the summer break, or when people come back.”
He also said that brands and agencies who criticised the firm for a lack of reach were missing the point.
“If you look at magazines targeting young people with over 200,000 subscribers, you have to look very hard to find them,” he said. “And if you’re an agency buying media, you don’t just buy one media, you buy a portfolio, of which mobile may be one element."

Qwikker Unveils iPlaces

Proximity marketing company Qwikker has launched iPlaces, which it describes as: “the first hotspot-based mobile marketing service tailored to reach the millions of iPhone and iTouch users.
iPlaces is a complete hardware and software solution and web-based service to set up, manage, and deliver branded content from wireless hotspots. Wherever an iPlaces-powered hotspot is deployed, companies can engage wirelessly with iPhone and iTouch users. iPlaces takes consumers directly to a free download, a branded content site, or a purchase page.
iPlaces enabled brands to build campaigns around free downloadable mobile content, including video, music, and mobile coupons. Companies can choose locations from an existing roster of iPlaces partner networks or light up a new iPlaces hotspot for a targeted campaign.
Location owners, such as current wi-fi hotspot operators, retailers, and out-of-home advertising networks, can add iPlaces to their existing locations. They can deliver their own content for marketing purposes or make their locations available to Qwikker’s network of third party advertisers and add a new revenue stream to their locations.
Developers can use iPlaces to drive consumers through managed, custom landing pages into the App store from key locations or events. Developers can choose specific locations from the iPlaces partner network, set a budget, and hit a targeted audience.
Qwikker says the solution differs from its existing proximity marketing services in that it includes device-specific support for the iPhone and iTouch. The system recognizes the end user device type and serves up content specifically tailored for the form factor, available features, and ecosystem of the particular device. As an example, iPlaces can deep-link into the Apple App Store to direct users to a specific application. Qwikker also provides device-specific content templates for brands  to use in order to design content specifically targeted for the iPhone and iTouch devices. But while the solution is optimised for the iPhone and iTouch, Qwikker says it also works with any wi-fi or Bluetooth-enabled device, including laptops.
“We have taken the ‘location, location, location’ cliché literally,” says Qwikker CEO, Steve Friedlander. “iPlaces can be set up anywhere people go, from a coffee shop, to a movie theatre, to the back of a taxi…We make it simple for consumer brands and location owners – like outdoor advertising companies and retailers – to become mobile marketers and leverage the popularity of the iPhone.”
Brands can launch mobile marketing campaigns and serve up applications, video, music, web pages, mobile coupons and other content through iPlaces. Application developers can also use iPlaces to directly market and sell their applications, giving consumers a direct link to their content within the Apple App Store.

Adeye Unveils Mobile Ad Network

Adeye Mobile has launched the Adeye BUZZ mobile ad network, the latest addition to its suite of mobile marketing solutions developed for agencies, brands and advertisers. The company says Adeye BUZZ is a high quality, flexible solution for content publishers and advertisers that enables them to easily access and manage their own mobile advertising strategies, campaigns and accounts.
Adeye BUZZ is a web-based solution designed to help advertisers reach their target audience and content publishers to monetize mobile traffic through their sites. Using Adeye BUZZ, campaigns can be optimised through geo-targeting, real-time analytics, campaign management and the ability to target specific operators and handsets, including the iPhone.
The launch of Adeye BUZZ follows the roll out of Adeye EDGE, Adeye’s proprietary mobile marketing platform, earlier this year. The final component in the company’s mobile marketing suite is Adeye DIGITAL, an in-house mobile design studio that creates mobile Internet sites.
Adeye was established in 2007, and is headquartered in London, with offices in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Its clients include JCDecaux, Clear Channel, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Pepsi.

1020 Offers Useful Store Locator Service

Useful Networks and 1020 Placecast have joined forces to provide mobile phone users in the US with a store locator service tied to directly to the consumers’ real time location.
Useful Networks is a cross-carrier location aggregator for both network operators and content providers. It will provide Placecast with privacy-protected location details of users who request location-relevant content, such as a retail store locator, by clicking on a banner ad on the mobile web.
1020 Placecast offers a location-based advertising solution that delivers localized dynamic messaging and granular geo-targeting on mobile devices and the web, and then delivers to the consumer a customized landing page with a store locator based on their current location. This solution delivers highly accurate and relevant messaging to consumers for stores in their locale, the company says.
As an example of how the tie-up with Useful Networks will work, a consumer who clicks on a mobile web banner ad for a retailer will have their anonymous location information sent to Placecast from Useful Networks. Placecast will then return a landing page with a store locator, which could include a map, directions and local phone number for the nearest retail store in real-time. These customized landing pages will give advertisers further leverage in tailoring ads to specific consumers and turning views into store visits.
“We’re constantly working to make the advertising experience more personal, more targeted, more relevant for the user,” says 1020 Placecast CEO, Alistair Goodman. “Our alliance with Useful Networks allows us to do just that."

BuzzCity Launches Campaign Planner

Mobile social network provider BuzzCity has launched a mobile advertising campaign planner for users of its mobile ad network. The tool allows marketers and brands to plan their mobile ad campaigns, using traffic and demographic data from BuzzCity’s network, which includes more than 2,000 mobile Internet publisher sites in 200 countries, along with the company’s myGamma mobile social network. 
The tool includes a map which shows the mobile Internet advertising page views available in markets around the world. Darker coloured countries have more inventory, relative to the lighter coloured ones, allowing advertisers to quickly identify where they would like to advertise .When users roll over a country, a pop-up window displays the number of ad impressions available per month and the average cost-per-click recorded for that market. Users can also retrieve information about operators and networks, handsets, and users, including age, gender and location.
“Each of the millions of ad impressions served across our network daily tells us a little more about the mobile internet landscape,” says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. “The data accrued is a trove of valuable insight for advertisers and media planners, and also paints a coherent picture of mobile internet trends - what markets are expanding, who is engaging and the types of handsets they are using to surf.”
You can download the BuzzCity campaign planner here.
http://www.buzzcity.com/f/campaignplanner 

Smaato Publishes Mobile Advertising Whitepaper

Mobile advertising optimizer Smaato has published a Whitepaper on Mobile Advertising, titled: ‘Higher Revenues with Mobile Ad Optimization & Global Ad Network Aggregation.’
The Whitepaper draws on the experience of Smaato’s ad operations and engineering teams over the last years in order to boost mobile ad revenues and give mobile publishers the opportunity to maximize their mobile advertising ARPU.
It describes the opportunities mobile publishers and developers have to monetize their inventory worldwide, and explores how different mobile fill rates can be expected from mobile ad networks, as well as looking at the different types of pricing tiers for mobile inventory. It also explains how ad revenue optimization works, and, says Smaato, helps to realize the true potential of mobile inventory.
“Publishers of mobile websites and developers of cool mobile apps face the growing challenge of matching their expanding global popularity with the daunting task of filling their ad inventory associated with those very services,” says Nick Lane, Chief Researcher at research house mobileSQUARED. “Smaato identified this issue many moons ago, and is capitalizing on the provision of global mobile ad optimization using its SOMA platform.”
You can download the WhitePaper here.

YOC Clocks Up 170m a Month

Full service mobile marketing agency the YOC Group has revealed that its UK media network is now serving more than 170 million monthly page impressions, 10 months after its launch in the UK market. Since its launch in July 2008, YOC UK has a number of publishing houses, media companies and online portals to its media network, including the latest addition, the mobile social network, peperonity.com. Other publishers include PC Advisor, Macworld, Pistonheads, What Car, Stuff.tv Auto Car, Teletext and 123play.com
YOC says it will provide and manage advertising sales for peperonity.com, supplying visitors to the site with targeted, relevant ads, and enabling the company to generate revenue from its mobile traffic using YOC’s mobile ad-serving platform. Reciprocally, the addition of the high-traffic site to its network means that YOC is able to provide its brand and agency clients with extended and increasingly targeted reach for their mobile advertising campaigns.
“Reaching 170 million monthly page impressions on our media network is a great achievement for YOC UK, and something that we intend to build on as 2009 continues,” says .Christian Louca, UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers at YOC. “The scale and breadth of our portfolio, now including one of the world’s largest mobile social networks, means that advertisers can be sure that whatever their message or target audience, they are getting the best value and reach from their mobile spend.

mKhoj Launches Multilingual Mobile Ads

mKhoj, which describes itself as “the leading mobile advertising marketplace for the rest of the world”, has announced its ability to power relevant mobile advertising, tailored to local languages, in 17 countries. The announcement means that brands can leverage mKhoj’s ad network to display ads in hundreds of languages, including Afrikaans, Arabic, Bahasa, Hindi, Tamil, Turkic, and Zulu.
mKhoj says the new technology continues its commitment to provide the fastest character mapping for more than 600 mobile publishers. With UTF-8 encoding, mKhoj allows advertisers to increase the power of their mobile marketing by more effectively targeting their audience, and increases the monetization, as well as the value, of the publishers’ mobile properties through greater localization. When advertisers sign up, they can upload their mobile advertising in any local language and in any alphabet.
“Empowering advertisers to speak to consumers in their native language enables them to make more personal connections with their target audiences,” says Abhay Singhal, Head of Global Sales at mKhoj. “This provides multinational advertisers (with) a more effective way to reach local audiences around the globe.”

Smartphone Users Keen on Mobile Web, says AdMob

Mobile ad network AdMob has released its Mobile Metrics Report for April 2009. The report compares Smartphone market share to mobile web usage, and finds that Smartphones accounted for almost three times more usage than their relative market share in April. The report also compares usage of mobile websites to usage of HTML sites on mobile devices, finding that relative usage of both is highest on Apple and Android devices. 
The emergence of devices such as the iPhone and HTC Dream (G1) that deliver more compelling Internet experiences has generated discussion of which web consumers will use on mobile – mobile websites or HTML sites. The report compares requests in AdMob’s network to Net Applications.com Global Market Share Statistics for April 2009 to determine that iPhone and Android users both over-index in their share of usage on both mobile web and HTML  websites.
While Gartner estimated that global Smartphone sales represented 12% of total device sales in 2008, 35% of AdMob’s worldwide ad requests in April 2009 came from Smartphones. The iPhone OS had 8% of the Smartphone market, but generated 43% of mobile web requests and 65% of HTML usage.
The Android OS share of the Smartphone market was less than 1%, but generated 3% of mobile web requests and 9% of HTML usage. The Symbian OS had 52% of the Smartphone market, but
generated only 36% of mobile web usage and 7% of HTML usage. Usage of mobile websites greatly outpaces usage of HTML sites on Smartphones running the Symbian and RIM Operating Systems. 24% of US requests were made over a wi-fi network. The top five wi-fi devices in terms of usage were the iPhone, iPod touch, Sony PSP, HTC Dream (G1), and the HTC Dash.
The comparison of Smartphone market share to mobile web usage in the report is based on Gartner's 'Handset Sales by Operating System' research from 2008, and ad requests in AdMob’s network of mobile websites and applications in April 2009. The mobile web to HTML web comparison uses data from Net Applications.com Global Market Share Statistics April 2009 to show HTML usage
You can access the full report here.

3G Vision Powers Telstra Mobile Advertising Solution

3GVision, the developer of the i-nigma 2D mobile barcode solution, and Telstra Corporation, the Australian telco and information services company, have announced the commercial launch of the Telstra Mobile Advertising Campaign Manager, the next evolution in Telstra’s mobile code solution. 
The advertising campaign manager provides marketers with real-time reporting on campaign performance metrics, including the number of codes scanned, and response volume by location, time and media type. It powered by 3GVision’s Enterprise Manager Reporting system.
The Telstra Mobile Codes service enables Telstra Next G network customers to scan Quick Response (QR) codes on media such as newspaper ads, posters, point of sale material and product packaging with their cameraphone. The code reading software is embedded in Next G handsets. Once scanned, codes direct phones to information and promotional offers hosted on the mobile web, eliminating the need to manually enter mobile web addresses or response details.
“The introduction of the campaign manager allows marketers harnessing Telstra Mobile Codes to access response data including approximate location, response rates and time, media type and consumer segment,” says Ross Fielding, Executive Director, Telstra Product Management. “This intelligence helps advertisers maximize their promotional spend and equips them to adjust elements like media mix and location mid-campaign if necessary.”
The Telstra Mobile Advertising Campaign Manager is powered by 3GVision’s end-to-end 2D mobile code solution. The system incorporates a server hosted by Telstra, a customized campaign manager application integrated with specific operator services and data, and code reading software embedded in Telstra Next G handsets.
The Telstra Mobile Code service was launched in mid-2008 and the code-reading application is currently installed on more than 1.5 million handsets across 22 different models. It is available on a wide variety of mobile platforms, ranging from JAVA devices to Symbian, Windows Mobile and Blackberry handsets, with an iPhone version due “in the near future”. 

10 Things You Need to Know About Mobile Advertising

Following the recent launch of its first set of mobile ad spend figures, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a documented entitled: ‘10 Things You Absolutely Have To Know About Mobile Advertising Right Now!!!’
It’s a slightly curious affair, a collection of quotes from people in the IAB elsewhere, each extolling a different virtue of mobile advertising. So for those of you not quite sure whether mobile advertising is, or is not, something you should be looking at, here they are:

1. It’s an always on medium
Consumers love their mobile phones so much that researchers found when they took peoples phones away for a day they claimed to feel a phantom ‘tingle’ in their pocket that normally proceeds the excitement of a text/call. Stephen Upstone, Managing Director of European Business Development, AdInfuse.

2. Social media is driving growth
IAB research in 2009 found that updating social network sites via mobile handsets is increasing with 25% of all social networkers logging on to check or update their pages. 16 to 24 year olds are the biggest mobile social network fans with 44% saying they have updated via mobile, compared to 17% of over 55s. Amy Kean, Senior PR and Marketing Manager, IAB.

3. It provides immediate interaction
Mobile phones allow the consumers to interact immediately with advertising. Upon seeing an advert the consumer can text, call or download content instantly. It can help maximise the effectiveness of other media, a short code is a great example of this. Rachel Wright Business Development Director, Phonevalley.

4. It’s got a lot to offer
Mobile advertising is much more than banner adverts within internet content; a wide range of formats can be delivered as campaign components from text links in SMS messages through to full screen static or video display adverts within applications or mobile internet sites. Jeremy Copp, CEO, Rapid Mobile Media.

5. Application crazy
iPhone users have downloaded over 1 billion applications worldwide to their handset since launch. Applications are not restricted to iPhone however; advertisers can create useful applications for consumers for the majority of handsets. David Fieldhouse, Mobile Manager, MediaCom.

6. It’s popular
The number of mobile media users in the UK has reached the tipping point with over 30% of all UK adults accessing mobile media every month and a large proportion of those going online everyday according to ComScore. Stephen Upstone, Managing Director of European Business Development, AdInfuse

7. Smartening up 
Over the last 18 months the number of UK Smartphone users (iPhone, Nokia N96, T-Mobile G1 etc) has grown from 3.6m subscribers to 6.3m, a 73% increase, and these users are over three times more likely to browse for News and Information on their phones than non Smartphone users (Comscore/MMetrics). Tim Hussain, Head of Mobile Advertising, Sky.

8. It’s out of your hands
If you’re not sure if your brand should be on mobile, consumers have already made the choice for you. 0ver 4 million consumers are already using their mobiles to search for information on products and services and search volumes are growing 4 times faster than online. Jon Mew, Head of Mobile, IAB.

9. It can reach you
Target through to point of purchase – no other medium allows such precise targeting, from location based services like local search through to in-store Bluetooth marketing you can reach consumers wherever they are and provide relevant and engaging advertising. Paul Lyonette, Head of Mobile Advertising, Microsoft.

10. Consumers like (mobile) advertising
The Orange Exposure study shows, 70% of mobile media users find innovative ad formats appealing. In an ad funded games trial 89% said they liked or were neutral to advertisements appearing on the Orange World portal and 88% said they were happy to be exposed to advertising in exchange for free or discounted content. Alex Kozloff, Media Research Manager, Orange.

Yahoo! Adds Voice Search to iPhone App

Yahoo! has upgraded its Yahoo! Mobile iPhone app to include voice search, which enables consumers to speak their search queries to get quick, relevant answers simply by speaking their query.
Yahoo! notes that while most mobile voice recognition systems are specific to vertical categories such as local listings, oneSearch with voice lets consumers perform searches for virtually any kind of query.
The Yahoo! oneSearch with voice application is currently available on more than 80 different devices and across platforms including Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and the iPhone, with support in eight languages.
As mobile devices become more sophisticated, mobile media consumption is increasing, the company says. Over 45% of people who have bought a device in the last six months have browsed the Internet or downloaded an application, according to comScore. As this penetration continues, mobile search is playing an increasingly important part of people’s mobile Internet experience, with ease-of-access and discoverability a key factor in consumers getting what they want, when they want it.
 oneSearch returns results in categories rather than a list of links. For example, search for ‘Formula 1’ and results are divided into the latest race results, the drivers’ table, the constructors’ table, images, web pages and so on.
The Yahoo! Mobile iPhone app can be downloaded through the iPhone app store. Users with devices on other platforms can download the app by visiting http://m.yahoo.com/voice on their  mobile browser.
Additionally, Yahoo! has also announced a Yahoo! oneSearch shortcut for Windows Mobile in 21 countries, providing mobile users with one-click access to the search box.

Alcatel and 1020 Partner for Location-Based Offering

Alcatel-Lucent and 1020 Placecast, the cross-platform location-based advertising solution provider, are teaming up to provide mobile service providers and brands in the US with what they describe as: “a unique, location-based service – hosted by Alcatel-Lucent - that delivers highly relevant messaging and advertising to mobile consumers who opt into the service.”
The companies are offering an end-to-end service that enables service providers to support brands in reaching their target audiences wherever they are. As part of the service, 1020 Placecast leverages its ad engine to weave location information into relevant messages, enabling brands and advertising agencies to deliver scalable, proximity-based  marketing campaigns that will be pushed to consumers' mobile devices via SMS and MMS.
Alcatel-Lucent, leveraging its Geographic Messaging Services Platform (GMSP) as a hosted service, tracks opted-in subscribers’ location on behalf of the service provider and pushes mobile content to the subscriber when and where appropriate, based on the advertising campaign developed and managed by the 1020 Placecast platform.
The companies say the service can support millions of subscribers, and creates an environment where service providers and advertisers can partner in developing and delivering a new generation of revenue-generating mobile advertising services to customers.
Mobile service providers can, for example, offer consumers an opt-in service where they will receive a mobile message offering a discount at a consumer’s favourite retailer around the corner on their way to work. The message could include the store address, phone number, proximity to the customer, and other brand- and carrier-developed content. For subscribers, the companies note, receiving messages and advertising from brands subscribers care about – at the time and place they are most interested in getting them – enhances the mobile experience.
“One of the key benefits of mobile marketing is the precise location targeting inherent in mobile devices and communication networks,” says Michael Boland, Program Director, Mobile Local Media, for The Kelsey Group, which provides local advertising research, analysis, data and competitive metrics. “Pulling together Alcatel-Lucent’s location service with Placecast’s location-based ad serving engine should create a greater ability to deliver more relevant ads that perform better.”
The turnkey service, available in North America, delivers messages and ads to mobile devices without any capital investment from service providers. Subscribers simply sign-up for the service and select the kinds of messages and offers they want to receive. Their privacy is protected because their exact location is never revealed, only the fact that they have entered a designated geographical area.
“Alcatel-Lucent’s technology allows us to trigger the delivery of a tailored marketing message to a subscriber who has opted into the service when they enter a specific zone,” says 1020 Placecast CEO, Alistair Goodman. “This enables a direct connection from mobile to the physical world.”

Amobee Delivers Mobile Ad Solution for Telefónica

Amobee Media Systems, which delivers advertising solutions for mobile operators, has launched a mobile advertising service for Telefónica in Spain. Amobee is providing holistic advertising solutions for Telefónica over the mobile Internet. The move is part of the two companies’ global alliance, announced in June 2008.
“Telefónica is a great example of a mobile operator taking control of advertising revenues on its network and, in the process, ensuring a positive customer experience,” says Amobee CEO, Zohar Levkovitz. “That, in our opinion, is the future of mobile advertising, and it is made possible by Amobee. We enable the operator to build a profitable revenue stream from advertising, while giving advertisers an exciting channel to reach their target audience.”
Using Amobee’s media system, mobile operators can sell ad-enabled inventory to agencies and advertisers who want to buy, deploy, and monitor campaigns across mobile channels. The Amobee system works with the operator’s existing infrastructure to ensure customers get a relevant mobile advertising experience.
Amobee’s ad-serving solution dynamically inserts relevant ads into all mobile entertainment and communication channels, including video, music, messaging, games, and WAP sessions.
“Our customers’ experience is of paramount importance to us, and was our first priority in considering a mobile advertising solution,” says Susana Rodríguez Urgel, Online Channels and Mobile Commerce Manager at Telefónica. “We chose Amobee because of its ability to provide a relevant mobile advertising experience for our users.”
According to research from INFOADEX 2009, the Spanish mobile advertising market grew by over 60% in 2008 and is the fastest growing digital advertising channel.

Billing Revolution to Power MoVoxx Mobile Payments

Billing Revolution, a mobile payments and billing solutions company, has announced a partnership with mobile ad network MoVoxx that will see MoVoxx using Billing Revolution’s technology platform to commerce-enable ad placements on mobile phones.
The partnership enables MoVoxx advertisers to leverage the Billing Revolution service to add payment functionality from SMS ads, generating more frequent transactions from mobile users who will be able to click on ads, enter their credit card information, and then purchase the good or service.
“We are excited to add a mobile commerce billing ad unit that makes it very simple for consumers to purchase products on their cell phones,” says MoVoxx CEO, Alec Andronikov. “This is a perfect way for consumer brands, especially within the CPG (consumer packaged goods) sector, to not only precisely target different consumer segments, but also generate direct sales ROI from mobile media placements.”
Founded in 2008, Billing Revolution says it expects to process more than $100 million in mobile payment transactions during 2009. The company’s technology currently works across all web-enabled handsets and carriers, and accepts payments in more than 150 currencies worldwide.

Focus on Indonesia

Hemant Kumar, Assistant Manager, Online Marketing and Advertising Sales at mobile ad network Mkhoj, throws the spotlight on Indonesia, which is fast becoming one of the world's largest mobile markets

Indonesia has been in the mobile advertising limelight in the recent past. The wireless user base in Indonesia recently crossed the 100 million subscriber mark, and is expected to grow to 146 million by the end of 2010. With this growth, Indonesia is set to become the third largest mobile market, after China and India. Insights into the region show that the demographics of Indonesia is a key contributor to mobile’s strong uptake in the region. Young people below the age of 27, who form over 72% of the population, have shown a high affinity towards the web, and are driving the bulk of the mobile web usage in this country.
Accelerating the growing success of mobile web is the poor quality of fixed line infrastructure, which is either unreliable, or completely non-existent in places. The mobile Internet forms the obvious surrogate, providing stable connectivity, at extremely cost effective prices. The operators in Indonesia are getting more competitive by the day and the data prices are dropping. In Indonesia, an average user browses 358 pages per month, well above the global average. Understandably, a vast majority of people are choosing mobile phones as the obvious choice for connectivity, and in many cases the mobile is exposing users to the internet for the first time.

Preferred medium
Indonesia ranks second in terms of Mkhoj’s network traffic, and has seen growth of 62% in the last quarter alone. In Indonesia, communities and content downloads form the top two traffic segments. It is only natural that mobile forms a preferred advertising medium in economies like Indonesia. The key is in educating our advertiser partners to the nuances of the region. Big players in the mobile industry have already taken to mobile marketing in this region. Indonesia has seen several successful campaigns, with various advertisers and publishers, who have enjoyed high ROI and monetization with the help of ad networks like us.
These days, mobile advertising is synonymous with emerging markets like Indonesia. The Indonesian government is also aiding this growth by giving incentives to foreign investors. The government is shifting its focus from larger cities to suburban areas and small towns by earmarking a part of the yearly revenues for the growth of rural areas. The sheer number of users, and the revenues being generated, confirm that mobile advertising is set to shift gears and zoom forward.

Blyk Refutes MVNO Closure Reports

Ad-funded virtual mobile network Blyk has denied reports that it is planning to scrap its direct-to-consumer offering, which launched in September 2007. A story which appeared in New Media Age earlier today said that Blyk was preparing to close down its direct-to-consumer business to focus on operator partnerships.
But speaking exclusively to Mobile Marketing Magazine, Ann Sarimo, who is responsible for communications at Blyk, described the story as “complete speculation”.
“There was a discussion between New Media Age and (Blyk UK CEO) Antti Öhrling, about our partnering approach, but this has been misconstrued and sensationalised, and it has created a bit of a mess for us unfortunately,” Sarimo said. “We are not closing shop. We are actively expanding, and we are in negotiations with partners right now. Our members are our core asset. Our total proposition is partly based on the advertising side of things, but it’s also about the whole user experience and audience management. We are not just a technology solution, we are a total mobile marketing solution, based in part on the advertising and messaging component, but it’s very much about a total experience and an audience of happy, engaged users.”
In a statement released by Blyk, there’s a line that says: “This change is part and parcel of Blyk’s journey”. When asked about this, Sarimo said the change in question was not a move away from acting as a virtual network, but the addition of the partnership model to the company’s existing direct-to-consumer model.
Blyk originally offered 16-24 year olds 217 free texts and 43 minutes of free talk time each month, in return for accepting targeted advertising on their phone each day. Blyk’s model has been widely lauded, with high response rates to campaigns being seen by many as proof that the ad-funded mobile network concept could work.
But Blyk recently changed the terms of its offer, replacing the 217 free texts and 43 minutes of talk time with £15 of credit each month. And even if the company is retaining its direct-to-consumer operation, it has some work to do to convince brands and agencies to use it. One mobile marketing firm who used Blyk once, said today that they did not return because they felt the network does not have sufficient reach. Christian Louca, UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers at YOC, told Mobile Marketing:
“When the idea first emerged, it seemed like a really interesting concept, a clever idea with lots of potential, but the problem is reach. In order to be able to give brands value, they need to have reach, and an extensive strategy in terms of acquiring customers and then retaining them, and this is always difficult.
“We ran a campaign with Blyk for Coca-Cola, which was a relatively OK experience, but we did not go back, because as a mobile marketing agency using Blyk, it’s a great place to run a test campaign, but it comes back to reach. It’s a good place to test the marketplace, but it doesn’t seem to have come out of that space.”

Velti Buys Ad Infuse

Mobile marketing firm Velti has acquired Ad Infuse, which specialises in personalised mobile advertising. Velti says the acquisition will enable the company to strengthen its position in the US market and sustain its growth over the coming years. Velti will immediately integrate Ad Infuse’s management team, award-winning technology and prestigious customer base into its global operations. Ad Infuse CEO Brian Cowley will assume the position of General Manager of Velti North America,
Ad Infuse’ s mobile ad serving and routing technology platforms enable advertisers, publishers, brands, and operators to place mobile ads on multiple networks and manage them in real-time. Ad Infuse works with leading advertisers, publishers, and operators in the US and Europe.
The integrated company will comprise over 400 people across its operations in the US, Europe, China, India and Middle East. Velti says it is already the world’s largest mobile advertising and marketing company,y with operations in 35 countries, and some of the world’s leading advertising and media agencies, brands, operators and publishers as its customers, including Microsoft, Disney, Unilever, Orange and MasterCard.
“The acquisition of Ad Infuse will broaden our US team and enhance our global product offering,” says Velti CEO,Alex Moukas. “Mobile advertising and marketing continues to enjoy significant growth even in today’s environment: the marketing landscape is changing and mobile is the catalyst for this…This transaction provides us with a proven management team,a strong client base, and proven technology that will help us further accelerate our global growth.”
The integration of Ad Infuse’s personalisation and ad routing/serving technology within Velti’s Mobile Marketing Platform (MMP) will provide ad agencies with an end-to-end solution for mobile media planning, campaign management, optimisation, execution, analytics and hosting of mobile advertising and marketing campaigns.
Velti says this new offering addresses a key problem that advertising agencies currently face of having to communicate with multiple suppliers to run an integrated campaign. Additionally, Velti’s enhanced platform will provide a single point for  media planning across quality mobile inventory providers; tracking across any media channel that converts to mobile (including TV, print and outdoor); post-response interactivity, with over 90 proven scenarios; and creative media utilisation, including rich content, such as mobile Internet sites, applications, games and video.
Velti recently announced 2008 revenues of  $70 million, with an EBITDA of $17 million. It says that revenues in the first quarter of 2009 are expected to be more than 50% higher than Q1 2008.

UK Ad Spend Worth £28.6m in 2008, says IAB/PwC

After the hype, the reality, and some hard, independently-researched figures. Mobile ad spend in the UK exceeded market expectations in 2008 to reach a total of £28.6 million, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). 
As mobile advertising becomes increasingly important for operators and advertisers, the study - a UK first - shows that mobile ad spend bucked all market trends, doubling in size on a like-for-like basis in 2008, increasing by 99.2% year on year. Investment in mobile advertising grew at a faster rate than predicted, the study says, as more UK brands invested in the medium due to its exceptional targeting, immediacy and return on investment.
The £28.6 million total breaks down as follows:

• £14.2 million - Mobile display advertising, including banners, text links, tenancies pre/post roll and in-game ads
• £14.4 million - Paid-for search advertising on the mobile Internet

The IAB notes that the figures represents just mobile media spend, and therefore do not include mobile marketing expenditure on SMS, MMS or other mobile advertising/marketing campaign production and delivery costs. This ensures the figures are comparable with all other media.
These first mobile figures correlate strongly with the early days of online advertising.  When the IAB and PwC study was first released in 1998, the Internet advertising market was worth £19.4 million. In 2008, online advertising rose to £3.35 billion, accounting for 19.2% of all advertising spend. 
The IAB has identified six key factors behind mobile advertising’s growth, namely:

• A bigger audience than ever - Mobile Internet usage grew from 8.6 million in December 2007 to over 11 million in Dec 2008, with the number of users on unlimited data plans rising by 109% in 2008.
• Mobile offers a great user experience – The IAB cites the Orange Exposure 2 study, which found that 70% of mobile media users find innovative ad formats actively appealing.  
• Social networking on mobile - People using social networks on their mobile phone grew by 180% in 2008. According to recent research from the IAB, 44% of 16-24 year olds have checked their social network profile via their mobile phone.
• Better, smarter handsets: The 3G iPhone launched and has transformed usage, the IAB notes. iPhone are around seven times more likely than average to browse on their phones daily for news and information. Overall, penetration of 3G handsets increased by 36% in 2008.
• Growth in mobile departments - More media agencies in the UK are appointing dedicated heads of mobile, charged with working full time on the medium to educate teams and promote the channel.
• Industry initiatives - The IAB is working with operators and the key mobile advertising players to educate the marketplace. As knowledge grows, it says, it is becoming much easier to plan and buy successful mobile advertising campaigns.

The IAB officially widened its remit to include mobile Internet advertising in July 2008, when the five main UK networks – 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone – became members. Since then, it has invested in educating the market about the potential of mobile media, through a programme of events and research initiatives. 
In the coming weeks, the IAB will launch a ‘How To’ guide on briefing, planning and executing campaigns for marketers. It is also currently conducting research into the effectiveness of mobile advertising, with the results due in early June.
“This study is a UK first and means the IAB can accurately prove and track how much marketers are spending on mobile,” says Jon Mew, Head of Mobile at the Internet Advertising Bureau. “The sector is in its infancy, but is considerably bigger than the market was expecting. Thanks to these landmark figures, we know the real value of the mobile advertising industry, and will now be able to chart the medium’s growth with confidence.”
There’s more information on the IAB’s mobile advertising initiatives here.

BuzzCity Launches White Label Ad Service

BuzzCity, which provides global wireless communities and consumer services, has announced the release of the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service – a management tool for mobile web site publishers that run large-scale mobile advertising programs. The system allows publishers to tap into the powerful infrastructure behind the BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network, stress-tested with the delivery of more than 20 billion mobile ads.
The BuzzCity White Label Ad Service is a turnkey service that enables mobile Internet site owners to sell their own ad inventory while avoiding the large cash outlays and long-term commitments of having to build their own ad serving infrastructure. The technology underlying the service allows companies to tap into the infrastructure behind a global mobile advertising network and take full control of their ad sales.
For most mobile website owners, simply running ads directly from an established advertising network works well for monetizing mobile Internet traffic. But on fast-growing and popular mobile sites, BuzzCity says its White Label Ad Service can help sell higher paying ads and generate revenue by optimizing campaigns to suit specific business needs.
Additionally, when mobile Internet site users have unfilled or unsold ad inventory, the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service will run ads from the BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network, drawing from a network that serves more than 3 billion mobile ads per month. This, the company says, relieves publishers of any excess ad inventory, and allows them to take advantage of maximum revenue possibilities.
“The BuzzCity White Label Ad Service represents the first time that advertisers running large scale advertising campaigns can easily tap into the infrastructure of a major global mobile advertising network with low start up costs and no investment in back-end infrastructure,” says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. “Part of BuzzCity’s mission is to encourage the growth of the mobile Internet and mobile Internet advertising through innovative products and services that empower mobile publishers and advertisers alike. This a significant step forward in this regard.”
The product is available now to customers around the world and represents the latest addition to BuzzCity’s mobile advertising offerings. The company’s BuzzCity Global Mobile Advertising Network, on which the BuzzCity White Label Ad Service’s underlying technology is based, now includes more than 2,000 mobile Internet publishers in 200 countries.

AdMob Celebrates

Mobile ad network AdMob is celebrating its third birthday. Since the company was incorporated in 2006, AdMob has grown from one employee, Founder Omar Hamoui, to more than 100, working in seven offices worldwide. During that time mobile Internet usage has grown massively, and there are now more than 49 million mobile web users in the US alone each month.
To celebrate the occasion, AdMob has produced a few stats showing what the company has achieved in the last three years:

• 75 billion ads served
• First company to offer a self-service mobile advertising network
• 100 million unique mobile users reached worldwide each month
• First to create unique iPhone and rich media ad units for mobile
• 12.7 million iPhones and iPod touch devices reached in March 2009, approximately one in three of the devices worldwide
• 7,000 mobile Web sites live on AdMob’s network
• 1,418 iPhone apps sent AdMob an ad request in March, including 33 of the top 100 free applications
• Drove 230,000 downloads of iPhone applications through the AdMob Download Exchange in less than a month

There’s more on the AdMob blog.

Apps Driving Ad Traffic, says AdMob

Mobile ad network AdMob has released its Mobile Metrics Report for March 2009. The report reveals that growth in requests to the network from devices running the Android and iPhone Operating Systems (OS) continued to outpace other platforms, despite the relatively limited number of devices in market.
The application stores for both platforms have significantly influenced this growth, says AdMob, noting that more than half of Android and iPhone requests in March came from applications. In the first five months following the launch of the Android Market in the US (November 2008 to March 2009), Android requests increased by an average of 47% per month. In the first five months following the launch of the Apple App Store in the US (July 2008 to November 2008), requests from the iPhone increased by an average of 88% per month.
The March report also reveals that the HTC Dream (G1) generated 72 million requests, giving it a 2% share of the overall US market, and making it the number 10 overall device and the number 4 Smartphone, after the iPhone, BlackBerry Curve, and BlackBerry Pearl. The Android OS now has 6 percent of the US Smartphone market and is tied with Palm as the fourth-largest OS. The iPhone generated 8 times more US requests than Android in March, while the iPhone platform in total, including both the iPhone and the iPod touch generated 23 times more requests than Android worldwide.
The comparison of Android to iPhone in the March 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics report is based on requests for AdMob ads on the mobile web and in applications from the HTC Dream (G1) and the iPhone in the US. The launch dates of the two application stores roughly correspond to the launch of AdMob’s in-application ad units.
You can access the full March 2009 report, and view archived reports from previous months, here.

4th Screen Handed Bauer Brief

4th Screen Advertising has announced an exclusive 12 month partnership with Bauer Media, one of the UK’s largest publishing and broadcast groups. The agreement will enable 4th Screen to extend its publisher ad network through its proprietary ad serving engine Mpression, and target hard-to-reach audiences through key Bauer Media brands including FHM, Zoo and Heat.
The contract, which runs from January to December 2009, will see the team at 4th Screen Advertising sell Bauer Media's extensive mobile inventory and serve mobile ad campaigns utilising the company’s proprietary ad serving platform, Mpression. The campaigns will be run both on- and off-portal, to create maximum reach amongst the titles’ key target audiences. 
“The continued integration of mobile is essential to the success of Bauer Media's digital strategy,” says Caroline Young, Commercial Director Mobile at Bauer Media. “Securing a partnership between a specialist mobile advertising agency such as 4th Screen Advertising and our in-house digital sales team will help deliver our long term ambitions to maximise the mobile element of our cross platform strategy for these key titles - FHM, Zoo and Heat - and add to their existing multimedia presence.”

Jumptap Launches tapMatch PPC Marketplace

Mobile ad firm Jumptap has unveiled tapMatch, its pay-per-click (PPC) performance mobile ad marketplace. Brand and performance marketers bid on keywords and categories to run ads that appear on mobile web pages, above search results and in applications, including apps for the iPhone. Combined with the power of advanced search technology for contextual targeting, advertisers can maximize performance by reaching consumers searching for or browsing content.
To date, argues Jumptap, PPC marketplaces have been able to reach a wide audience, but with little to no targeting. The targeting intelligence that powers tapMatch builds audience profiles from multiple sources, including search queries, context, and clickthrough history, to match the most relevant ad messages to each mobile consumer. Advertisers maximize performance by targeting keywords, categories, location, demographics, mobile carrier, publisher and mobile handsets, including Blackberrys and the iPhone. Jumptap says the experiences of early testers of the tool show that reaching qualified mobile audiences with highly targeted, relevant ads elicits strong consumer engagement, increased clickthrough rates and higher conversions.
“tapMatch is entirely geared towards performance advertising and delivers ROI beyond what our clients expect (in terms of) quality traffic, superior relevance, higher CTRs, conversion rates and profits,” says Brennan Hayden, Vice President of WDA, a firm specializing in providing mobile performance advertising planning and execution. “In addition, Jumptap listens to our needs and ideas, and it shows in the user interface, and in the excellent personal service we receive from their staff.”
tapMatch grants easy entry into the rapidly-growing mobile advertising industry,” says Jumptap. The intuitive interface makes it simple to start an ad campaign, upload text and graphical banner campaigns, configure and manage targeting options, track campaign performance and generate reports. Ads are priced and served by auction, and advertisers only pay when consumers click on their messages.
Ads run across a comprehensive set of categories, including automotive, careers, finance, fitness, and health, enhanced by keyword search parameters. In comparison to typical PPC marketplaces, the company says, buys in the JumpTap mobile marketplace elicit higher engagement and a higher return on investment, as premium branded content sites have a greater impact on key metrics such as increased clickthrough, awareness, consideration, and purchase intent than generic mobile ad networks.
“Savvy marketers worldwide are moving their marketing spend to where it matters most - in front of mobile consumers seeking relevant content and immediate gratification,” says Jumptap Chief Marketing Officer, Paran Johar. “tapMatch is setting new standards for CTRs, conversions, and efficient cost per acquisition for advertisers worldwide. The mobile advertising market has reached a new phase of maturity where targeting is now essential and tapMatch uniquely delivers a system that best matches advertisers to their desired audience at their precise moment of intent.”

Admoda Reports Sharp Increase

Mobile ad network Admoda has revealed a sharp increase in its traffic to more than 1.2 billion ads per month.
The company says that the recruitment of more quality publishers in new key territories such as Asia, Russia, and South America is allowing the ad network to provide global coverage for advertisers who are looking to expand or develop a foot hold in these fast growth markets. Referrals are also playing a key part in this rapid growth.
“There is a buzz going around the industry about Admoda,” says Terry Jackson, CEO of parent company Mobvision. “It seems positive feedback and customer recommendations are driving all serious players in the mobile content and entertainment market to use Admoda as a key part of their marketing strategy.”

Mobile Advertising Recession-proof, says BuzzCity

BuzzCity, which provides wireless communities and consumer services, has announced the results of its quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index. According to BuzzCity, the results show that the global recession is having little to no effect on mobile advertisers or user habits. The Index documents the growth of mobile Internet advertising and represents inventory sold across the BuzzCity Mobile Advertising Network in more than 200 countries globally. It indicates growth in the number of users accessing the mobile Internet, in spite of declining public confidence in the economy and security in the job market.   
In the first three months of 2009, the BuzzCity Advertising Network delivered 8.5 billion paid advertising banners, an increase of 11% over the previous quarter. The top 10 countries by the number of paid advertising banners delivered in each are:

1. Indonesia: 4.4 billion (23% growth)
2. India: 842 million (+16%)
3. United States: 527 million (+38%)
4. South Africa: 428 million (-8 %)
5. Egypt: 162 million (+8 %)
6. Romania: 161 million (+9 %)
7. China: 130 million (+67% )
8. Philippines: 125 million (+8 %)
9. United Kingdom: 113 million (+54 %)
10. Bangladesh: 112 million (-16 %)

Growth and usage of the mobile Internet in the first quarter was particularly strong in China (67%), the UK(54%), the US (38%) and Indonesia (23%). The UK is in the Top 10 for the first time and joins Romania in representing Europe, suggesting an increase in off-portal activity and the prospect of more advertiser interest. Italy, Spain, Sweden and France all recorded double digit growth on the Q4 2009 figures. Similarly, Egypt’s rise to 5th place is the result of steady growth in usage and advertiser interest since it first appeared on the Index in April 2008. 
“Despite a very challenging economic environment advertisers are clearly moving more of their advertising budgets to the mobile Internet, says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. “Competition for advertising dollars has never been more intense, but the mobile Internet’s superior ROI has made this media a part of many marketer’s plans.”
The advertising industry has more reasons for optimism.
BuzzCity tracks the growth of the network and by extension, the growth of the mobile Internet in more than 200 countries around the world via advertisements placed on more than 2,000 publisher sites.

Change. Or Die

Colin White, UK Chief Executive of Oxygen8 Communications, offers advice to newspaper publishers looking to make a success of the mobile channel

The steady decline in newspaper readership and revenue has accelerated dramatically over the past 12 months, with publishing companies seeing upwards of 80% of the value wiped off their shares. As the recession hits advertising revenues, particularly the classified car and property ads, there is growing pressure on publishers to fast forward their forays onto the web and mobile to drive significant incremental value.
And following the UK government’s recent announcement that all homes should have broadband by 2012, the writing is clearly on the wall for the printed page – both national and regional publishers need to take a radical look at their business strategy.
One strong point in their favour is that newspapers have strong brand value and are a  trusted product. But even for those publishers that have built up a strong online user base and brand, turning that audience into revenue remains a challenge for organisations still entrenched in the cultural attitude of the printed medium.

Classified opportunity
One of the key changes is a shift in model, most notably the move from paid to unpaid classified advertising. Rather than charging the advertiser to place a classified ad in the paper, publishers can now deliver classified ads to consumers via mobile phones, with each responder paying a small charge. By offering this free advertising model, publishers can reinvigorate the classified advertising market to deliver incremental value to the consumer audience.
Taking this approach, sellers can create ads using their mobile phones, including a photograph or video. Buyers express an interest by sending a text message to a Shortcode number which then prompts the release of contact information from the buyer to the seller. The seller also receives real-time alerts whenever someone responds to the ad.
With a flexible, scaleable mobile platform that can handle hundreds of connections and messages per second, publishers can manage numerous classified ads and connect hundreds of buyers and sellers simultaneously.
This real-time, two way communication between buyers and sellers encourages greater audience interaction, whilst also driving brand value and loyalty. It also provides publishers with unprecedented access to customer information, which can be used to support complementary product and service advertising around the main ad, maximising revenue opportunities.

New model
Mobile classified advertising, however, does not require the large telesales force associated with the print model. Instead, organisations will become increasingly reliant upon technology platforms to manage and automate the sales process, and the remaining sales staff will have to be retrained to deliver the new services offered online and via the mobile.
Furthermore, publishers need to recognise the need to leverage technology to co-ordinate both Internet and mobile advertising, to co-ordinate marketing across every platform, and to maximise the strong brand and existing online traffic. Operating increasingly in an international market creates new opportunities to grow the audience, but also presents challenges in delivering relevant promotions in different markets, undertaking affiliate marketing programmes and identifying new advertising partners across the globe.
This organisational and cultural change will undoubtedly be a major - probably the major - issue to address if publishers are to successfully tap into new revenue streams.

Local demand
It is also important for publishers to recognise the growing demand for local information. Local portals providing up to date information on towns, even villages, are becoming increasingly popular. They are also enjoying a huge increase in user generated content, thus minimising the operational overheads for publishers.
This localisation trend provides a new opportunity to offer location-based services for local advertisers, enabling them to exploit the location of the mobile user or the use of local IP identification with the provision of real-time, personalised offers. These simple services can deliver a significant revenue stream, with the additional benefit of using the strong customer data to drive further revenues in the future.
Indeed, there are opportunities to provide advertisers with richer data and richer marketing using online and mobile media than any publisher could ever offer in the printed environment. Furthermore, while the demand is for increasing localisation, publishers also have a far greater opportunity to leverage the massive global audience to drive significant revenue streams through global advertising and content syndication.

Global phenomenon
The shift in customer behaviour and attitudes to seeking news has been dramatic, and it is a global phenomenon, even in counties with low Internet penetration. From watching rolling news information online to the growing demand for local information, the old habits of reading the daily newspaper and watching the 6 o’clock news are dying out. 
With huge competition for advertising spend, the ability to offer a free advertising model to a strong user audience is compelling. Combined with in-depth customer information, the provision of simultaneous advertising and strong location-based services, this creates a powerful publishing model. It is now up to the publishing companies to make the staffing and operational changes required to maximise the new media marketplace.
But there is no turning back: if publishers don’t make organisational changes today and embrace new opportunities for driving mobile and Internet revenue, they will see further steep decline and may well end up out of business.

I Can See Clearly Now

Eran Hertzmann, Associate VP, Marketing for Mobile Advertising at Mobixell, argues the case for providing clarity to the mobile advertising value chain

It appears that the economic downturn is creating some interesting possibilities for mobile advertising. According to a recent report by analyst Analysys Mason, the prospects for mobile advertising in 2009 are promising, despite - or perhaps because of - the financial turmoil. More then ever, advertisers will require high-impact media that is highly personal and highly engaging. These days, customers are affected by financial pressure, and are willing to accept ads in return for low cost (or even free) content and services.
By definition, a mobile device is an ideal medium for communicating advertising messages and promoting a brand. Whether by SMS, a voice call or clicking on a mobile website, it is as an engaging starting point to customer acquisition or conversion. Due to the availability of context, immediacy, and personalisation, mobile has significant advantages over other channels as an advertising medium. However, as advertising buyers reconfigure budgets to suit challenging economic conditions, and mobile operators focus on keeping subscribers on board, it is critical that advertising agencies and brands, together with media buyers and technology vendors, agree on a business model that will make it viable for the media buyers to leverage the advantages of the mobile domain for the benefit of the brands.

Current approach…
The mobile advertising market is still highly fragmented, and media access is divided between the many off-deck players and carriers. There is no shortage of available operator inventory, although this inventory can be difficult for third parties to access. This inventory could be utilised for highly targeted and effective campaigns that pinpoint unique user segments in an enriching manner. But the mobile operator’s approach to the mobile advertising market is often varied and lacks clarity. Perhaps due to the fact that this is not a core function of the traditional operator’s business, it’s hard for them to market their inventory effectively, not just as chunks of SMS or MMS, but rather as meaningful audiences for marketers. This struggle to effectively market the inventory is the main reason that the majority of mobile ad budgets are currently spent on WAP banners, targeted only by the context of the hosting site. This clearly does not make the full potential of mobile advertising, where WAP consists of only a small part of available inventory, and where targeting could be personalized, rather than based only on the site context.

The way forward…
Therefore, what’s required is a model where all parties (operators, ad agencies, brands and media buyers) operate on the same basis. Operators must take the lead in providing access to their user base in a meaningful fashion. This means repackaging it from ‘SMS’ and ‘WAP’ to meaningful segments like ‘16-24 fashion females’, or ’30-plus gadget geeks’. Media Trading systems need to be put in place to provide widespread access to this inventory - starting naturally with large media agencies, but extending to include the growing sector of small and medium sized potential advertisers. This long tail group could be made part of the ecosystem once the digital trading market place is in place, and today it represents a large, relatively untapped, part of the potential advertiser base.
Another factor that needs to be addressed in order to realise the full potential of mobile advertising is to extend ad formats to become richer and more engaging, and to allow interactivity, leading to higher conversion rates. The combination of text and images, animation and high quality video is what is needed to provide an appealing user experience and one that is key for customer satisfaction.

Anonymity and privacy
The third, and most important prerequisite for the mobile operator, if they want to maintain their position as the subscriber’s trusted provider, is the need to maintain the anonymity and privacy of the user to the advertisers. The operators need to act as the privacy keeper, and form a wall between the advertisers and the users, so as not to disclose confidential information.
Recently, Mobixell provided a Polish operator with an end-to-end ad solution that featured an array of campaigns on its portal. The new service is carrying 20 different ad campaigns. Careful design and understanding of the customers helped generate an impressive clickthrough Rate (CTR) of between 5 and 25%. It is the careful match between customer segments and campaigns that helped achieve these response rates,  which are much higher than typically generated by Internet advertising. These results provide an early indicator of what can be done when ad agencies, brands and technology vendors agree on a business model. For each of the participants in the value chain, there are inherent benefits on agreeing to one approach such as this.  

Looking ahead…
In summary, effective participation in the mobile advertising market requires all parties to take action to clearly outline, and place a value on, their key assets for the advertising buyer. These centre on the subscriber data that mobile operators hold; on the trusted and personal relationships that they have with their subscribers; and in many cases, on the mobile brand, which can also be a powerful marketing tool. The more clearly that service providers can define these assets for media buyers, and enable advertisers, both large and small, to use them without impinging on the operator–subscriber relationship, the greater the chance that the growth of mobile advertising will bring maximum benefits.

mBlox Makes Mobile Advertising Move

Mobile transaction network mBlox has announced the launch of an ad insertion pilot that marks the company’s expansion into the mobile advertising market. mBlox says the pilot will demonstrate the effectiveness of inserting advertisements in the ‘dead space’ of commercial SMS messages. The ads will be used to offset the cost of content for service providers sending an SMS, dramatically reducing the cost of delivering messages. mBlox also anticipates that the service will enable the viability of innovative services, such as specific entertainment, local news and communities’ alerts.
mBlox says the ad insertion pilot leverages its position in the mobile value chain, creating a marketplace connecting content providers and advertisers with a simple,  ‘one-stop’ solution that removes the barrier of advertisers and content publishers having to forge multiple relationships across the mobile value chain, including operators and partners. In addition, says mBlox, its extensive client base will enable advertisers to access a wide range of specialist communities with highly targeted advertising, helping them to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Because mBlox does not develop any content itself, it will not compete with its own customers, giving it a ‘vendor-neutral’ position. This will enable mBlox to serve both content publishers and advertising networks equally, complementing its existing business services.
Content providers will review and approve every ad inserted. In addition, each service will still be subject to all of the standard US network operator approval rules and will be vetted by mBlox during the approval process, protecting consumers from the risk of inappropriate or unwanted SMS messages.
The trial will initially have an inventory of 10 million messages per month and will launch with the following advertisers and publishers across the mobile industry:

Advertisers and ad networks:

• MoVoxx: A premium mobile advertising network that leverages SMS messaging.
• Kadoink: A mobile monetization company offering dynamic SMS delivery solutions and a targeted advertising network.  
•  Networks: Operates an ad-supported directory assistance service, 1-800-FREE411 
• Pudding Media: A provider of full-service mobile advertising solutions that enable mobile operators to build and expand their advertising business.

Publishers/content providers:

• Myxer: The ad-supported mobile entertainment site.
• LSN, Inc: A provider of mobile media and marketing solutions for brands, media companies and local advertisers
• dmd:mobile: A provider of mobile advertising solutions to brands, agencies and advertisers.

“Mobile advertising is evolving and beginning to live up to the promise and we believe mBlox can develop and drive this exciting industry forward,” says mBlox Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Livingston. “mBlox’s experience in managing complex and numerous relationships within the mobile industry nsures that we are strategically positioned to provide a simple and effective ad insertion service, benefitting content publishers and advertising networks alike.”

AdMob iPhone Download Exchange Goes Live

Mobile ad network AdMob aims to address one of the biggest challenges facing iPhone application developers with today’s launch of the AdMob iPhone Download Exchange. This new service gives developers a way to increase consumer awareness and downloads of their iPhone applications. AdMob already works with a network of more than 1,000 iPhone applications to help them effectively monetise and engage with consumers.
AdMob has leveraged the capabilities of its mobile technology platform to enable the new AdMob iPhone Download Exchange to drive application downloads for developers in a new way; maximise the effectiveness of exchange ads by ensuring they only run on devices that do not already have the same application installed, as well as by targeting the correct Operating System (OS) version, geography, and device (iPhone vs. iPod touch); simplify the ad creation process by automatically developing the ad creative; provide reporting on the ad impressions allocated by developers to the exchange and the number of downloads generated; and give developers detailed control over the ratio of exchange ads to paid ads running in their application.
“iPhone developers are clamouring for new ways to increase consumer discoverability of their applications,” says AdMob CEO, Omar Hamoui. “Everyone we talk to tells us the same thing, making this a great opportunity for us to extend another valuable service to developers. So starting today, application developers in AdMob’s network can allocate a portion of their ad inventory to our new iPhone Download Exchange and begin helping each other drive downloads.”
AdMob will allocate Download Exchange ad inventory among the exchange members based on the quantity and quality of the inventory each member contributes, as well as what it calls the “installiness” of an application. AdMob will closely monitor and optimise the exchange to deliver the best possible results for all members.

AdMob Stats Reveals Smartphone growth

Mobile ad network AdMob has released its February 2009 Mobile Metrics Report. The report shows that, despite challenging economic conditions, Smartphones continued to gain significant market share worldwide over the past six months, rising from 26% of requests in August 2008, to 33% percent of requests in February 2009.
The launch of the HTC Dream (G1) and BlackBerry Storm propelled increases in Android and RIM Operating System (OS) requests in the US. This growth is based on mobile web usage, not the number of handsets sold, and, says AdMob, demonstrates the high consumer engagement with these touchscreen devices. The top handsets on AT&T and Sprint are also touchscreen devices, the iPhone and the Samsung Instinct.
Other highlights from the February 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report include:

• Worldwide the top five smartphones are the iPhone, Nokia N70, BlackBerry 8300, Nokia N80, and Nokia N73. The top five US smartphones are the iPhone, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Centro, and HTC Dream (G1).
• The BlackBerry Curve has overtaken the Pearl as the number one RIM device. The BlackBerry Storm is the number one device on Verizon with 14% of requests.
• Symbian lost market share, but is still number one worldwide with 43% of requests. The top 10 Symbian devices have not changed in the past six months.
• The Samsung BlackJack II is the top Windows Mobile device worldwide. Six of the top 10 Windows Mobile devices are from HTC. 
• Android accounts for 5% of the US Smartphone market.
• The iPhone generated 33% of Smartphone traffic worldwide and 50% in the US.
• 97% of BlackBerry requests came from their OS Version 4.2 or higher. These devices will all have access to BlackBerry App World when it goes live.
• Symbian and Windows Mobile have a significant percentage of their user base on devices running old versions of their OS. These devices many not have access to their application stores when they launch later this year. 

AdMob stores and analyses handset and operator data from every ad request in its network to optimise ad serving. Each month, the Mobile Metrics Report aggregates this data to provide insights into major trends in the mobile ecosystem. You can access the full report, and previous months’ reports, here.

Mobile Social Networking Meets Mobile Advertising

The Association for Interactive Media & Entertainment (AIME) is staging an evening seminar in London on Thursday 2 April, entitled: ‘Mobile Advertising and the rise of Social Networking: what does it mean for Brands, Agencies and Service Providers?'
The event considers the sweet spot between mobile social networking and mobile advertising, with many people suggesting that not only will ads fund social networking on mobile, but also that it will be one of the key drivers of mobile advertising, due to the popularity of these sites, with their high engagement and repeat usage.
It will examine the mobile advertising marketplace, and the impact that social networking is having, looking at how things have improved in the value chain, making cross-platform integration of campaigns a viable proposition for brands, agencies and content providers. It will also look at the delivery of key metrics from the market and examine the impact of initiatives from both service providers and mobile network operators to improve the measurability of mobile advertising.
Speakers include Nandi Gurprasad, VP of Alliances at Bango; Peggy Anne Salz, Founder and Chief Analyst of MSearchGroove; Dusan Hamlin, Joint Managing Director of Inside Mobile; Matt Dicks, Commercial Director at Flirtomatic; and Mark Brill, Chairman of the Mobile Council at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).
Key themes to be explored include:

• Is advertising content? 
• Brands in social media advertising – listen first, then join in the conversation.
• If social networks have become the new ‘water coolers’, incubating new micro audiences with differentiated tastes, what makes advertising too intrusive in this new environment? 
• What's the 'next big thing' in mobile advertising - mobile for the masses?
• Is it just about advertising messages? What kinds of mobile services suit mobile advertising? 
• Measuring success and understanding which types of campaigns work. 
• Are social networking services the ultimate channel for the 'long tail'?
• What is 'social currency' and how do you convert it into revenue? 
• Moving media spend into new channels like mobile.

The event takes place at the Grange Fitzrovia Hotel, London W1W 5NB, from 18.30 – 20.30, followed by networking drinks. It costs £50 to attend the event for AIME members, or £80 for non-members.  
You can register for the event here.

Mobile Commerce Wins Trinity Mirror Search Brief

The Trinity Mirror Group has implemented Mobile Commerce’s Monetised Mobile Search service across all 13 of its newly-launched mobile sites. Mobile Commerce says its monetised search solution was chosen, not only because it’s quick and easy to implement, but also because it’s a white label solution and gives the publisher control and flexibility over how they want to deliver the search experience to their users, including integration with its own on-portal search results. Mobile Commerce’s solution delivers advertiser listings and natural search results which are all optimised for the mobile Internet. There are no costs to the publisher for using the service, and they earn revenue when an advertiser listing is clicked on.
The solution comes with a comprehensive suite of online reports, detailing usage metrics and analysis. This includes a taxonomy report which groups popular search terms together into a hierarchy of categories, as well as assimilating common misspellings based on intent. This enables the publisher to get an accurate insight into what their users are searching for. Usage reports also include origin and time of search; top search terms; advertiser position (i.e. rankings by the amount an advertiser is prepared to pay each time a link to an advert is selected); and click types – the total number of searches and end user clicks broken down by sponsored results and mobile web results respectively.
The 13 Trinity Mirror mobile sites utilising Mobile Commerce’s technology are: The Daily Mirror, The Evening Chronicle, The Journal, Teeside Evening Gazette, Daily Record, Liverpool Daily Post, The Liverpool Echo, Huddersfield Examiner, Welsh Daily Post, Walesonline, The Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, and the Coventry Evening Telegraph. All the sites are managed by Blue Star Mobile.
“To play a part in this rollout by Trinity Mirror, Britain’s biggest newspaper group, is very exciting for us,” says Mobile Commerce CEO, Steve Page. “Monetising their push into multiplatform shows exactly what Mobile Commerce can do for publishers. It’s further proof of the growing market for mobile and mobile search, as consumers increasingly demand their content on a mobile platform.”

Blyk Showcases Ad Campaigns

Blyk, the ad-funded mobile nhetwork for young people, has launched an ‘Ads in Action’ section on its media website to showcase some of the ad campaigns running on its network. The Ads in Action site features videos showing some of the creative treatments used by Blyk advertisers. Featured advertisers include the COI, Penguin Books, Lucozade Energy Drink and WKD.
There are also more than 20 case studies representing brands in media & entertainment, FMCG, retail, travel, government & charity, and careers & education. 

Greystripe Secures Funds, Aims to Solve Mobile Ad Conundrum

Rich media mobile advertising network Greystripe has raised an additional $5.5 million (£4million) in Series C funding, led by its existing investor, Incubic Venture Capital, with Steamboat Ventures and Monitor Ventures also participating. The company, which has already experienced strong growth in the mobile content distribution and monetization business, says it is now aiming to solve the biggest problem in mobile advertising.
Despite massive industry projections around mobile advertising’s growth, many brands and agencies have debated the additional value in creating mobile-centric advertising formats and campaigns. Greystripe is looking to solve this issue by integrating its mobile inventory directly into industry-accepted online media buying software. This integration allows for ad agencies to simply click to add mobile and also allows for Flash advertisements, normally only available on the web, to appear on the iPhone.
With a unified ad platform connecting mobile and online, says Greystripe, the popular third screen will be able to offer web-like measurement, such as engagement, while eventually expanding to new levels of targeting, such as location.
“In an economy where ad budgets are shrinking, mobile advertising campaigns will survive only by becoming part of the online ad budgets,” says Darren Kuhn, Director of eMarketing at LeapFrog, a Greystripe partner.
Fuelled by this new round of financing, Greystripe’s focus is to continue to build mobile campaigns from online ad budgets. A recent campaign with Hewlett-Packard (HP) came out of HP’s digital advertising budget, where they simply checked a box for mobile and were able to extend their campaign to the third screen. The results of the rich media HP campaign, which ran from 16 January to 6 February, will be released in a Comscore Study later this month. This campaign follows Greystripe’s recent, successful rich media ad campaign with Unilever Axe which saw a 15% brand lift, and also came out of Axe’s online ad budget.
“For too long, the mobile advertising world has built a silo approach to their business,” says Greystripe CEO, Michael Chang. “Those days are over. It’s time to join the online advertising world and bring new value in terms of reach, targeting and interactivity.”