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Here's why Pandora is killing it in mobile

Posted by Scott Swanson on April 23rd, 2013 at 6:00 am

Pandora made more than $229 million from mobile display ads in 2012, according to an IDC study that came out last week — on par with Facebook ($234M), and double that of Twitter, which netted $117 million.
That's a pretty penny from a medium that until late last year, marketers will still unsure about.
Let's timehop back to August 2012. In an article entitled, "Why is Pandora not making more money in mobile?" Mobile Marketer cites several reasons why the music-streaming service was struggling, including smaller screens that don't allow for large-format, high-impact ad formats.
At that point, most ads were in the form of small banners, and video hadn't really come onto the scene yet. "The mobile advertising market is still in the early stages," they wrote, and is not keeping up with Pandora's mobile use.
Fast forward to today. Mobile traffic in the Music, Video and Media category (Pandora among others) continues to soar, and has consistently been #1 in terms of impression volume on our Opera Mediaworks mobile advertising platform.

However, as you can see here in the Q1 2013 State of Mobile Advertising report, revenue has definitely caught up with impressions.
About 18% of all revenue is generated by mobile sites and apps that serve... Read more

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Posted in Emerging Platforms, Opinions | 3 Comments »

Even basic mobile targeting beats desktop any day

Posted by Scott Swanson on April 17th, 2013 at 2:14 pm

Every day, you hear about how mobile publishers and ad networks are adding new, enhanced targeting capabilities to their suite of services. And that's great news -- better targeting in mobile is a key factor in increasing the effectiveness of campaigns.
But what many buyers tend to forget is that even basic targeting in mobile, using the kind of contextual information you can easily acquire from the most standard of mobile traffic, is still far better than the PC equivalent.
Let's take a quick look at the most basic of them all: device type (OS) and connection type (e.g., mobile vs. Wi-Fi). Knowing what kind of mobile device a user possesses and where they are using it (on the go vs. at home/work) is far more valuable than identifying what kind of PC or browser someone is using, and who provides their Internet service. I don't know about you, but I don't identify myself as by my ISP. iPhone user? Yes. Constantly on the go? Yes. Comcast customer? Not so much.
More importantly, advertisers are finding that simple additions to these first two criteria, such as time of day, day of week, or a carefully chosen frequency-capping regime, provides even deeper improvement of... Read more

Posted in Ad Networks, Ad Serving, Opinions, Targeting | No Comments »

5 Mobile Trends for 2013 (Projection Alert!)

Posted by Scott Swanson on December 17th, 2012 at 8:57 am

At the end of every year, there is no shortage of projections -- especially in the advertising industry. Analysts, bloggers and even internal teams try to predict "what's next", in order to better plan and budget for the coming year.
But often the best way to understand what's around the corner is to take a peek back at where you came from, what direction you're going, and how fast you're traveling.
Last week our parent company, Opera Software, released a report that does just that. It looks back on the biggest moments and trends from the year, leveraging the data from its mobile ad platform of 10,000 sites and apps which serves 40 billion impressions a month. So we're not talking about a casual, subjective glance; this is a deep dive into what actually happened in the last 12 months.
Several of these trends are no doubt going to continue in 2013, and likely build even more momentum:
iPhone and iOS will enjoy the view from the top
The Samsung Galaxy III is definitely a huge hit among many -- about 30 million have sold since it's mid-year launch. But the iPhone 5, which launched about four months later, now accounts for 16.1% of all... Read more

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Posted in Opinions | No Comments »

3 Mobile Creative Best Practices

Posted by Scott Swanson on November 1st, 2012 at 12:32 am

This summer, after diving into data from campaigns running on our parent company's mobile ad platform, we discovered something pretty neat: Mobile campaigns that take full advantage of the sophisticated capabilities of the modern smartphone (e.g., HTML5, camera, video) always result in higher dwell times and interaction rates post-click.
Now, in the Q3 report, we're discovering something even better: the deeper characteristics of a high performing mobile campaign.
We found that those that emphasize fun and simplicity catalyzed the most user interaction and brand stickiness, and those that utilized new, innovative ad units delivered click-through rates of 5% and even higher. Incidentally, they also generated the most revenue and publisher satisfaction, so everyone was happy.
By closely observing these campaigns (two of which are demonstrated below) we were able to pull out some mobile creative best practices that will hopefully help mobile marketers as they think about how to best capture the attention of their roving audience.
Challenge the user's expectations
For Mazda, we used a “break-in”unit that enters from the outside and places the ad in position. The expanded unit dynamically drags the ad across the screen, causing surprise, as the user is accustomed to the static screen content of their mobile web browser.
Appeal to the senses
Mazda’s robotic arm effect... Read more

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Posted in Creative Best Practices, Wireless | No Comments »

Drive Away Happy: 5 Rules for Auto Advertisers

Posted by Scott Swanson on August 20th, 2012 at 5:39 am

We use our smartphones for pretty much everything these days --  including shopping for a new car. Potential new car owners are using apps and the mobile web to:

Find nearby dealers
Schedule test drives
Ask their peers for advice & recommendations
Research new models
Request more information

Many car manufacturers have stepped up to meet the challenges of the mobile car-shopper. They’re using mobile websites that are full of rich graphics and content such as videos, photo galleries, feature comparisons, “car configurators” and loan calculators that enhance the auto shopping experience, and taking into consideration the preferences of different demographics (e.g., Millennials vs. Baby Boomers). Through a combination of targeted search and display ads, they are driving purchase intent and directing new traffic to local dealerships. Landing pages are being cleverly utilized  to build opt-in databases for ongoing consumer engagement and CRM activities.
But it’s not quite time to celebrate -- not yet. As the automotive industry taps into this new medium and increases its reliance on mobile ads as a way to reach target audiences, there are several important things to consider:
1. Know your (geographical) limits. Location-based advertising is valuable in the auto sector, especially when it comes to attracting consumers to come into a... Read more

Posted in Ad Networks, Emerging Platforms, Media Planning & Buying, Wireless | No Comments »

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