zanox Releases ‘Mobile Performance Barometer’ Report

- 313% growth in revenues via mobile devices
- One transaction every 15 seconds in Europe via a mobile device
- iPad is the motor for mobile commerce in Europe

zanox, a leading performance advertising network in Europe, presents the current trends and developments in mobile commerce with the latest edition of the “zanox Mobile Performance Barometer”. Based on over 1,000 advertiser programmes in the European core markets of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Benelux, Scandinavia and Poland, the report shows that mobile commerce is already living reality for consumers. In an annual comparison of 4th quarter 2010 to 2011, there was a 313% increase in revenues generated via mobile devices across the entire European zanox network. In 2011, for example, more than two million transactions were made via mobile devices throughout the zanox network – the equivalent of one mobile transaction every 15 seconds. During the process, a sales volume of 120m Euro was generated in 2011.

Devices
In 2011, the long-promised tablet-revolution finally took place. As a result, in December 2011, the iPad was behind 50 percent of all revenues generated via the mobile channel. In the zanox performance network, the average revenue per transaction generated via the iPad is 63% higher than that for the iPhone and double the amount made by Android devices. The iPad is therefore the No. 1 revenue-generator and the motor for all mobile commerce in Europe.

Viewed over the entire 2011 period, Apple’s iOS operating system (iPad, iPhone, iPod) lost shares, whilst still accounting for three quarters of mobile revenues at the end of the year (Jan 2011: 82%, Dec 2011: 75%). Android devices almost doubled their share of mobile revenues with an increase from 12% (Jan 2011) to 21% (Dec 2011).

Countries/regions
In a European zanox-comparison, Scandinavia is the leader in mobile commerce, with the largest mobile channel-share of total revenues (3% revenue share) and the second-highest growth rate from 4th quarter 2010 to 2011 (693%). Only Poland has a higher growth rate, with 722%, but, at the same time, registers the lowest mobile channel-share of total revenues (1.2%). Germany experienced a mobile revenue-growth rate of 316% from 4th quarter 2010 to 2011; here, the mobile share of total revenues stands at 2.4%.

Spain:
- YoY growth 2010-2011: 328%
- mobile-share of total revenues at 2.6%

France:
- YoY growth 2010-2011: 248%
- mobile-share of total revenues at 1.9%

Benelux:
- YoY growth 2010-2011: 553%
- mobile-share of total revenues at 2.9%

Italy:
- YoY growth 2010-2011: 400%
- mobile-share of total revenues at 1.6%

View the full report and infographic here.

WPP’s 24/7 Media and Microsoft Announce Digital Advertising Partnership

24/7 Media, WPP’s marketing technology company, and Microsoft Advertising announced last week a partnership to support their customers in the rapidly changing digital advertising marketplace. As a result of this agreement, clients of both companies will benefit from enhanced scale, optimisation and automation. The global online ad market is estimated to exceed $98bn in 2012. (according to GroupM, April 2012)

David J. Moore, Chairman and CEO of 24/7 Media, comments: “This is an exciting day for 24/7 Media, WPP and our clients globally. In partnering with Microsoft, one of our largest and most strategic clients, we are creating a very powerful suite of capabilities that rivals any other offering available today in digital marketing.”

Rik van der Kooi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Advertising, adds: “We’re very pleased to be able to strike this partnership with 24/7. Our mission is to provide extraordinary experiences for consumers and effective solutions for our digital marketing partners. Marketers are telling us they need to get their hands on premium quality inventory at-scale by reducing friction, which is what this deal will do. And unlocking new demand for publishers’ inventory through our Exchange will similarly create new value in the market.”

The agreement consists of four main components that will help strengthen advertising technology stacks and expand opportunities for the marketer and publisher clients of both WPP and Microsoft Advertising.

Specifically:

· The Microsoft Advertising Exchange will become the exclusive third-party ad exchange offered by Real Media Group, a business unit of 24/7 Media, to its 24/7 Open AdStream clients. Access to and management of the Exchange will be available via the 24/7 Open AdStream user interface and significant integration between the platforms. The arrangement provides 24/7 Open AdStream clients with seamless access to the Microsoft Advertising Exchange, which is designed specifically for the needs of premium publishers.

· The Microsoft Media Network will become the only non-WPP demand source granted programmatic access to Real Media Group’s premium inventory. Marketers and agencies will benefit from having this quality advertising inventory from premium publishers available for purchase in conjunction with Microsoft’s data and ad offerings. At the same time, Real Media Group’s publishers will benefit from the addition of Microsoft’s high-quality advertiser base. Real Media Group may also use the Microsoft Advertising Exchange to provide exchange services to publishers who are part of the 24/7 Access audience activation channel, which has the fifth largest reach in the U.S. and select other markets.

VINDICO: Research Shows CTR To Be a False Indicator of Engagement in Video

New research from adserving platform VINDICO shows that viewers who watch a video ad to completion are far more crucial to the success of a digital video advertising campaign than chasing clickthough rate.

The insight report, which is based on the analysis of 30 billion video ad impressions delivered by VINDICO in 2010 and 2011, found that CTR, widely recognised as the industry standard for conversion, to be a deceptive measure. Instead, “completers” – or those who watch a video ad to completion— are the most important factor to guaranteeing a successful campaign.

The report found that of the viewers who navigated beyond the brands’ landing pages, 96% had previously completed the brands’ video ads without clicking it. Whereas only 4% of deeper brand page traffic came from users who clicked the ads.

It also found that the growth in online video ads in 2011 including a 134% increase in digital advertising.

The impact of these findings is critical for brands as agencies look to improve the performance of their large-scale video advertising programs. In 2012, more than half of all marketers will have deployed digital video campaigns – up from 20% last year.

Matt Timothy, President of VINDICO, comments: “People who click on a video ad often do so just to ‘make the ad go away,’ but those who watch an ad through to the end are highly likely to engage with the brand. Advertisers need to seriously reconsider their view of clickthroughs as some kind of golden metric of ROI in video advertising. Our data indicates that video ads based solely on clickthrough rates are inaccurately measuring the impact of their campaigns. Completion rate is a far more accurate indicator of success.”

The research also showed an increase of 92% in ad-served impressions from 2010 to 2011, with ad serving making up nearly half of all total impressions delivered. Using first and third party tags, ad-served impressions include detailed tracking metrics so advertisers have more insights into and control over their campaigns.

James Grant, Country Manager UK, VINDICO, concludes: "As the UK video market matures, it’s key that advertisers and agencies have better access to insight that can improve their understanding of the way consumers access their messaging. View-through is a key metric that is starting to resonate in the UK market and by leveraging our reporting, we have already helped some advertisers reach 97% average VTR. It’s great to see more useful insight being generated for the market."

Specific Media Brings in MediaCom’s Graeme Hutcheson Onboard

Digital media company Specific Media has appointed former MediaCom Associate Director of Futures & Implementation, Graeme Hutcheson as its head of video.

He will be tasked with taking on the newly created position to oversee emerging platforms including video-on-demand, and drive the company’s video proposition from a sales and product perspective.

Hutcheson, comments: “Video represents an increasingly large share of digital advertising’s future. Specific Media’s recent growth and future plans in video make this a very exciting time to join the team. The video landscape is moving at such a fast pace that, only companies able to evolve and expand their offerings will be able to capitalise. Specific Media’s technological strength, their compelling vision, and their video network make them just the type of company to do this.”

Martin Galvin, Director of Agency Sales at Specific Media, adds: “Bringing Graeme on board is a real coup for us. He is probably one of the most recognisable faces of video working agency-side in the UK today, and his expertise will help us expand our video offering and shape the development of our iPTV strategy. Graeme’s unrivalled knowledge of the marketplace uniquely positions him to identify where we can extend and improve our proposition to both existing and prospective clients.”

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