Rivals Argue They Perform Better than AdMob

Two recent studies by Mobclix and SmartReply contend that each network performs better than AdMob. Because the data are self-serving one must receive them with some caution. However here are the results . . . 

Mobclix ran "The Mobclix Challenge" in December to directly compare itself to AdMob, claiming that its platform/network would provide app developers with greater revenue. Mobclix said it "outperformed AdMob by 83%. Overall, Mobclix was able to ensure higher eCPM, significantly more revenue and 100% fill rates for all participating apps."

The company highlighted two case studies that cast Mobclix in an especially favorable light vs. AdMob: 

• Jokes Free earned 135% more ad revenue and received 2.27x higher eCPM via Mobclix in comparison to AdMob. If they had integrated Mobclix exclusively in December, their app could have earned $5K more in revenue.
• Spazzle Free earned 25% more ad revenue and received as much as 175% higher eCPMs using Mobclix. If they had integrated Mobclix exclusively in December, they could have earned $6K more in revenue.

Independently SmartReply, which works with retailers, conducted a study comparing its own SMS network to AdMob's. The company said that in "multiple comparative tests run between in Q4 2009 and January 2010 across the AdMob and SmartReply networks," the results were as follows:

• For every $100 spent in mobile advertising, the SmartReply network delivered 7.7 new customers while AdMob delivered only 4 new customers.
• SmartReply’s ad network delivered a 2.17% click-through rate while AdMob’s delivered only a 0.13% click-through rate.
• To receive 100 responses, SmartReply circulated 65,000 impressions whereas AdMob needed to circulate 5 Million impressions.
• For every 12 Million impressions served by SmartReply, AdMob needed to serve 1 Billion to achieve the same results.

This is a little bit "apples to oranges" because one would expect an opt-in SMS platform to have better success than a pure display network such as AdMob's. However SmartReply contends that it is both more efficient and offers broader potential reach than AdMob (SMS vs. apps/mobile Web). 

Separately Mobclix just acquired analytics provider Hearbeat to broaden what it can offer developers in terms of tracking app performance. This is similar to the recent acquistion of TapMetrics by Millennial Media, to broaden its analytics capabilities. 

How Broad Is Google's Location Patent?

VentureBeat surfaced a patent that Google was awarded last week: "Determining and/or using location information in an ad system." The original application was filed in early 2004. The patent appears to cover using location as a primary factor in determining the relevancy of advertising served.

It's not specific to the PC or mobile and would presumably cover both areas. My non-technical reading of the patent suggests that this covers ranking ads based on the location of the user and/or proximity of the user to the desired object/site/product. 

Here's some of the mind-numbing discussion in the application itself:

Different geolocation information may have different scope, and some geolocation information may contain other geolocation information. Generally, for purposes of determining ad relevancy, a match of more specific geolocation information (e.g., town) may be weighted more heavily than a match of less specific geolocation information (e.g., country). Generally, for purposes of ad scoring, the most specific geolocation price and/or performance information that matches will be used. That is, if an ad has price and performance information for both San Diego and California, if the request geolocation information indicates an end user in San Diego, the San Diego price and performance information will be used. If on the other hand, the request geolocation information indicates an end user in Sacramento, the California price and performance information will be used. If the request geolocation information indicates an end user in Omaha, Nebr., neither will be used.

There are many different ways to score ads. Some examples include (a) using a distance between a presence of the advertiser and the end user, (b) using a local availability of an item sought by the end user, (c) using an advertiser attributes (e.g. a location of the advertiser's closest retail outlet), etc. Ads can be ordered and/or priced using language criteria (e.g., query/display language, information derived about user or advertiser's language such as location of user in Japantown).

Although some examples above used geolocation information as a current location of the user, the geolocation information may be a location that the user is interested in. For example, if a search query includes a zip code, it may be inferred that the user is interested in a location defined by the zip code, or located within in the zip code. If the search query includes a city name, region name, and/or a state name, it may be inferred that the user is interested in a location defined by such a name(s). Thus, for example, a user may be interested in an area which may be the same as, or different from, the current area of the user. The targeting, scoring, content, and/or performance tracking of ads may be affected using a location of interest. 

There are a number of location-oriented patents that have been awarded online for consumer search and in mobile. Companies such as Microsoft, Geomas (patent troll), Local.com and JumpTap, among a couple others, all hold local or local-mobile patents of one sort or another. One day some of these folks will be compelled to duke it out in court to determine whose patents trump the others. 

This one is quite broad however. 

Millennial Media: iPhone Continues to Gain Share

Millennial Media released its January SMART report, which offers a range of data about activity and ad campaigns on its network. Here are a few of the top-level datapoints and findings:

• Smartphones represented 58% of our network’s U.S. Smartphone impressions in January – a 20% increase month over month.
• The iPhone’s OS represented 56.6% of our network’s U.S. Smartphone impressions in January. iPhone has held the leading OS on our network over the last five months.
• RIM’s OS experienced a 5% decrease in January but still held the second largest share of U.S. Smartphone impressions on our network with a 20% share

The January report also republishes InsightExpress data about the greater efficacy of mobile marketing and advertising (vs. online):

According to Millennial's discussion of the InsightExpress data:

Mobile campaigns in the Retail Vertical showed the largest differences between online norms in three of the five categories, Aided Awareness, Purchase Intent, and Unaided Awareness, with index scores of 14, 7.9 and 5.7 respectively, according to InsightExpress.

The Travel, Automotive and Technology campaigns had similar increases above online norms in the Mobile Ad Awareness category with index scores of 4.8, 4.7 and 4.6. For advertisers, this is a potential positive indicator that consumers are more aware of advertising in these verticals. CPG campaigns indexed high in the Brand Favorability category with a 11.3 index score. The second best index was 7.0 for Automotive campaigns. In our Q4 Top 10 Mobile Ad Verticals, CPG ranked seventh while Automotive ranked tenth.

This better performance of mobile (vs. online) makes sense because of reduced ad clutter in mobile, the greater share of voice and the greater novelty of mobile advertising (so people notice). As mobile becomes mature some of these metrics may decline -- but that remains to be seen.  

Report: Facebook Looking at Loopt

Loopt has been scrambling to reinvent itself and gain traction -- despite its longevity in LBS -- in order to not be made totally irrelevant by more visible competitors: Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare and mobile couponers. While it's still possible that Loopt would find the right mix of offerings or the right formula to succeed as an independent company that train has probably left the station.

TechCrunch, which loves to report rumors and tech gossip that also often turn out to be correct, is saying that Facebook is doing due diligence on Loopt. Facebook is the dominant mobile social network and a general force to be reckoned with. I recently speculated that it was only a matter of time before the company became a mobile ad network or platform. 

I had previously predicted that Facebook would buy Foursquare but that looks less likely now because of Foursquare's deals with large media companies. It still could happen. But if Facebook were to buy Loopt what exactly would it be buying? It would be potentially getting some mobile development expertise and some technolgy as well as some carrier relationships (but it already has those). 

It wouldn't be getting and doesn't need mobile users, with 100 million active mobile users of the site. Thus the price is likely to be a big sticking point. Loopt has raised just under $20 million. Loopt's investors will likely want something approaching or exceeding $100 million. My guess is that what Facebook gets from Loopt won't be valued at that level. We'll see. 

Loopt will ultimately have to sell itself because I think its time has come and gone. I could always be wrong of course. 

Placecast Launches Geo-SMS 'ShopAlerts'

Placecast was recently featured in a piece in the NY Times about "geo-fencing" and retailer The North Face. The company was using Placecast's system to send SMS alerts and marketing messages to users (already opted-in) who were within a certain proximity to a North Face retail outlet.

Today the company is broadly announcing the availability of this capability, which has been in trials with a number of US retailers:

Placecast's ShopAlerts service is a retailer marketing solution. Retailers leverage the technology to create their own version of the service; then consumers choose the brands they love, and may opt-in through many ways - at the store, online, via text-message, mobile website, or social network (like Facebook). Once ShopAlerts is activated, consumers go about their day and the service automatically alerts them when they are near a location that they are interested in or when the brand is offering sales and specials.

Unlike many new mobile advertising innovations available only as applications on smartphones, ShopAlerts works on any phone, which is a benefit for retailers who wish to reach the 196 million Americans who do not own smartphones but are interested in such shopping deals . . .

Four retailers are on board at launch: SONIC, American Eagle Outfitters, and REI. Here's a video that explains and demonstrates the service: 

This is the "Starbucks coupon" scenario that people have been talking about for years. The difference here is that people opt-in to receive these alerts so they're not mysterious spam. But they are transmitted when you're within a certain distance from a store. As a result they're relevant in at least two ways:

• These alerts represent content (deals/offers) that people are interested in -- they opt-in so response will be much higher
• They're locally relevant because you're within a reasonable distance (that can vary) from a store 

This is location-based marketing but it's not "advertising" in the sense that nobody's bought an ad placement on a network or website. This is the blind spot in most of the mobile ad forecasts out there. SMS and direct marketing services delivered to your phone are often not considered in the major mobile ad forecasts in the market. However this will be a huge area for both retailers and other local businesses as well as consumers.

Placecast conducted a survey among consumers who participated in the ShopAlerts trials and found the following:

• 60% of participants found the location-triggered messages to be cool & innovative
• 79% said it increased their likelihood to visit a store
• 65% made a purchase as a result of a ShopAlerts message
• 73% of participants would definitely or probably use the service in the future

AdMob: iPod Touch Owners Apps 'Super-users'

This month's AdMob mobile metrics report compares downloads and application usage across the various smartphone platforms. The company hightlights app downloads by platform/device, satisfaction levels and other metrics. Much of the data this month comes from a survey taken by users on their device:

Respondents were sourced by responding to mobile ads throughout AdMob's iPhone OS, Android and webOS networks. There was no incentive offered to participate in the survey.

There were 963 total respondents: 318 Android, 244 iPhone, 356 iPod touch and 45 webOS. The survey was run from February 5th - February 16th.

Below are a few of the charts from the report, which can be downloaded here.

Survey respondents by gender and age, by platform: 

The things that are striking in the two graphs above are:

• Concentration of younger users among iPod Touch owners (young and gaming centric)
• The fact that Android is male dominated. This is largely a function of the testosterone infused ad campaign by Verizon for Droid.  

Average and paid downloads on a monthly basis:

The iPod Touch owners are the so-called "super-users" because of the greater number of apps they download. In the second graphic, there are many more paid app downloaders in the iPhone OS camp. This is because iTunes is very easy to use ("frictionless") compared with the other platforms. As an anecdotal case-in-point, I currently have two Android phones and have never downloaded a single paid app. 

There are also some interesting data in the report about non-phone smart devices:

Here's AdMob's discussion of the data represented in the two charts above:

• 16% of iPhone users said they intend to purchase an iPad, compared to 11% of webOS users and only 6% of Android users.
• Approximately the same percentage of Android users were interested in purchasing the Amazon Kindle as were interested in purchasing the iPad.
• iPod touches are popular devices among consumers already using smartphones. 1 in every 4 iPhone users currently owns or intends to purchase an iPod touch in the next six months. More than 1 in every 5 webOS users currently owns or intends to purchase an iPod touch within the next 6 months.
• 91% of iPhone users and 88% of iPod touch users would recommend their device, compared to 84% of Android users and 69% of webOS users. webOS users are 3.4x more likely to not recommend their device relative to iPhone OS users.

This last data point -- webOS users are 3.4x more likely to not recommend their device relative to iPhone OS users -- is really telling (re the Pre/Pixi). I'm a Palm Pre owner and have lived with the phone now almost a year. My dislike for the device has grown over time. I actually like the form factor of the Pixi better; however the Pixi is underpowered compared to the Pre, compromising its appeal.

Palm has been completely overshadowed in the market by the iPhone, RIM and Android. I don't think that Palm is going to be able to come back and will have to sell itself to someone (or come out with new devices that are more competitive, which is harder for the company).

While the Pixi may appeal as a "transitional" device (from feature phones to smartphones) the Pre is now effectively dead. It's simply not going to sell very well anywhere. Palm made some bad choices and strategic mistakes with it. And it's really now too late to correct them. 

Finally, all the data about app downloads again raises the question about the long-term "viability" of apps vs. HTML5 and "Web apps." To the extent that Adobe, Rhomobile, Appcelerator and others develop or refine tools that truly allow developers to "write once" for multiple platforms, then we will see apps survive across a range of smartphone platforms.

Otherwise, we'll continue to see apps written for the iPhone and maybe one or two others. But everything else will be HTML5 otherwise. 

Millennial Acquires Analytics Provider TapMetrics

Yesterday Millennial Media announced it is buying analytics provider TapMetrics. Millennial has itself offered analytics since its inception so I asked CEO Paul Palmieri about the rationale behind the acquisition. He told me late yesterday afternoon that TapMetrics offers "general business analytics" and that it would complement and round out the mobile campaign analytics that the company already offers.

Here's what Millennial will be able now to deliver to clients with the addition of TapMetrics:

• Real-Time, Highly Detailed Analytics
• User Interaction Information
• Feature and Version Adoption
• Device Types
• Crash Reporting
• Buzz Tracker & Reviews
• Competitive Ratings System

Palmieri and I went on to discuss the state of mobile advertising in general and a wide range of related issues. In particular we talked about advertiser demand for mobile, ad exchanges and "mediators" as well as mobile CPMs and whether then were stable or in still in decline.

On the third point he said that he believed mobile CPMs had stabilized after some price competition that saw them decline in Q2 and Q3 of last year. He also made the point however that there are too many consumer impressions chasing not enough advertiser spending and this is a contributing factor as well. In other words, consumers are adopting and using the mobile Internet at rates that are much greater than advertisers, many of whom are still stymied by confusion about what to do in mobile and its apparent fragmentation.

This "consumers lead, advertisers lag" pattern is also present to this day on the PC Internet where time spend with the medium is not commensurate with ad spending. However the patterns of consumer and advertiser adoption of the PC Internet are all accelerated (post iPhone debut) in mobile. Palmieri was ambivalent about mobile ad "mediators" or exchanges. He recognized that they brought some value to publishers and advertisers but raised a version of the premium-remnant argument that exists on the PC side. Palmieri said he wouldn't serve a high value branded campaign against impressions that weren't in his mind worthy of the advertiser. Still he acknowledged that exchanges do in some circumstances benefit publishers by providing more advertiser fill and benefit advertisers by providing some enhanced reach in an easy to buy fashion.

TapMetrics is based in San Francisco. Millennial Media, based in Baltimore, is arguably the largest of the existing independent mobile ad networks and thus, as I suggested to Palmieri yesterday, "on deck" -- in a manner of speaking.

Profile of North Face Local-Mobile Ad Campaign

The New York Times offers a really interesting piece about how the outdoor equipment retailer North Face intends to use proximity based marketing (via SMS) or "geo-fencing" to promote sales and products to consumers within a particular neighborhood area.

According to the story in the Times:

For now, the North Face will send texts about promotions, like a free water bottle with a purchase, and new arrivals, because the company’s gear is heavily seasonal. A text message would say, for example, “TNF: The new spring running apparel has hit the stores! Check it out @ TNF Downtown Seattle.”

1020 Placecast is the platform/enabler behind the campaign: 

Placecast created 1,000 geo-fences in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston, cities where the North Face has many stores and areas that get a lot of snow or rain, so the company can tailor its messages to the weather. In urban areas, the fences are up to half a mile around stores, and in suburban areas they are up to a mile around stores.

The North Face campaign is an opt-in SMS campaign, which are relatively common today. The novel element is the fact that location will trigger delivery of the message when people enter one of the zones that Placecast has set up. 

These types of campaigns will be highly successful by their nature: people have opted-in and the highly local aspect will very likely drive people into stores. Placecast has an even more sophisticated notion of how to combine geography, demographics, context and time of day. But as you do more targeting you narrow your audience -- greater precision and response but smaller reach. 

Mobile marketing and advertising is a potentially much more precise and specific instrument than online (from a push standpoint). It will be very interesting to see how this campaign turns out (if North Face will allow Placecast to share that with the world). 

How Long Before FB Is a Mobile Ad Network?

There's a nice summary (and video) of Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya's speech at the Mobile World Congress (via TechCrunch) in which he discusses Facebook mobile growth and engagement and makes a pitch to work with carriers. Facebook says it already has relationships with 200 carriers globally (compare to Yahoo, which says it works with roughly 80 but with the potential reach of 800 million).

Here are some quick facts from the talk:

• 100 million active (daily) mobile users
• 200 million (50%) of Facebook's users have used or accessed it on mobile devices
• Mobile Facebook users are twice as engaged as PC users

 Palihapitiya pitched carriers on the idea that Facebook would help them grow data revenues. 

Facebook's mobile usage and growth are nothing short of amazing. But let's talk about what may be coming sooner rather than later: Facebook as a mobile ad network and one that offers location (and potentially demographics) as part of that proposition. 

There are currently no ads on Facebook's apps, mobile websites or SMS. I would almost bet my life that's going to change in the near-to-medium term. Facebook will be clever and careful about integrating advertising into mobile, mindful of the potential to alienate mobile users. However the mobile ad opportunity may be at least as big for Facebook as it is on the PC. 

Facebook is about to make $1 billion in ads on the PC; however neither I nor anyone I know pays attention to and/or clicks on them. However I do hear from marketers anecdotally that Facebook ad targeting does work. But offers and mobile advertising from SMBs and brands tied to location is a potentially huge opportunity for the company. 

I think it's just a matter of time before we see Facebook start to roll out an offering. And, on arrival, the company would be as large or larger than any existing mobile ad network. 

Loopt Does Deal with Coupons Provider

Loopt has done a deal with mobile couponer Mobile Spinach to provide location-based offers to Loopt users. It's San Francisco only at this point.

On the one hand this is smart because it's a another way to monetize location but one that is largely welcome by most consumers, compared to other types of mobile ads. (We detailed in our mobile coupons webinar the value and success metrics of mobile coupons and offers.)

TechCrunch and VentureBeat both cover the "mechanics" of the deal and discuss FourSquare, etc. What's more interesting to me is to see Loopt struggle to define and redefine itself under pressure from Facebook, Yelp and LBS "games" such as FourSquare. The company started as a friend-finder/social network and then morphed into Yelp. Now it's adding coupons and local deals. 

But there are a bazillion coupon providers in mobile even at this early stage of the market's development. 

Beyond this there's a more fundamental issue about Loopt's identity and answering the question: Why should I use the service? Unless/until the company can convincingly answer that question -- and I'm not sure it can surrounded by all these larger brands and providers -- it won't have a sustainable business. 

Mobclix Adds Nielsen Segmentation Targeting

Mobile ad exchange Mobclix announced that it would add Nielsen PRIZM and Nielsen ConneXions audience segmentation data and capabilities into the Mobclix mobile exchange. According to the release, what this enables is the following:

By bringing traditional marketing techniques to mobile advertising through Mobclix Complete, ad network partners will now enable mobile advertisers to reach over 150 unique audience segments resulting in improved conversions over legacy mobile solutions. Mobile application developers and publishers will reap the benefits of 20-100 percent CPMs higher than the market . . .

Under the terms of this agreement, Mobclix will be able to resell PRIZM and ConneXions to mobile ad networks and publishers. The anonymous user data from both PRIZM and ConneXions will then be mapped and applied to Mobclix's open marketplace platform for buying and selling mobile ad inventory. Coupled with the reach of top mobile application publishers, advertisers will benefit from this comprehensive and insightful data to help find, discover, determine, learn and better market to their audiences.

These data and capabilities move beyond simple demographics into "lifestyle" segments. 1020 Placecast uses the PRIZM data as well in its mobile targeting. 

The caveat that must be stated here is that for audience slicing and dicing to be meaningful you need massive reach, which is why allowing reselling/redistribution of these capabilities is significant. The issue of providing greater mobile reach is what makes mobile exchanges and marketplaces important. 

These Nielsen data and targeting capabilities were basically created for direct mail targeting across the US by Zip and household. However, in a mobile context, if you're looking for "hipsters" (or single moms or whatever) in a certain geography (e.g., Tribeca, New York), you start to slice the audiences too thin for most large agencies and marketers today. (The objectives of LBS or SMS marketing would be different.) Brands and agencies complain today about not being able to get enough reach with mobile in general, without adding in 150 more ways to slice up audiences. 

The fact that these data/segments were tied originally to households is paradoxical somewhat because mobile users are mostly on the go (the iPad will be a bit different). You wouldn't necessarily know who mobile users are/were except by their location and expressed behavior or "needs" (e.g., search queries). Some marketers, for example, have targeted iPhone or BlackBerry users as a proxy for certain demographic characteristics in the past.

Carriers also have this type of data about their customers and I suspect that they'll make much more of it available to marketers soon. JumpTap accesses carrier demographic information for some of its ad targeting. However, there are potential privacy issues and concerns that will be the subject of debate; but that's a much longer discussion. 

This slicing of audiences begins to be meaningful once they become larger (as they are becoming) and perhaps once you've got cross-platform buying between online and mobile, as Mobclix is starting to do with AOL's Advertising.com and Tribal Fusion-Greystripe. Then you can have an agency make a demographically targeted buy across online and mobile simultaneously. That's when this will start to shine potentially. 

There's also the branding and direct response divide; though digital obiously bridges that somewhat. A "brand" ad can have DR elements (e.g., sign up to receive alerts; find the nearest dealer, etc). The cross-platform scenario I'm describing is more likely a big brand play (with DR elements as suggested) than one aimed at getting people to take specific action now (i.e., an LBS promotion). However, a movie studio targeting a specific audience for a film could use this system quite effectively as one example.

The capabilities that these data and targeting capabilities represent are somewhat ahead of the market in my view. The market will eventually catch up but it's not yet this sophisticated.  

Mobile Ads: Best of Times, Worst of Times

Brands, agencies and marketers of all stripes are increasingly interested in mobile advertising (or so surveys reflect), especially in the last six months. However "a fragmented landscape of different devices, operating systems and application storefronts" is confusing to many: What should we buy and how?

Companies such as Velti, Amobee and others aim to simply mobile advertising with "end-to-end" solutions. But confusion remains. 

Meanwhile the data continue to show that mobile outperforms online by almost 5X in terms of most brand performance metrics. Those that get in now will reap the benefits while others remain on the sidelines whining and scratching their heads. 

Here are recent data from a broad survey of Insight Express-monitored and measured campaigns:

Here's what the press materials said about these metrics:

The study used norms developed in online ad testing as a benchmark to draw conclusions around the performance of advertising on mobile devices. InsightExpress compared the two using InsightNorms, the company’s normative database containing over one thousand online ad effectiveness campaigns and over one hundred mobile ad effectiveness campaigns . . .

InsightExpress found mobile campaign norms were 4.5 to 5 times higher than online norms against measures of unaided awareness, aided awareness, ad awareness, message association, brand favorability and purchase intent.  “Online campaigns continue to offer exceptional reach, flexibility and variety,” said Joy Liuzzo, Senior Director of Marketing & Mobile Research at InsightExpress.  “However, the high levels of engagement, the explosion in technical capabilities, low levels of clutter and the novelty of mobile advertising all likely contribute to increased brand impact.”
 
A comparison of three different mobile media types (Mobile Internet, SMS and Mobile video) revealed that Mobile Internet is the current powerhouse. Mobile Internet campaigns resulted in increases of 9 percentage points for unaided awareness, 9 percentage points for aided awareness and 24 percentage points for ad awareness . . . SMS campaigns generated increases of 5 percentage points for unaided awareness, 10 percentage points for aided awareness and 18 percentage points for ad awareness.    

SMS offers the greatest reach, followed by mobile Web and then apps and video. 

Is Apple Hoarding LBS Advertising?

Here's the much discussed statement from Apple to iPhone developers about location-based advertising:

The Core Location framework allows you to build applications which know where your users are and can deliver information based on their location, such as local weather, nearby restaurants, ATMs, and other location-based information.

If you build your application with features based on a user's location, make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.

Here's the prevailing interpretation of this directive:

"Looks like Apple is going to keep location-based advertising to themselves"

The speculation then proceeds that Quattro will be the sole provider of LBS ads to iPhone apps. I believe the above reading is incorrect. Instead I would argue that Apple is saying "don't just use location for ads alone":

make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you . . .

Here "beneficial information" is non-advertising content and services. At a time when Apple needs to court and retain developers it would alienate them (even more) to compell use of only Quattro advertising or otherwise preclude developers from serving LBS ads. 

Pew Millennials Data Shows Mobile a Critical Medium for Reaching Youth

This may sound like data you've heard time and again (and it is): mobile phone ownership among younger people is nearing saturation. According to Pew, 75% of teens and 93% of 18-29 year-olds in the US have mobile phones.

New survey findings underscore that mobile is a critical medium (and by extension SMS because of its ubiquity) for reaching younger audiences. Here are some mobile-specific excerpts from Pew's recent millennial social media survey data:

• Among teen cell phone users, more  than a quarter (27%) say they use their cell phone to go online . . . 35% of adults report that they access the Internet using a cell phone or other handheld device.

Extrapolating from the 35% number, which is admittedly self-reported survey data, that would mean something approaching 80 million US adults are accessing the Internet on mobile phones. Nielsen's number is 68 million; our survey data from 2009 argue that 27% to 29% of mobile users are accessing the Internet on mobile handsets.

Here's demographic data regarding US "wireless" Internet access by device category and age: 

Daily teen activities, showing the primacy of SMS:  

Related (per Nielsen): "American teenagers are using 3,146 messages a month, which translates into more than 10 messages every hour of the month that they are not sleeping or in school" 

MotoScan: Motorola Invests in Scanbuy

We wrote yesterday about Microsoft's 2D barcode program "Tag" and why we think that 2D barcodes and barcode scanning in general has arrived in the US. Today comes news from Motorola that the company has invested an undisclosed amount in Scanbuy, which owns popular barcode scanning software ScanLife. The software works on all major smartphone platforms and across all major barcode formats, including traditional UPC codes.

Motorola said it invested because the ScanLife app/technology was "best of breed":

"Motorola has looked at this market very carefully and believes that Scanbuy has the best combination of technology and strong ecosystem partners in its space," said Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures. "Mobile barcodes are an extremely powerful tool for consumers, businesses and wireless providers, which makes this opportunity very exciting for Motorola. The camera quality, display capability and processing power of today's smartphones, coupled with advanced network speeds, now enable consumers and the advertising community to fully take advantage of mobile barcode technology."

Expect to see the software pre-installed on Motorola handsets going forward. 

Greystripe Extends Support to Ovi Store

Rich media mobile ad network Greystripe announced that it's extending its support Nokia's Ovi Store. According to the release out today:

Although Greystripe has supported hundreds of millions of Java downloads, this is the first time they will be supporting apps in the Ovi store. Greystripe is beginning to migrate 1,200 Gamejump.com Java titles into the Ovi App Store. With this announcement, Greystripe now supports the top three smartphone marketplaces: the iPhone App Store, the Android Marketplace, and Nokia’s Ovi App Store . .

Currently Greystripe supports over 1,400 Java handset models, in addition to iPhone and Android. Greystripe continues to expand its Java/Symbian app downloads, which account for approximately 250,000 app downloads on the network per day. Since Symbian is still a popular platform globally, this announcement is significant for brands that want to reach a wider audience by advertising on the Java/Symbian network, such as Navy and JC Penny.

We learned last week that Nokia's Ovi Store is seeing "more than 1 millions downloads a day." These numbers suggest that, at least outside the US, Ovi will be a force to be reckoned with.

Previously Greystripe did a deal with online ad network Tribal Fusion to automatically translate IAB ad units into mobile: 

Greystripe takes Flash ads and transcodes them using their award winning technology so the ad is compatible on the iPhone. With this process, advertisers are seeing 10-20x higher performance with the mobile ad compared to the same online campaigns, with average CTRs well above 1%.

This model is the future of much of mobile display advertising -- one buy across platforms, or an "extension" into mobile of an existing campaign -- and will accelarate the movement of ad dollars into mobile. Mobclix offers something similar with Advertising.com but on a smaller scale. Google will likely be doing this with AdMob if that transaction gains approval. 

And, in an effort to grow and protect its distribution vs others., last June Greystripe launched what it calls a CPM protection program that guarantees iPhone developers a minimum CPM.

Microsoft Tag: 'Hyperlink the Real World'

CNet showcases Microsoft Tag, a nouveau QR code for traditional media publishers and products. Most QR code systems, including Microsoft Tag, require a download of software that can read the 2D barcode. On smartphones this is not the problem it once was. New market entrant JagTag doesn't require specialized software.

Microsoft Tag works with feature phones that have a camera as well. 

There are lots of companies in this 2D barcode space and lots of proprietary formats. Standardization would push the whole industry forward. Microsoft may have success with Tag because it's, well, Microsoft. Companies such as Geovector and NeoMedia have patents in this area and we'll probably see litigation eventually. 

Putting all that aside, this phenomenon of "hyperlinking the real world," is going to be massive -- capital M. Phenomena like SMS marketing and QR codes/Tag proliferation could actually move much faster than "mobile advertising" overall. Because they help measure consumer response as well as make traditional advertising more dynamic -- you can put anything you want behind a Tag including video, websites or coupons -- industry and publishers will adopt these technologies in the very near term. Indeed, they already are. 

People and most industry observers don't realize how pervasive this will be in say three years, provided that there's some standardization that helps remove uncertainty over which system to use. Consumers are already using traditional barcode readers in stores to get price and reviews information. I've both done this and witnessed this extensively (over the past Xmas shopping season). 

Imagine a code/Tag on every product, in stores on displays, on TV, in newspapers and magazines, vending machines, yellow pages directories, outdoor ads (e.g., movie posters). These codes will be absolutely everywhere. It's just a matter of time. 

As a side note, we're also likely to see 2D barcodes integrated into location gaming in the very near future . . . 

Related: Jagtag Extends 2D Barcode System To All Major U.S. Carriers

Millennial Media: Portals & Directories Become Top Category by Ad Spend

Millennial Media's December/Q4 SMART report reflects some interesting trends, but mostly incredmental changes from November. The top ad spending category is now "portals and directories," which includes major Internet players (e.g., Yahoo, MSN). Travel moved up from category number 10 to number eight, as well.

Here are the highlights, as reported verbatim by Millennial:

• The U.S. Mobile Web: Decreased slightly to 66.6M users, according to Nielsen (Nov.)
• For the first time since S.M.A.R.T™ was first published in March ’09, Entertainment was not the top advertising vertical.  Portals and Directories took the top slot in Q4. Telecom, Finance, Entertainment and Dating round out the top 5.
• Engagement: Average monthly page views per user increased to 125 in December from 113 in November; and, average user session times increased from 5:02 to 5:09 (min:sec).
• Devices: Samsung represented approximately 23% of our network’s impression share in Q4. But the iPhone was the leading smart phone on our network with 41% of our network’s U.S. impressions. 

We don't know all the specific advertisers in these categories but I would argue that at least five (maybe six) of these categories are substantially or mostly concerned with local "on their face":

• Entertainment
• Dating 
• Retail/restaurants
• Travel
• Automotive 

Turning to handsets and OS market share, here's what Millennial is seeing on its network:

Compare AdMob's smartphone share numbers (North America) from December:

In both cases the iPhone is has the largest share, but on Millennial RIM is second, while AdMob's network shows Android handsets second to the iPhone. Among the top 20 mobile handsets appearing on Millennial's network, the G1 is the only Android handset reflected to date.