Analytics on Mobile

Analytics on mobile is moving…

Vanessa Daly — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:26:52 +0000

Thank you for stopping by to read our blog today.

Since 2008, Analytics on mobile has endeavoured to offer webmasters, digital marketers and new media agencies up-to-date information on the key trends affecting the world of mobile analytics.

As from Monday 19th July 2010 this blog will no longer be updated but instead we will be offering the same expertise from our main blog
blog.bango.com . But don’t worry the content of this blog will still be available if you would like to access archived information for reference.

We hope you stop by at blog.bango.com. If you have any topic suggestions that you would like us to write about or are interested in being a guest blogger for us for anything mobile analytics or mobile payments related, please email info@bango.com

Take data ownership into your own hands!

Vanessa Daly — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:24:32 +0000

With Apple’s recently publicised attack on Flurry for its mobile analytics data policy, the question about who ultimately owns the data recorded remains open. It has long been known that mobile analytics firms, such as Flurry and Google assume ownership of the data and user information collected from websites and mobile apps. For brands and developers this is a real concern, and one which they can’t do much about.

Developers are already finding the whole mobile app market challenging – what with platform fragmentation, distribution issues and mobile marketing campaigns continuing to cost a premium. Developers depend on good analytics to provide insight about how to deliver the best apps, websites and marketing campaigns. So having the analytics company retain the rights to all that valuable information about the developers hard earned customers is just another thing to worry about. Unfortunately, many analytics companies promise detailed, accurate reports for free, but as we know, nothing is free in this world. The analytics companies are actually focused on harvesting data they can sell to make revenue in other ways.

Mobile analytics firm Bango strongly believes that information ownership should clearly remain in the hands of the brands and developers that collect it. Whether the data collected shows user activity within apps or websites, details the success of advertising or any other important information that can improve the user experience, marketing spend or company efficiency. With Bango Analytics the developer owns the data and is free to use it in any way they wish. The data is not shared with any third party or used as part of an advertising platform – it’s simple, accurate measurement for the developer.

Flurry has recently announced the modification of its data collection policy, following Steve Jobs’ outburst, stating that they now comply with iPhone OS terms and conditions – but importantly the data ownership still remains theirs.

So my message to developers is be cautious when choosing an analytics solution, read the small print and more importantly take data ownership into your own hands and protect your valuable customers.

Mobile advertising still fails to deliver on its promise

Adam Kerr — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Is there hope for mobile advertising?

The latest hope is that in app advertising will be where it’s at, with some analysts following the app pack creator, Apple and their iAd.

The iAd promises more emotion than TV advertising and more interaction than internet advertising. Apple claims that the iAd is where it’s at because search doesn’t work.

That may whip a number of fad followers to stump up the rumoured $1m per ad but the real reasons mobile advertising isn’t delivering is far simpler and fundamental…monetization and measurement.

Contrary to what has been suggested by Apple, lack of emotion in adverts isn’t what stopping big investment in mobile advertising. It’s the ability to be able to get ROI on advertising dollars and the ability to measure. PC advertising took time to come to fruition and only really took off when monetization took place. Mobile will be the same.

As analysts, journalists and developers continue to follow the Apple fad, consumers are moving in another direction; continuing to spend more and more time on the mobile web, buying more open devices. In-app advertising will grow in the short terms for big brands but will fail the vast majority of app developers and advertisers.

I agree with Aaron Goldman, Managing Partner at Connectual, who says:

“What works for Apple when it comes to advertising will only work for a handful of brands – like Nike, For the rest of us that don’t have such power brands, it will be hard to make a $1-10 million investment pay off..iAd, albeit elegant, is just another interruptive ad model.”

Unlike the internet, premium content will be key to the success for the developers on mobile. The majority of content producers and app developers will be reliant on a combination of advertising and premium content. The billing mechanism is far superior on mobile than it has been on the PC and users have demonstrated time and time again that they are willing to pay for content.

The maturing of the mobile web, as it happened all those years ago with the PC web, will bring better monetization and measurement and then finally mobile advertising will deliver on its promise.

Mobile Advertising: CPC or CPM? CPA!

Maria at Bango — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:55:25 +0000

When approaching mobile advertising and the different ad networks that there are on the market, one always wonders which method of reconciling ad delivery we should choose - CPM or CPC? Most ad networks offer both options, and there must be a reason for that, but have any of them ever thought about CPA?
Let´s start by looking at what these terms mean:

CPM = Cost Per Mille

In Latin mille means thousand, so CPM is Cost Per Thousand and usually refers to ad impressions – the number of times an advertisement loads onto a user’s screen.

The ad network´s job is to plan the distribution of ads according to the advertiser’s campaign goals. With CPM this is a simple, risk free task for the ad network – the advertiser provides all the creative work which the ad network simply displays across sites on their publisher network. Note that in this model the advertisers pay for impressions, not for clicks or their resulting actions, so as long as the ad is served the ad network gets paid.

Larger mobile advertising networks such as Yahoo! use this model and big brands seem to like it as it provides both brand awareness across top publisher’s sites, in addition to users clicking on their ads. But there are questions about how advertisers accurately and independently measure the success of their CPM campaigns.

CPC = Cost Per Click

This is where ad networks only charges the advertiser when their ad is clicked. This means that each ad network has to make sure they place ads on sites relevant to the advertiser and their campaign – because no clicks means no money! This usually results in the ad networks charging more for each click than they would for each impression, given fewer people will click on each ad displayed. Since the advertiser is paying more for each click it becomes more important for them to produce a compelling message and a relevant offer behind that message. They need to turn those clicks into actions, since lots of clicks but no actions is not a good result.

This model is what has made Google lots of money and it is normally easy to set-up and is self-managed for advertisers. To measure success, advertisers would count clicks and calculate conversion rates. The result would give you the Cost-Per-Action or Cost-Per-Acquisition.

CPA = Cost Per Acquisition

This is where the Ad Network only gets paid for campaigns that generate a measurable ROI for the advertiser. Naturally the advertiser pays significantly more per acquisition, but only when a click converts into the campaign’s desired action. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, but its success does depend on the ad networks ability to effectively measure actions.

CPA is currently still in its infancy on mobile, which may sound strange given the extra level of information that mobile provides. Mobile can deliver contextual, targeted messages with location, carrier profile and exact time of interaction, being accurately recorded. Mobile can measure the quality and duration of engagement, and give you depth of information that other media can’t.

The crucial thing, whichever model you chose for your mobile advertising, is to use a good quality, independent mobile analytics tool. It is the only way to get detailed and accurate information about mobile visitors interacting with your ad campaigns across all ad networks. Not only on one ad interaction but across multiple campaigns over time - it is the only way to see the true value of your mobile advertising investment.

The iPad…so is it mobile?

Andy Bovingdon — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:08:40 +0000

The marketing impact of the iPad

In some recent mobile marketing meetings the topic of iPads has come up – probably not too surprising given the media industries current unnatural obsession with all things Apple – it is the saviour of publishing after all. But given my recent meetings have been mobile marketing focused, the lead question has always been whether the iPad is a mobile device – after all, it is somewhat bigger than a phone and you can’t make calls on it.

The argument for the case states that the iPad uses the iPhone operating system and has an app store crammed full of familiar iPhone apps. The device is designed to be carried about, is great for browsing the web on, and the latest version even has 3G mobile broadband capabilities. From a marketers perspective it is simple to include iPad users alongside iPhone and iPod Touch users – those pages and apps your banner ads appear in will be seen by iPad users as much as iPhone users.

The argument against the case points out that the iPad is hardly an always-on personal device – not unless you have very big pockets. It is likely to be used in a very different way from accepted mobile devices, in ways more similar to netbooks or laptops. The iPad is not a communications device, so all those ads that point at click-to-call pages simply won’t work – not even with the latest 3G version.

So whether the iPad is mobile ultimately it depends on your definition of mobile…

On one hand mobile is about personal access to communication and information, a convenient device that is always with you and always on. In this sense the iPad is portable but not mobile – you won’t see everyone carrying one around the streets.

On the other hand mobile can refer to any portable, connected device that gives you access to information and services. This much wider definition would naturally include the iPad. But it should arguably also include other connected devices such as netbooks, ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle and handheld gaming consoles like the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable. In fact pretty much every device built these days is connected, with built in Wi-Fi or mobile broadband. We are living in a very complex world of diverse devices with complex connections, which is much easier to write than say.

So is it mobile? The answer has to be a yes. Soon everyone will have at least one mobile device of some form. For most of us this will be phone sized but there will always be a section of the market that will have something bigger hidden in their bag (or big pocket).
The key thing to ask here is not whether something is mobile but how big is its marketing impact – what is the size, reach and viability of the device? From a marketing perspective it simply comes down to ROI again – will the time and cost involved in doing something specific for an iPad (or any other device) reach my audience and give me the return I am looking for?

To help put things in context here are some relative sizes… To start, Nintendo have shipped well in excess of 100 million Wi-Fi enabled DS’s worldwide. It’s huge, but a market that is hard to reach and tends to be a younger audience. Meanwhile DisplaySearch reports that over 5 million e-readers were sold in 2009, of which over 3 million were Amazon Kindles. StrategyAnalytics says that over 30 million netbooks were shipped worldwide in 2009. In comparison, Apple has just passed the 1 million iPads sold mark – a much smaller number, but not bad for just one month of US sales.

How these devices affect your business and the opportunity they present depends on the products you produce and the audience they are designed for. So before rushing out to dominate the new iPad opportunity it is important to understand your market and measure your traffic – see what your target audience is using and how many are starting to use iPads, Kindles, iPhones, BlackBerry, Netbooks or other devices. You can only get this valuable information by installing a decent mobile analytics solution like Bango Analytics on your website. It’s easy to set up and will tell you what mobile devices your customers are using and where the main growth areas are. You can then make an informed decision on where to focus your effort and budget with confidence.

UK mobile advertising grows to a record £37.6m in 2009

Maria at Bango — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:08:12 +0000

IAB and PwC study reveals that mobile ad spend beat expectations last year, growing up to 32%

It is great to see that the industry is evolving and growing at such a good rate even in challenging times.

Some of the key findings from the study are:

Both paid-for search and display formats performed above expectations - up 41% to a new high of £20.2 million and a market share of 54% (50% in 2008) for mobile search, and 24% to
£17.4 million and a market share of 46% (50% in 2008) for mobile advertising
The top display ad categories are: Entertainment & Media (61.5%); Telecoms (14.7%); Finance (8.1%); Consumer Goods (3.2%); and Government, social and political (2.7%).
Mobile internet usage increased by 21% in 2009 with 18.9m handsets now accessing the mobile internet every month.
23% of time spent accessing internet is on a mobile device – average time spent surfing on a mobile is now 32 minutes a day.

Exceptional targeting, immediacy and return on investment are some of the key drivers for this growth, even though some brands and media owners cut back their investment in mobile advertising.

One of the key areas helping brands gain confidence in mobile, as an advertising channel, is mobile analytics. Mobile analytics is at the heart of the mobile advertising industry. Without data we wouldn´t know which direction to take, where to invest our marketing budget and how to measure success.

Mobile analytics provides us with the insight and accuracy needed to understand our mobile advertising campaigns. Ad networks and mobile advertising companies provide us with some general data, such as CTR, keyword or ad performance and some device information; but they can´t give us the depth of information that independent solutions, such as Bango Analytics can. In addition to core mobile metrics, Bango Analytics provides a unique identity for every mobile visitor and tracks all connections, including Wi-Fi.

These findings are great news for everyone with a mobile presence and encouraging for brands to get started on mobile. To capitalize on this increasing opportunity, make sure you start measuring the results. With the right mobile analytics tool is easy to achieve.

MobileBeyond interviews Andy Bovingdon about mobile analytics and mobile payments

Maria at Bango — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:32:15 +0000

Brian Prows from MobileBeyond recently interviewed Andy Bovingdon, VP of Product Marketing at Bango. Listen to their discussion on this podcast around mobile payments, analytics and the findings from Bango’s study showing that brands are not adequately measuring mobile campaigns.

Don´t miss the opportunity to learn about:

The importance of “relevance” and user engagement in mobile interactions with consumers.
How mobile analytics increases marketing ROI and complements payment solutions.
How 4G wireless networks and Wi-Fi impact reporting, critically important for iPhone and other smartphone users.

…… plus more

Feeling a bit dizzy after biting the poisoned apple? Apple switches the agreement behind developer’s backs.

Maria at Bango — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:22:04 +0000

After reading the new “bans” from Apple, one might feel like Snow White after biting the witch’s apple: dizzy and confused until you fall asleep in the middle of so much nonsense.

Not only has Apple stamped out Flash to iPhone conversions , such that iPhone apps can now only be written in Apple-approved programming languages and not on third-party platforms such as Adobe Flash, even if they are subsequently converted into iPhone OS code.

The latest Developer Agreement also appears to ban third-party analytics – tools that show how the application that the developer has spent their valuable time and money to create is used by customers. Apple now says:

“Device Data may not be provided or disclosed to a third party without Apple’s prior written consent. Accordingly, the use of third party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited.”

Developers build apps to sell for money, the more customers that are happy using the app the more word of mouth and the more they will sell. By not allowing developers to closely examine how their apps are used, Apple is effectively preventing them from learning, improving them and ultimately selling more. This data also helps developers understand what other new apps to build, how their marketing is working and how updates are received - how are they supposed to get the necessary insight to continue with their businesses now that Apple are changing the rules? Apple appears to be doing a great job at stiffeling creativity and stalling app growth and sales success.

What does this mean for ad networks that rely on reporting data to measure the effectiveness of their ads? Has Apple closed everyone out now they have their own iAd system, are competitors being shut out of the Apple walled garden? Let´s be honest, the 40% promise of ad revenue for advertisers on the iAd doesn´t do it for me if I can´t compare these results with other ad networks I may want to use or other analytics data I would like to obtain.

With the continued healthy growth in other mobile platforms such as Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone, perhaps the time has come for developers to seek creative freedom and succcess elsewhere. Somewhere they have visibility on the performance of their apps and the freedom to develop using their language of choice – continuing to delight us with their creativity by doing so. Let them choose the ad network they want to work with and the tools they need to succeed – let’s not return to the walled mobile gardens we all deserted a few years ago, even the operators have moved on and now recognize the benefits of healthy open competition. We have seen great developments in mobile over the last few years where brands have had the choice to develop mobile internet strategies in many different ways, and the market has started to blossom as a result.

So let´s wake up and not eat the poisoned apple…

WiFi connected mobile users on the increase

Maria at Bango — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:52:49 +0000

JiWire has released an interesting report that states WiFi access is on the upswing
while data card usage is slowly shrinking.
The Mobile Audience Insights Report found (in Q4 2009) that 56% of consumers were
connecting to the Internet via mobile devices through public WiFi hotspots.
JiWire also predict a further 15% increase in free WiFi hotspots in the US by the end of the year.
This is very good news for companies like JiWire who serve ads on high-traffic public WiFi locations
like Starbucks, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Hyatt Hotels. It also presents a great
opportunity for mobile service providers wanting to target an active market of “on the go” users.
According to the report these “on the go” WiFi connected users show a particular interest in
checking news headlines, conducting search queries and networking, along with 47% actively
purchasing content and services.

US top website categories requested over WiFi

If you’re not sure whether WiFi connected users are a good target market and worth investing your
mobile marketing dollars, the first thing to do is start measuring how much WiFi traffic you currently
get to your site.
Mobile analytics tools such as Bango Analytics enable you to identify your WiFi visitors and understand
how they use your site. You can filter your mobile web traffic by WiFi traffic and see how many unique
visitors you get via this connection. You can get a free trial account and learn in minutes a lot about
your mobile traffic.
The JiWire report is an excellent starting point to learn about behavioural preferences of those on the go,
online and retail shopping destinations on the web, the devices they use, where they use them and
ad requests over the holidays by device. To download the full report visit http://www.jiwire.com/insights

Free white paper “Lost in the mobile maze”. Why mobile complexity continues to challenge the biggest and best in the industry

Maria at Bango — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:48:15 +0000

Many companies assume that the mobile web is a smaller, less capable version of the PC web. But this assumption does not recognize the true importance of mobile, the complexities it introduces or the massive benefits it brings. Companies such as Google and Adobe, who are big players in the web world are still struggling to understand mobile, and as a result are failing to deliver an acceptable mobile experience to consumers.

Only mobile delivers a personal web experience with always-on, 24/7 access that can include an identity, location and direct payment mechanism via the mobile phone bill. These benefits deliver significant improvements to sales and marketing campaigns that are not available via the traditional PC.

Companies need to understand the real complexities that make mobile different to be able to succeed on mobile.
The “Lost in the mobile maze” white paper offers us help to understand all the elements involved when considering taking our brands onto mobile.
Get your free copy today and read about:

How different phones, browsers and markup languages can affect the delivery of your content.

How operators gateways, countries and MVNOs influence user identification and the role of transcoders.

The different connection types and how this may determine the storage of cookies.

How signal coverage, latency and data losses can skew the results of your marketing plan.

URL lengths and redirects, how to determine location and how to track applications, non-browser interaction and media.

Different tracking codes and methods to know if your mobile strategy is working towards your goals at any time.