eMarketer explains where best to reach the mobile customer-- whether SMS, voice or MIM.

It is logical but not quite right to deduce that Americans simply love the sound of their own voices. A closer look at most U.S. voice rates in comparison to other countries suggests that talk is cheap in the United States vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Data published by the Telecommunications Management Group (TMG) in January 2006 showed that average American mobile voice usage is four times higher than it is in Europe.

However, U.S. operators are noting a significant uptick in messaging-related traffic over the last year. According to CTIA -- The Wireless Association -- U.S. operators recorded a 71 percent increase in SMS traffic in June 2006 (12.5 billion messages) compared to June 2005 (7.3 billion messages). On a six-month basis, the U.S. figures are even more impressive, with 98.8 percent growth in the first half of 2006 (64.8 billion messages) compared to the same period of 2005 (32.6 billion). CTIA also reported that by June 30, 2006, U.S. operators had recorded $6.5 billion in mobile data revenues. Using a 70 percent rule of thumb for the proportion of messaging revenues to total mobile data revenues according to previous estimates by Morgan Stanley, the U.S. messaging market might reach about $9.1 billion by the end of 2006.

When M:Metrics surveyed U.S. mobile users about the mobile data services they access over a rolling three-month period, text messaging came out on top at 38 percent, which is well under European, let alone Asian, norms. However, use of MIM was higher at 7.4 percent, probably due to the fact that more Americans are IM users as a matter of course.

On the handset side, U.S. mobile customers are placing greater value on the ability to send and receive messages. J.D. Power and Associates reported in May 2006 that sending/receiving SMS messages (22 percent) ranked just under use of the speakerphone (26 percent) as the handset feature American users turned to the most after voice calling.

However, all is not smooth sailing in the U.S. messaging growth story. Granted, the last 18 months has seen a substantial shift in messaging traffic that suggests the market is maturing into mainstream adoption, but a Harris Interactive study in June 2006 revealed that many Americans still do not understand why much of the world is worked into a lather over messaging. Over 70 percent of those surveyed didn't see a need for using their mobile handset for messaging.

The plot thickens, so to speak, when messaging is tied to another great American pastime, watching television. "American Idol" on Fox Television planted SMS voting into the conscious of mainstream America, even though in its first few seasons it was available only to AT&T Wireless, and later Cingular, customers.

However, those early days have spawned a new cottage industry of mobile-led referendums on everything ranging from whether a given Idol singer deserves a shot at the next round or a sports player will or will not score, as well as local issues mediated largely by radio. According to a Mobile Data Association/M:Metrics survey conducted in January 2006, nearly a quarter of the highly-sought-after 18 to 34 demographic participated in some form of SMS voting, either through television or radio. The same study revealed a 60 to 40 preference by men for SMS voting, a data point sure to throw gasoline on the fire of marketers' interest in reaching this population.

John Gauntt is a senior analyst at eMarketer. This article was drawn from his report Mobile Message Marketing: Cash Not Flash.

Report: Mobile ad spending to double to $2.9B by 2011

Spending on mobile messaging and display ads is forecast to double to $2.9 billion by 2011, from $1.4 billion this year, according to JupiterResearch. Right now, 22% of online marketers, including wireless carriers, media organizations and automotive and financial service companies, also are advertising via mobile devices.

Hyatt invests in new online booking technology

October 18, 2006

OpenJaw Technologies has signed a contract with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts to provide its Internet booking engine technology for travel distribution, xRez.

The solution from the Dublin-based company will enable Hyatt’s global customer base to make Hyatt Hotel Reservations online in up to 17 languages including Chinese, Japanese and multiple European languages. Japanese property websites are currently in production.

The booking engine technology is utilizing XML (eXtensible Mark up Language) standards from the Open Travel Alliance to connect to the Hyatt Central Reservations System (CRS).

Uniquely, the solution also detects content changes in the Hyatt CRS and performs an automatic language update at regular intervals by connecting to Hyatt’s translations partners, Translations.com, Global Link service, according to an official release.

The OpenJaw solution is a fully managed service hosted out of Dublin. OpenJaw contributes to the ongoing development of the OTA XML specifications, an open standard messaging system that facilitates improved connectivity between travel companies and their distribution partners, better packaging of travel products, and lower distribution costs.

Reliance on search is scary prospect: Liberty Media exec

October 13th, 2006

NEW YORK – Gregory Maffei, president/CEO of Liberty Media Corp., shared his forecasts on the future of e-commerce during the Oct. 12 keynote called “Differentiating in a Converging World” at Shop.org’s annual summit at the New York Hilton.

Mr. Maffei based his examples largely on what the company has done with home-shopping brand QVC, which Liberty Media purchased in 2003. An avenue for worldwide retail, the outlet ties its entertainment broadcast to purchase opportunities across various platforms including the Internet and mobile, with a focus on brand and viewer community.

“I think it’s inevitable,” Mr. Maffei said. “You’ll see more and more commerce embedded in community.”

Opportunities in digital community growth need not be restricted to the younger generation, he said, referring to sites MySpace and similar sites. In fact, he said that the number of teens on MySpace had dropped to only 12 percent and more than half of the site’s visitors were older than 35.

One forecast he said online retailers should pay attention to was the aging population. Rather than targeting “millennials,” the population segment 18-24, QVC and other Liberty Media properties are watching older consumers who are more stable and more affluent.

As international markets open up, use of digital devices increase and more consumers demand online video, Mr. Maffei said a serious obstacle to online business could be the rising cost of clicks on major search engines.

The growth of vertical search engines, which provide a focused place for searchers and the potential for better leads for marketers, may be one solution.

“If you want to make and control your own destiny I think reliance on search to drive your business is a very scary prospect,” Mr. Maffei said.

Walking TV Nets Nivea 6,600 Potential New Customers

A couple years ago, we told you about a technology that mounted TV's on people so they could walk around and sell stuff. Now, everyone's doing it including Nivea who contracted with AdWalkers, trained street walking marketers who wear TV's and hand out stuff, to promote the company's "Nivea Touches New York" Exhibit.

Nivea deployed eight Adwalkers in its first week of operation and four during its second week. The Adwalkers fanned out around Chelsea, Union Square, Gramercy Park, and Herald Square on a Wednesday through Saturday basis. Of the people exposed to the AdWalkers, a total of 6,600 took a virtual tour of the Nivea exhibit and got a printout reminder/invitation to visit the West 19th Street installation.

Src: AdRants.com

The Graying of MySpace

OCTOBER 13, 2006

Do grown-ups really want in on the party?

Last week's release of audience demographics for MySpace set the industry abuzz. Was the MySpace crowd really that old?

New data from Nielsen//NetRatings reconfirm what comScore Media Metrix told us last week.

Nearly half (46%) of MySpace's US-based visitors in September were ages 35 and older, up from 38% a year ago, according to NetRatings. Visitors in the 12-17 age group slipped from 31.5% of the total audience to 20.0%.

Data released last week by comScore revealed that 51.6% of US MySpace visitors were 35 or older as of August. Teens dropped from 24.7% to 11.9% of total unique visitors.

Will a lot more MySpace profiles look like the one maintained by 53-year-old Nintendo VP George Harrison, whose page highlights his favorite movie (Dr. Zhivago) and his interest in historical nonfiction?

It is doubtful. Tracking the percentage of old folks who visit the site is only part of the story, and may not even be all that relevant in the long term. What is far more relevant is the amount of time people spend on MySpace and how they interact with the content and marketing messages there.

As blogger Fred Stutzman pointed out, "A parent knows that their child has a Myspace page. That parent visits Myspace.com, attempting to learn about the service. In Comscore's index, they would be validly counted as a unique visitor." But these visitors are not necessarily regular users of the site.

Young people still account for a vast proportion of usage of MySpace. They spend more time there than older people — which means it is quite likely that a lot of those middle-agers turning up in the NetRatings and comScore data are looky-loos who are there for work (see: George Harrison), who keep tabs on their kids' activities or who are just plain curious.

"The average 12- to 17-year-old spent 260 minutes on MySpace and viewed about 808 pages. By contrast, the average 35- to 54-year-old spent 179 minutes on the site and took in 560 pages," Ad Age reported earlier this week (but did not cite the source of the data).

In other words, teens consumed 44% more content and spent 45% more time there. Those are much more intriguing statistics to pay attention to.

US Mobile Text Ads Move Slowly

OCTOBER 16, 2006

RU text-savvy?

In what is billed as the "first definitive metrics for mobile advertising,"M:Metrics found that a sizable percentage of mobile subscribers are responding to short codes placed in advertisements or other media.

Of the five countries surveyed, Spain topped the list with 29% of mobile users responding to ads, followed by the UK at 18.5% and France at 10%. The US and Germany were both under 10%.

"These numbers are not unlike what we saw in e-mail response during the mid-1990's as the Web emerged [as] an advertising medium," said Will Hodgman, CEO of M:Metrics.

Contests — such as game or reality television shows or chances to win free merchandise — were the leading driver of responses, with 18 million subscribers across the geographies reporting they participated.

Again, Spain showed the highest rate of participation, at 18%, followed by the UK and France, with the US and Germany lagging.

Not surprisingly, the number of subscribers receiving SMS ads is growing.

In Spain, 67% of mobile subscribers reported receiving an SMS ad, with France at 50%, followed by the UK, Germany and the US, where slightly less than 13% of SMS users reported receiving ads.

The largest source of the ads, by a wide margin, were the mobile operators themselves.

"Remember the early days of the Internet, when spam was still a meat by-product?" said Mr. Hodgman. "At that time your Internet service provider was the major commercial e-mailer in promoting their services. It appears that the mobile operator is functioning in the same capacity today on mobile. It will not be long before brand advertisers supersede the mobile operators, though, given the robust activity and consumer response rates we are already seeing in the medium after only a few years of the existence of common short codes."