Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog

As we approach the first anniversary of AdMob’s arrival at Google this Friday, it’s amazing to look at how much the mobile industry has grown since last year: an estimated 300 million smartphones were shipped, average smartphone data-usage doubled and hundreds of thousands of new mobile apps have been created.

Many thousands of mobile publishers and developers use ads to support their businesses, so we’re excited to see rapid growth in mobile advertising, too.  For example, in the last year, traffic on the AdMob network has grown more than three and a half times, and we now get more than 2.7 billion ad requests every day. We have thousands of advertisers both large and small getting great results every day on AdMob’s network of more than 80,000 mobile apps and sites.  To celebrate AdMob’s first year at Google, today we’re introducing a set of new products and features for mobile advertisers and publishers.

New ad formats for tablets 
In the last six months alone, traffic from tablets on the AdMob network has increased by 300 percent.  To help advertisers better connect with tablet users, today we’re launching a variety of new, tablet-specific rich media ad formats.  These new HTML5-based ad formats are built specifically for tablets’ larger, high-definition screens, and make use of features like touch, tap and swipe. Together, these features will enable advertisers to develop rich, engaging campaigns and run them across multiple mobile platforms.

Enhanced tools for mobile app developers
To help app developers grow their app businesses, we’re releasing a significant upgrade to our AdMob “House Ads” product, which developers can use to promote their own products within their mobile apps. The new version includes improved campaign management, new ad formats and better ad targeting options.

In the coming months, we’ll also improve mobile app developers’ ability to use AdMob to deliver the most valuable ad by integrating a new “mediation” feature that selects the best ad from multiple, competing ad networks directly into the Google AdMob Ads SDK.

Deeper integration with Google advertising products

Many advertisers, agencies and publishers use DoubleClick’s ad serving and measurement tools to manage their digital ad campaigns. We envision a single platform that enables seamless management of ads across desktop, video, mobile and tablets. Our announcement earlier this week about the availability of DoubleClick Rich Media ads on the AdMob Network on the AdMob network is one example of this commitment. In a few weeks, we’ll also add support for mobile to our DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business ad serving product, which thousands of web publishers use today to manage ads that appear on their sites.

The last year has seen incredible growth, but it’s just the beginning. We believe that the products we’re announcing today will further accelerate the growth of mobile advertising, enable marketers and developers to rapidly grow their businesses and help to fund more great mobile content and apps for users.

Posted by: Clay Bavor, Product Management Director, Mobile Display Ads

Here’s the second post in our Mobile Insights series, featuring expert views from members of our mobile ads business. Welcome this week’s guest contributor, Anjali Vaidya, an Account Manager on the mobile ads team who shares her experiences on our Click-to-call (CTC) offering in mobile ads.

We’re continually making enhancements to the Click-to-call ad format. Launched in early 2010, CTC allows mobile consumers searching Google or visiting sites in the Google Display Network, to click on the phone number and speak to someone who can explain more about the product or service. 

One enhancement was our Call-only format to allow advertisers to receive only calls, instead of clicks, to their website. Starting this week, we’re making the Call-only format even better by including a phone icon and moving the phone number above the ad.

The convenience and immediacy of CTC for users has made it one of Google’s fastest-growing advertising solutions. Click-to-call is a great addition to the advertising mix. You can still drive searchers to your website, but it gives you other advantages:

• it’s a great option if you don’t yet have a mobile-optimized website; 
• it captures consumers who are ready to act; 
• it allows you to drive traffic to a strong call center, giving you a competitive edge over other online advertisers.

We’re generating millions of calls every month on mobile devices and the number of advertisers using phone extensions is growing quickly. The uptake for CTC is fast because advertisers are realizing great returns.

• Home security provider Defender Direct gets 75-80% of online advertising clicks using Click-to-call. Four out of their top 10 campaigns in terms of clicks are now mobile. And the calling customers  are ready to consult with an expert about the ins and outs of alarm systems. Once the company started targeting high-end smartphones, their returns from mobile ads and CTC skyrocketed. Results were soon double what they got from desktop search. Today, Google mobile ads constitute 24% of the company’s overall online budget.

• When auto insurance company Esurance started using mobile ads and CTC they found that they could acquire customers at 20-30% less cost compared with other channels. Esurance wanted to put interested people in touch with agents or claims representative in a few simple steps. Reaching the company is faster and easier for customers, and a less expensive way to acquire leads for Esurance. Calls coming from CTC mobile ads are more likely to result in sales.

• The Carphone Warehouse has had great success with mobile ads CTC too. The UK mobile phone retailer created a mobile website where visitors can search for headset details and price plans. They used Mobile Ad Sitelinks to provide deep links into the site and incorporated CTC in ads to allow users to reach a call center agent to get advice or buy.

Our advice? Test Click-to-call, whether you’re a national or local business, to see how it can generate sales. Our customers have shown us that mobile searchers will research your products on their phones, and they appreciate the convenience of calling from that same device. Once they call, they are even closer to purchase. Your best leads are only a phone call away, try Click-to-call today!

Posted by Anjali Vaidya, Google Account Manager for Mobile Ads

AdMob is excited to announce that rich media ads can now be served from DoubleClick into the AdMob network. This feature is currently in beta and will also enable advertisers to create and measure rich media ads from DoubleClick Rich Media. 

To date, AdMob advertisers have relied on AdMob systems to serve their mobile rich media ads. Today, the beta will pave the way for advertisers in mobile to build, serve, manage and report on rich media ad units using the DoubleClick tools that they, and their agencies, are already familiar with. Creative agencies will be able to use DoubleClick Studio, a creative platform for producing rich media ads, to output rich, HTML5 mobile creatives for placement on AdMob apps. Media agencies will be able to use DoubleClick’s ad server, DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA), to serve and report on rich media ads in mobile.  

To date, advertisers on DoubleClick have enjoyed the ability to build an ad once and run it anywhere with online display and rich media ads. AdMob’s beta with DoubleClick gets us one step closer to making this possible for mobile display advertising too. 

Posted by Ben Chung, Product Marketing Manager

Cross-posted on Adsense blog

We’re excited to announce the launch of AdSense for mobile content in 15 new countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Slovenia, Thailand, and Turkey.

AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile webpages using targeted Google ads. Just like AdSense for content, Google matches ads to the content of your site -- in this case, your mobile site. You'll earn money whenever visitors to your mobile site click on the ads they see.

For mobile websites, AdSense will automatically detect the type of phone viewing your site and deliver ads to match. For example, if someone views your site through an iPhone, we'll deliver ads specifically designed for high-end phones.

Please note that AdSense for mobile content ad units may be used in mobile websites only, not in mobile applications -- our policies don't permit placement of AdSense for mobile content ads in a mobile application. If you’re looking for an advertising solution for your mobile application, sign up for AdMob, Google’s leading mobile advertising display product.

Posted by Emanuele Brandi, Product Sales Lead

Cross-posted on the Official Google blog

The Guide to the App Galaxy, which we showed off last week at Google I/O, is designed to help mobile app developers—regardless of platform—navigate the complexities of launching an app and building a business on mobile. As you maneuver through the "galaxy” using the arrow keys on your keyboard, you’ll get the basics about app promotion, monetization and measurement—with tips from Google as well as successful developers.

There’s no exact blueprint for mobile app success and no developer’s journey is the same, which is why The Guide to the App Galaxy contains different advice and best practices from developers around the world. Here are some key insights from developers who have successfully built a business on mobile:

Rovio Mobile
Making money on mobile is not black and white—there's actually a lot of color. There are a number of business model options that aren't exclusive to any particular platforms.

Best, Cool & Fun Games
Offering your app for free lowers the barrier for users to download and try your app. The free version of Ant Smasher went viral because players could easily recommend the game to their friends through social media sites and word of mouth.

The Weather Channel
Don't forget to think beyond mobile. If you have a website or even a television channel, you can cross-promote your app with banner advertising or in-show mentions to drive downloads.

If you’re a developer who has successfully navigated the App Galaxy and launched your own app, you’ve probably picked up some tips of your own. Share your insights by creating your own journey and sharing it with your friends. We might even feature your story on The Guide to the App Galaxy.

The Guide to the App Galaxy is currently available in English, Japanese, Korean, French and German. We’re continuing to expand the guide to other developers around the world with new languages and new content like case study journeys. For more information about our solutions for mobile app developers, visit www.guidetotheappgalaxy.com/about.

Posted by Lauren Usui, Product Marketing Manager

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending my first Google I/O as a Googler and speaker. It was a high-energy event and lots of mobile developers interested in building a business on mobile stopped by our Office Hours. Additionally, the videos from two sessions we hosted are now available:
  

Don’t Just Build a Mobile App. Build a Business.

Learn how to build a business on mobile apps so you can quit your day job. Walk away with an understanding of app business basics and how to use house ads for app promotion, mediation to optimize in-app advertising revenues and analytics to measure real ROI.

  

Implementing Money Making SDKs

Watch our experts integrate the Google AdMob Ads SDK across Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7. Learn integration tips and tricks so you can start making money from your app today.

   

If you didn’t get a chance to catch all the announcements and excitement in-person or via the live-stream, we hope you’ll get a chance to experience it by visiting the Google I/O website.
 

Posted by Wayne Pan, Software Engineer for Mobile Display Advertising

We’re always looking for new mobile insights to help advertisers better understand the mobile environment, build their brands and grow their businesses on this platform.  Today, we’re announcing that we’re teaming up with Digitas, an integrated brand agency, to deliver original mobile marketing insights and usage research.  The initiative will combine original Google and Digitas search and marketing data to forecast trends, inform investment strategies, and drive the creation of mobile optimized websites.  Below is the the first of many outputs from this collaboration -- specific insights from Mother’s Day 2011.

Mother’s Day is the second largest U.S. consumer spending holiday1. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the mobile device has become a trusted shopping companion for many users and this Mother’s Day consumers once again turned to mobile to help them find the perfect gift for mom.  Google analyzed both mobile and desktop search behavior in the days leading up to Mother’s Day and here’s some initial findings:

• On Mother's Day 2011 (May 9th), 33% of Google search queries on the term “flowers” came from mobile devices.
• Mobile search queries for "flowers" both on Mother’s Day 2011 and in the week leading up to the holiday increased by over 100% compared with the same periods last year.
• In the week prior to Mother’s Day desktop searches for “flowers” increased from Monday to Friday, then declined on the weekend, while mobile queries steadily increased all week and maxed out on the weekend.  While this is in line with general mobile/desktop usage trends, on the weekend of Mother’s Day, the increase in mobile searches on “flowers” was much higher that usual, as last minute shoppers scrambled to find a bouquet for mom.
• Google searches on “mother’s day gifts” were relatively consistent across mobile and desktop suggesting that perhaps flowers were the last minute purchase of choice for many Mother’s Day shoppers.

Relative to last year, Mother’s day shoppers looking for flowers

relied more heavily on mobile.

Mobile technology is clearly changing the way businesses engage their consumers.  In response to Mother’s Day activity, Rich Lesperance, Heads of Online Marketing at Walgreens, commented: “Mobile is critical to our long-term goals of reaching customers and building relationships.  Our shoppers are busy and on-the-go, and mobile is the gateway to provide them information, access and service when they need it. This is especially true for last minute shopping around important holidays like Mother’s Day.”

Over the course of the year, our collaboration with Digitas will look at a range of mobile trends to better understand how the advancement of mobile technology and smartphone adoption impacts consumer behavior.  We look forward to sharing them with you.

1National Retail Federation survey, April 2010

Posted by: Torrence Boone, Managing Director, Google Agency Business Development