Mobile devices are mainstream. In fact, according to our newest research more consumers in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan use a mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone) than a computer (desktop or laptop).
But our most significant findings centered on the clear consumer shift to smartphones. This trend was evident in all countries, with the UK showing the largest increase in smartphone usage from 30 to 45% of the total population. We also found that the demographics of smartphone owners are shifting. Smartphone usage among females increased in all five countries. Smartphone ownership also rose among those aged 45+ in the US, UK and France.
We partnered with Ipsos to conduct this research with a goal of gaining greater insight into consumer usage of mobile devices, the shift to smartphones and the emergence of tablets as a fourth screen. This study was fielded amongst the total population in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. Phase 1 of the research was conducted in January and February 2011 and Phase 2 in September and October 2011.
Some of the key findings of this new research include:
Consumers are clearly shifting from feature phones to smartphones. Smartphone penetration reached 45% in the UK, 38% in the US and France, 23% in Germany and 17% in Japan.
Consumers are increasingly using their smartphones for Internet access. Germany saw the biggest increase with the percentage of smartphone owners using their device for daily Internet access jumping from 39% to 49%, while Japan had the highest percentage accessing the Internet daily on their smartphone at 88%. A little over two-thirds of smartphone users in the US and over half of smartphone users in the UK access the mobile Internet daily.
Smartphone owners are continuing to get online on their computers. Across all five countries approximately 75% of smartphone owners said they continued to use their computer to access the Internet daily.
Consumers are embracing tablets as the fourth screen. Tablet usage increased across all five countries with the highest penetration amongst the total population in the US at 11%. The rate of tablet usage is even higher amongst smartphone owners - hitting 17% in the US, 11% in Japan and 10% in the UK.
Download the PDF report here to see the full set of data from this research.
Posted by: Nicole Leverich,Google Mobile Ads Marketing
Online advertisers seek to effectively reach people across all devices and platforms. This means that regardless of whether your customer is on a computer, a mobile phone, or a tablet, we want to provide you with specific ways to reach them through targeted ad campaigns.
AdWords advertisers already have access to a range of campaign targeting options. For our advertisers running mobile campaigns,we offer the ability to run separate mobile and desktop campaigns, the ability to target tablet devices, or target specific mobile phone carriers in your country (1).
Today we’re introducing two advanced targeting options that are now available in your AdWords campaign settings: WiFi targeting, and targeting by mobile operating system version.
WiFi Targeting To reach users when you know they’ll have a high speed connection, you’ll now be able to target your campaigns to mobile users specifically on a WiFi connection. If you’re currently targeting users on specific mobile carriers, you can now target users on WiFi connections too, and expand your reach. This is also useful if your campaign or landing page has high bandwidth content, like videos that you’d like mobile users to access.
To get maximum visibility for your ads we recommend targeting all available carriers and Wi-Fi traffic.
OS Version Targeting You can already target mobile users by their operating system platform. For example, you can specify whether you would like to reach Android, iOS or WebOS devices with your ads. We’re now giving you even more granular targeting options if your application or service is only applicable to particular platform versions, such as “iOS version 4.0 and above”. Take advantage of these new campaign targeting options in your Campaign Settings. Stay tuned to the Google Mobile Ads blog for updates on new ways target and reach your mobile customers!
(1)
Available in select countries: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=86623
Posted by: Morgan Hallmon, Product Manager, Mobile Ads
Mobile turned a corner this year. As smartphones and tablets became a part of our everyday lives, business owners’ conversations shifted from 'Why should I advertise on mobile or build a mobile website?' to 'How do I get started?’.
Five major industry trends emerged in 2011 that will carry us into 2012, and beyond.
1 - Everyone goes mobile Smartphones and tablets proved that they weren’t just for the geekiest - er, ‘tech savviest’ - among us. These devices are increasingly becoming the norm and they continue to change how people connect with each other, and with businesses, everywhere. According to our research with IPSOS earlier this year:
79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, to finding more product info, to locating a retailer.
70% use their smartphones while in a store.
77% have contacted a business via mobile, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business.
It’s not just that more people are using smartphones and tablets (though the numbers are skyrocketing at an accelerating pace)—it’s that a huge, and fast-growing base of smartphone users, now expect to engage with businesses on mobile. The mainstream consumer got mobilized in 2011.
2 - Mobile search transforms shopping, forever Analyzing mobile search trends helped the industry better understand how people were using their mobile devices in 2011. For starters, we learned a lot about the ‘timing’ of mobile and tablets. These devices enable us to be constantly connected to the internet, as mobile usage has proven to be complementary to the desktop. We got a clearer picture of how search is changing the ways we shop and connect with businesses. More people are looking for deals both en route to stores and within them on mobile - in the retail category, “Black Friday” related mobile queries were over 200% higher this year than in 2010. Users have also developed some mobile-specific shopping habits - for example, 44% of all searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms are projected to come from mobile devices this holiday season. For procrastinators, mobile has come to the rescue!
In October, we looked at some of the newest ways marketers can build their businesses via mobile search. But, this is only the beginning - whether people are trying to find or call a business, compare prices in a store, or visit a site or app directly from their phones, search and search ads will be the tools that shape a new shopping experience, enabling us connect with businesses, research and buy products on or offline, all via mobile.
3 - Progress with the mobile advertising pipes As an industry, we came a long way in terms of improving the ‘pipes’ - the systems, products and technologies that advertisers use to build, serve, and measure mobile ads. It’s still early days, but the progress with standards like MRAID and the momentum behind HTML5, are helping to rally the mobile community and make it easier for marketers and customers to connect on the platform. Getting existing tools to ‘speak mobile’ has been another key to helping mobile advertising grow-up as quickly users and businesses want it to. Across search and display, the tools the industry is already familiar with are getting mobilized. There’s plenty of work still to do, but significant progress is being made - watch this space in 2012.
4 - Tablets join the mobile party Tablets made quite a splash this year. Usage trends sharpened - we’re seeing that people people use these devices to shop, consume media, have fun, and they do so most frequently in the evenings. Tablets are a third screen to be reckoned with for marketers - we saw a 440% growth in traffic from tablets in November 2011 compared to December 2010 on the AdMob network. The business potential is tremendous: not only are users more inclined to shop and make purchases on tablets, but because campaigns can be more effective running across several screens instead of one, tablets offer an incremental opportunity for marketers. Our research with Nielsen showed that campaigns on several screens can be ‘Better Together’ - indeed, in cases like Adidas’, that proved to be true.
5 - Businesses start (actually) thinking mobile first Smartphones and tablets aren’t small desktop computers - they’re new devices being used in entirely new ways. This year, businesses began to embrace this at scale and many saw good things happen when they built ad campaigns and websites specifically for mobile. Ticketsnow’s success with a mobile optimized site - increased site traffic, and more ticket sales - is just one example of the benefits of building for mobile. Initiatives like GoMo and platform-specific ad features will help businesses better connect with mobile customers in the coming months, and beyond.
It’s hard to believe, but as far as the industry has come in 2011, we’re still in the earliest chapters of mobile’s story. The ways people connect to businesses on their mobile devices and the tools they’re using to connect from them progressed by leaps and bounds this year and soon, we’ll see the mainstream shift that changes the way mobile connects people with brick-and-mortar storefronts as well. Mobile will be moving full speed ahead in 2012 so keep those sleeves rolled-up and those seatbelts fastened - we’ll see you then.
For sectors like motoring where target customers are inherently on the move, mobile is a critical marketing and sales channel. Regtransfers, a UK market leader in the field of personal number plates, recognised that mobile offered an ideal way to reach their audience of gadget-loving, tech-savvy car drivers, and they embraced a suite of Google tools to help. With Google AdWords, Regtransfers had driven users to its desktop website with considerable success, so they began their mobile activity by creating an AdWords for mobile campaign and simply replicated the keywords used in the desktop campaign. They’d also found Sitelinks useful in the desktop campaign, and since mobile search ads offer the chance to present two Sitelinks, Regtransfers was quick to take advantage. The first Sitelink on their mobile search ads clicks straight to the inventory search facility; the second Sitelink employs click-to-call. This enables a potential customer to automatically reach the call centre without navigating to the website. There’s no need to copy, dial or re-key a phone number, making it that much easier to convert a browser into a customer.
Next Regtransfers launched an iPhone app to let customers search for registrations, make enquiries and complete purchases. As with click-to-call, the app removes barriers that might otherwise prevent easy engagement. Finally, Regtransfers implemented remarketing campaigns both for desktop and mobile web users. Search ads first drive traffic to the site, but then if a visitor doesn’t sign up for future communication, download the app, obtain the magazine, make a phone call or email an enquiry, Regtransfers can remarket to them by displaying tailored ads on sites throughout the Google Content Network. So what about the numbers? Since implementing their AdWords mobile campaign, Regtransfers’ mobile traffic has increased 100%. With a cost-per-conversion that is 48% less on average than on desktop, the click-through rate across the mobile campaign is 93% better than the desktop campaign that it’s based on. Regtransfers’ mobile AdWords campaigns are now delivering 73% more calls than when they first began. To download the full Regtransfers case study, click here.
Posted by: Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager
Smartphones and tablets are the biggest thing to hit Santa’s workshop since the sleigh. According to recent Google research, we’re using mobile devices in booming numbers for searching, shopping and browsing before, during and after December 25th.
E-commerce is more important than ever this Yuletide, and mobile is driving a lot of this. While an eDigital study shows that one in three UK smartphone users engaged in M-commerce in the build-up to Christmas last year, conversions don’t tell the whole story. Many mobile users are turning to their phones to browse products, compare prices and search for physical store locations as well.
Google research also reveals a “triple peak opportunity” on mobile. Data from the past two years show that UK mobile queries for top retail brand terms spike three times in the season of giving. The first peak arrives at the end of November with the last payday before Christmas. The second is in the final days before the holiday itself, and the third coincides with the kick-off of January sales. And this opportunity is growing. These kinds of search queries demonstrate 166% year-on-year growth.
Tablets and smartphones remain among the most desirable of gifts, so it’s worth remembering that mobile display advertising offers a chance for brands to engage with mobile owners from the day they take their new device out of the box. We’ve studied post-Christmas daily AdMob activity in the UK and know that impressions ramp up immediately after Christmas Eve, driven by the acquisition of new smartphones and tablets.
This doesn’t stop when Santa kicks off his boots. Once Christmas and Boxing Day are out of the way, post-holiday sales drive renewed online activity. Queries on mobile recover from the temporary lull more quickly than desktop. Search volumes of the top 1,000 commercial queries illustrate that in the week after Christmas, mobile queries increase 35%, while on desktop the rise is just 2%.
So what can you do to have a merry mobile Christmas? We’ve made a list of top tips for the season:
Remember that mobile is the link between online and offline shopping and design mobile sites and campaigns accordingly.
Align messaging across your TV, desktop, mobile and tablet advertising for maximum impact.
Optimise your search campaigns for mobile for greatest performance.
Activate the click-to-call and hyperlocal features in your mobile search ads. This will enable users to reach you easily and get locally-relevant information including distance and directions to find and navigate to your business.
AdMob’s latest targeting options allow you to serve ads specifically to newly activated mobiles. Use the network to engage users with your brand name, products and offers on their new devices.
Ensure mobile search and display campaigns have sufficient budgets over the Christmas holidays when mobile usage peaks.
Read our presentation on the research outlined here plus lots more insight on the power of mobile advertising at Christmas by clicking this link here.
Posted by Matt Brocklehurst,Product Marketing Manager
What happens when a community commits to mobilize together, over the course of three days? It sounds like a theoretical question, but thanks to Mobile, Alabama’s, hospitality and innovation we had the opportunity to find out. That’s how a clever play on words turned into Mobilizing Mobile--a three-day celebration of local community, small business and the mobile web.
Part of the GoMo initiative, Mobilizing, Mobile was an event where business owners of Mobile were invited to learn and take action in order to “Go Mobile” with a little help from Google, DudaMobile, and Mobify. The event kicked off at Space 301 where Mobile’s Mayor Sam Jones and Winn Hallett, President of Mobile’s Chamber of Commerce, welcomed Google to their city. Several of Mobile’s businesses including LuLu's at Homeport Marina talked about the importance of mobile and we unveiled the first two newly mobilized sites: Distinguished Young Women and the Festival of Flowers. That evening Red Square hosted an event for agencies where Jason Spero, Director of Google Mobile Ads, and Edward Bocches, Chief Innovation Officer at Mullen, spoke on the importance of mobile for ad agencies. The next day, the real mobilizing began as hundreds of business owners poured into Space 301 to create mobile-friendly versions of their websites, attend mobile business seminars, explore the Google expo and enjoy some delicious local fare. Check out the action in this quick recap video:
In just 48 hours, nearly 500 mobile-friendly websites were created and launched. You can see some great “Before and After” shots here. Over 400 businesses committed to "going mobile" by signing the GoMo Pledge and hundreds learned about how to grow their businesses with mobile and digital tools in classroom sessions. You can find more event highlights on the Mobilizing Mobile, AL recap pages on the GoMo website.
All Critters Pet Sitters, a pet sitting service in Mobile, AL decided to “Go Mo.” Here’s their site before (left) and after (right) their one-on-one consultation at Mobilizing, Mobile.
As we look ahead to next year (and beyond), mobile’s role in our lives will only continue to grow. We can look to Mobile, Alabama, for inspiration, as we watch how the sites created during Mobilizing Mobile affect consumers and businesses alike. And, for the rest of us, ‘tis the season for New Year’s resolutions!The commitment to ‘GoMo’ may be a good one to add to your list for next year. We’re looking forward to more Mo’ in other cities, and countries, in 2012. Posted by: Jesse Haines, Google Mobile Ads Marketing
With the rapid smartphone growth, it’s no surprise that consumers are downloading a huge number of apps--10 billion on Android alone, as of last week. Many app developers are recognizing the opportunity to develop on Android, including PrivacyStar, a small privacy services company offering smartphone users the ability to block unwanted calls from telemarketers via their mobile app. To help grow their business on Android, PrivacyStar looked to AdMob to drive quality downloads of their app.
PrivacyStar had used a variety of marketing channels to promote their app, including desktop display and television advertising. While successful, this initial acquisition strategy resulted in relatively high cost-per-acquisition (CPA), with downloads costing upwards of $5. Seeing the need to reach their audience while on specific smartphone devices and slash CPA, the PrivacyStar team decided to try in-app advertising across a number of mobile ad networks to drive users to download their app directly to their devices.
AdMob was able to deliver and quickly become their most effective channel of advertising. Other mobile ad networks struggled to maintain a low CPA as they grew on Android inventory. The team then began optimizing their advertising within other mobile apps on the AdMob network—informed by data from Google Analytics. App placements were limited to particular app categories to focus their audience and placements that didn’t meet the aggressive CPM targets were excluded. Within a month of these optimizations, cost per acquisition fell to less than $2, a fraction of their initial acquisition cost. Additionally, the quality of downloads that AdMob drove were far superior, with more users upgrading to a monthly subscription.
The success that PrivacyStar has achieved with AdMob and Google Analytics has them poised for continued growth on Android. For more details on PrivacyStar’s approach, check out the full case study.
