At the 2012 Olympics we’re seeing new records set everyday, not only in athletic performance, but also in global search behavior.  It's clear that these are the first multi-screen Olympics, as users are engaging across TV, computers, smartphones and tablets, often at the same time!

And as users watch TV, or watch their laptops at work, they're searching for information about athletes, sports, events and records -  on their tablets and smartphones. In fact, at some moments during the Games, there have been more searches performed on tablets and smartphones than on computers.  We’ve seen large spikes in global mobile search volume during recent major sporting events, like the Super Bowl, and the Olympics certainly continued this trend - in its first week, Olympics related searches on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) grew by 10x from the previous week.

Mobile devices vault ahead

We’ve crunched some data from the past week, and the opening ceremony is a great illustration of how mobile devices have taken center stage. Fans turned to their smartphones and tablets to find more information about the incredible feats and celebrities that they saw on screen.

Below is one such example where searches for Paul McCartney surge in line with his performance of Hey Jude at the end of the opening ceremony. Whether watching the Olympics at home on TV or on a desktop livestream, or at a bar with friends, users  searched on one screen for things they saw happening on another screen. Comparing searches by device type, smartphone searches surged, and in the US, viewers were searching almost as much on their tablets as on their computers for Paul McCartney.

Global searches for Paul McCartney during local broadcasts of the Olympics opening ceremony (PST)

Mobile is global

The infographic below gives a snapshot of the percentage of total searches that occurred on smartphones and tablets during the first two days of the Games, for Olympics-related searches.

(click here to download infographic)

We see these trends in many multi-screen events (such as the Super Bowl, Oscars, and Eurovision) but the Olympics represents an even more pronounced trend and one we can see happening at a global level.

European countries showed especially high mobile search volume with most countries having one-third or more of their Olympics-related searches occurring on a tablet or smartphone. In some European countries this number was substantially higher - in the UK, 46% of Olympics searches happened on mobile.  In Asia, South Korea (36%) and Australia (45%) saw mobile search volume spikes, while Japan (55%) was at the front of the pack.

Surf, sand, towels...and tablets

As we examined global Olympics search share we noticed an interesting pattern emerge from island nations. On many of the islands that serve as popular tourist destinations, tablet search share was almost equal to smartphone, or in some cases even exceeded it. This is different from most other countries where smartphone search share is typically significantly higher than tablet.

A possible explanation? Large numbers of tablet-toting tourists on summer vacation. Tablets have emerged as an important way of staying informed and connected for travelers, as well as for finding local information.

Olympics Mobile and Tablet Search Share by Device for Several Island Nations

Olympic fever is a global phenomenon, and mobile searches are letting everyone get immediate information, in real time, about what’s happening moment by moment. We hope to have more insights into how people are using their mobile devices during the Games!

Posted by: Dai Pham & Adam Grunewald, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

As more and more consumers are looking to mobile for information on the go, creating a mobile site has become a top priority for business success. Mobile, AL has acted as a true trailblazer in the pursuit to Go Mobile by mobilizing as a community.

Rewind to November 2011, when the Mobile community committed to mobilize together and joined Google to celebrate local community, small business and the mobile web. At the three-day "Mobilize Mobile" event, we helped build 500 mobile-friendly websites for local businesses. The mobile sites helped improve sales and site traffic for many Mobile businesses.

GoMo returned this summer to host a workshop and educate Mobile businesses on how to keep mobilizing on their own by using the DudaMobile/Google free site builder tool. Developed specifically for GoMo users, the tool allows businesses to convert their current website into an easy to use mobile-friendly site that is hosted free for one year. Today, more Mobile businesses are empowered to now create their own mobile websites.

Check out highlights from Google’s most recent trip to Mobile and learn how you too can mobilize your business.




It’s time to GoMo!

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

Cross-posted on the Politics and Elections Blog


Earlier this year, we introduced “Four Screens to Victory”, a framework for political campaigns that outlined how Google can help make the web work for candidates and issues groups up and down the ballot. With these digital platforms, campaigns can build their organizations, define the issues, persuade the electorate and - importantly - get the vote out and win the moment that matters in November on Election Day.

Access to political information no longer comes from one place - or one screen. In just the four years since the last presidential election, the continued growth of the web and the proliferation of mobile devices has radically transformed when, where, and how voters access political information. 

The numbers are in, and savvy political campaigns need to take notice. The rules of reaching voters have changed and new approaches are warranted because: 

• More than 80% of eligible voters are online
• Similarly, 83% of mobile phone owners are registered voters
• 1 out of every 3 likely voters in November say that they didn’t watch tv in the past week
• Voters are spending more media time on their mobile devices than newspapers & magazines combined

(Click the infographic below to get a larger version)

If you’re as inspired as we are by some of the data and the implications on your own political campaign, check out the“Four Screens to Victory” site to spark some ideas of your own and see how you can make the web work for your campaign. 

Posted by: David Kaufman, Google Politics & Elections Team

Smartphone game Fishing Joy has become a wild success for Chinese mobile game developer Chukong Co., Inc, driving over 80 million downloads to date and earning revenues of over 5 million yuan in just the first 3 months of release. In order to make the app successful, Chukong used click-to-download AdMob ads to promote game downloads while generating revenue from serving AdMob in-app ads on Fishing Joy. AdMob’s click-to-download ad format allowed Chukong to send users who clicked on their ad directly to the App Store, reducing the number of steps to download the app and thereby increasing conversions.

Chukong also took advantage of AdMob’s latest feature which blocks advertisements from users who have already downloaded Fishing Joy, displaying them only to those who have not, improving marketing efficiency and reducing promotional costs.  By using AdMob to promote the app to smartphone users as well as run in-game ads to make money, AdMob provided an all-around solution for both promotion and monetization.

“Due to the increasing number of game developers and ‘knock-offs,’ the success of mobile phone games increasingly relies on marketing and promotion,” says Chen Haozhi, CEO of Chukong. “The key is in the selection and use of the right promotional channels. We chose to make a significant investment in AdMob. Currently, only AdMob can assure developers that they will have predictable promotional costs. Plus, AdMob provides excellent return on investment.”

From May to September of 2011, Chukong invested 70% of its promotional budget in AdMob. With AdMob’s help, Chukong:

• Ranked as the number one free download in iTunes in 33 countries and as the top grossing app in 18 countries in just 112 days after release
• Attracted over 80 million downloads and 4.5 million daily active users to-date
• Grew company from 30 to 200 employees
• Attracted ¥ 100 million in foreign financial backing
• Reduced promotional costs and increased efficiency by targeting only potential new users
• Acquired new users for as little as 10 cents per user

For Chukong, AdMob has helped overcome the challenges surrounding paid software promotion models in China. In 2012, Chukong expects to invest more than $1 million (US) in AdMob to continue to reel in more customers.

For more information, read the full case study here.

Posted by Kevin Otsuka, APAC Mobile Ads Associate Product Marketing Manager

Many businesses are realizing the importance of a mobile-friendly site and need help finding a trusted vendor to help them build one. GoMo's vendor directory has provided this information to businesses looking to go mobile -- and now, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has developed a more robust way to help businesses find the right vendor for their mobile site building needs. This new resource is designed to help the entire industry: businesses, agencies, and marketers.

As such, Google has sunsetted our US vendor directory. We'll no longer be managing and hosting a GoMo vendor directory; instead, we’re connecting businesses with the IAB’s Mobile Vendor Directory, which includes the vendors that were in the GoMo directory and many more. Check it out.

If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a vendor directory member, visit the IAB: http://www.iab.net/mobilevendors.

Happy mobilizing!

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

Smartphones and tablets are changing how people shop for goods and services. More than ever, consumers have near constant access to information from their mobile devices. This global trend opens up new opportunities for businesses to influence purchasing decisions -- at anytime or place, at home or on the go.

To help businesses reach customers while they’re shopping, today we’re launching our new Google Shopping experience, built on Product Listing Ads, for tablets and smartphones in the United States. Just like on desktop computers, Google Shopping for mobile makes it easier for your customers to find and compare different products. Product images enable shoppers to make quick visual comparisons while browsing products. Search refinements, now on tablet devices, help to surface the brands, features and price point they want, so shoppers can easily buy the product they want from the merchant of their choice.

 

We designed this new shopping experience to fit naturally with the activities people love to do on their smartphones and tablets. For example, tablets are largely used at home, and often while watching TV. In fact, more than a third of tablet owners surveyed said they used tablets to look up products they saw on the big screen at home1. These consumers are making more and more purchases on their tablets. We see similar trends amongst smartphone owners. Our recent Our Mobile Planet research found that one third of Americans (34%) have made a purchase on their smartphones2, and across all global markets surveyed in the study, 62% of people who’ve made a mobile purchase do so at least on a monthly basis.

Product Listing Ads can be set up in AdWords, after you’ve linked your Merchant Center account. To ensure that mobile and tablet shoppers can view your Product Listing Ads, make sure that your campaigns are targeting mobile and tablet devices with full browsers.

To help online merchants drive sales across smartphones and tablets, as well as desktop computers, we’re offering some incentives:

• Both new and existing merchants who create Product Listing Ads by August 15, 2012 will automatically receive a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend through the end of 2012; and
• Existing Google Product Search merchants who are new to Product Listing Ads can receive $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they fill out a form before August 15, 2012.

Learn more how to get started with Google Shopping across smartphones, tablets or desktop computers, visit: www.google.com/ads/shopping


Posted by Anurag Agrawal, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

(1) “State of the Media”, Nielsen, April 2012
(2) Our Mobile Planet, Google, 2012

Last week, La Fourchette (http://m.lafourchette.com) won Google France’s first annual French Mobile Site of the year competition. This competition, organized in partnership with french business media Les Echos and the Mobile Marketing Association France, rewarded the best mobile optimized sites in France.

La Fourchette, an online service that enables its customers to find deals in local restaurants, meets the 10 mobile site best practices defined in the GoMo initiative. Now available in 14 different countries throughout the world, GoMo aims to show the importance of having a mobile-friendly site to help connect with customers and increase sales. Reserving a restaurant through La Fourchette is done only with a few clicks thanks to an efficient geo-localization system.

The mobile site of La Fourchette - winner in the Media & Local category & Mobile site of the year

(http://m.lafourchette.com)

The jury, co-chaired by Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux (President of OMEA-TELECOM Virgin Mobile), Benoit Corbin (President of the Mobile Marketing Association France) and David Barroux (Editor in chief, Les Echos) awarded the 10 companies that won the category prizes. 'La Fourchette' also won the category prize for Media & Local. 9 other businesses were rewarded for their outstanding mobile websites:

• AUTO: Renault (http://m.renault.fr) by Phonevalley agency
• RETAIL: Interflora (http://mobile.interflora.fr/) by Useradgents agency
• ENTERTAINMENT: PMU (http://mobile.pmu.fr) by Useradgents agency
• MEDIA & LOCAL: La Fourchette (http://m.lafourchette.com) built internally
• PUBLISHERS: Marie Claire (http://m.marieclaire.fr) by MC2M agency
• FINANCE & INSURANCE: Assurland (http://assurland.mobi) built internally
• FMCG: Clarins (http://m.clarins.fr) by Ecommera agency
• PUBLIC SECTOR: GDF Suez (http://gdfsuez-dolcevita.mobi) by Backelite agency
• TECHNO: SFR (http://m.sfr.fr) by Nealite agency
• TRAVEL: Citer (http://m.citer.fr) by Apocope agency

In parallel with the competition, any company without a mobile site could enter a game to win a grant to help them develop one. The French insurance company, Amaguiz, was the lucky winner of the draw held on June 27th.

Les Echos, the Mobile Marketing Association France and Google France partnered to launch this first contest of its kind in France. This joint effort underlines our will to mobilize French advertisers, on the challenges and opportunities of the mobile web. France, just like so many other countries, is seeing strong mobile growth, which a lot of companies are still not aware of. This initiative perfectly fits the core message of our worldwide initiative ‘Go Mobile’ - in France, 48% of smartphone users surf the web more than once everyday*.

To learn more about how to mobilize your site, check out our French GoMo initiative Mobilisez-vous or GoMo in the US.

Posted by: Benjamin Quesnel, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google France

* Ipsos, MMA, Google, “Our Mobile Planet”, 2012