The presence of social media in a purchase path proves to drive higher value orders, in terms of revenue per order, than natural and paid search combined, according to [download page] a study released in February 2012 by ClearSaleing. Examining more than 56 billion impressions, 2.7 billion clicks, and $13 billion in revenue through an array of channels from January 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011, the study found that a conversion occurring after social media exposure delivered more than $280 per order, compared to less than $100 per order for natural search, and more than double the average order size across all digital channels, of $135.37. Read More »

57% of Americans who watch TV say they always notice advertising on the medium, while a further 40% say they sometimes notice ads, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International in partnership with Better Homes and Gardens. Magazines are next, with 30% of readers always noticing ads in this medium, and an additional 56% noticing them sometimes.
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22% of mobile owners used their device during the Super Bowl to watch a TV ad again, while 17% searched for more information about a product they saw advertised, according to a February 2012 survey from InMobi. Users performed a number of other activities directly related to the game or commercials, including downloading a Super Bowl application (27%), discussing the game (23%), and discussing commercials (16%). Read More »

Facebook ad budgets grew 109% month-over-month in Q4 2011, according to February 2012 data from Kenshoo, which analyzed 100 billion ads delivered on Facebook worldwide by its customers through Kenshoo Social. And while the company notes that some of the growth can be attributed to seasonality, the increase in global Facebook ad budgets compared well to search channels like Google, Bing, and Yahoo which, in aggregate, saw paid search ad budget growth of 27% globally on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
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The CPG channel was the leader in online video ad spending in 2011, according to [pdf] statistics from online ad server YuMe released in February 2012, which found that the channel accounted for 24% of spending in 2011 overall and 25% of spending in Q4 2011. Health/Pharma was the number two category in terms of ad spend in 2011, at 16%, although it challenged CPG for top billing in Q4 (23%). Other leading categories were telecom (13% in 2011, including 12% in Q4), financial services (7% in Q4 and 2011 overall), entertainment (6% in 2011, but just 3% in Q4), and retail (5% in 2011, and 6% in Q4). Read More »

Pinterest now drives more referral traffic (3.6%) than YouTube (1.05%), Google+ (0.22%), and LinkedIn (0.2%) combined, according to Shareaholic’s January 2012 Referral Traffic Report. Pinterest grew 44% from 2.5% of referral traffic in December 2011, after owning just 0.17% of the traffic in July 2011. Facebook remained the top referral source, growing 3% month-over-month from 25.6% to 26.4%. StumbleUpon also maintained its second ranking, though it dropped 22% from 6.5% to 5.07%.
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Facebook advertising revenue reached $3.15 billion in 2011, representing an increase of almost 69% from $1.87 billion in 2010, and more than tripling from $764 million in 2009, according to the February 2012 prospectus it filed in conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO).

The $3.15 billion in advertising revenue equaled 85% of the social network’s $3.71 billion in 2011 revenues, with the remaining $557 million derived from payments and other fees revenue, more than quadruple the $106 million derived from those sources in 2010. The proportion of 2011 revenue accounted for by advertising was down from 95% (of $1.97 billion) in 2010 and 98% (of $777 million) in 2009. Read More »

Although both iPad and Amazon Kindle traffic on the Jumptap network grew over the 2011 holidays, the Kindle Fire jumped from 10% share of traffic at the beginning of December to 30% share heading into the New Year, according to a Jumptap report released in February 2012, which also found that iPad’s share of traffic fell 25% from 59% to 44% during that period. Overall tablet traffic soared 229% over an average projected for the day after Christmas, based on historical network traffic, while the day after New Year also saw a 263% boost in traffic.
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The top medium of choice for clients in Q4 2011 was spot TV (broadcast and cable), reported by 51% of agencies, according to a survey released in January 2012 by STRATA. Digital was second, cited by 31% of agencies, down 9% from Q3, followed by spot radio (8%). Spot TV (broadcast) continues to be an area of interest, with 28% of those surveyed saying they are more focused on it than a year ago, up 12% from Q4 2010. Read More »

The benefit of increased downloads outweighs the loss in price when an application is put on sale in the Apple App Store for iPad, the Apple App Store for iPhone, and the Google Android Market, according to a report released in January 2012 by Distimo. The report, which measured the revenue effects per day for the top 100 top grossing applications in any category that cut their price in the US, found that on the first day of the sale, the average revenue per app increased by 41% in the Apple App Store for iPhone, while the revenue during the whole sale (maximum of 15 days) rose 22%. Read More »