April 15, 2013
Worldwide advertising spending grew by 3.2% year-over-year in 2012 to reach $557 billion, per data from Nielsen's latest quarterly Global AdView Pulse report. After increasing by 2.7% in the first half of the year, ad spend heated up in Q3 to the tune of a 4.3% gain, before losing steam in Q4, increasing by 2.5%, the smallest gain of the year. For the full year, ad spending in North America grew by 4.6% (with the US' increase recently reported by Kantar Media to be at 3%), while Europeans cut spending by 4.2%. Read more »
April 11, 2013
Global advertising spend (based on trends in 12 major markets) will increase by 3% this year and 5.4% next year, predicts Warc [pdf] in a new forecast. However, taking into account forecast inflation provides a duller forecast for global ad spend growth, at just 0.6% this year and 2.4% in 2014. This year's 3% forecast growth (at current prices) follows from 3.8% estimated growth (also at current prices) last year, with the slowdown mainly due to political and Olympic dollars exiting the market this year along with continuing global economic concerns. Read more »
April 1, 2013
In-app purchases accounted for a new high of 76% of revenue in the Apple App Store for iPhone in February 2013, up from 53% in January of last year, according to [download page] a new report from Distimo. Breaking that down further, the study shows that 71% of revenue came from in-app purchases from free apps, while in-app purchases from paid apps generated another 5% share. Read more »
March 29, 2013
The battle for the US search market tends to be viewed in the context of how Yahoo-Bing is faring against Google, but on a global basis, Baidu's influence cannot be ignored. The search engine - which dominates the Chinese market to the tune of roughly 80% share - accounted for one quarter of all global search ad clicks in Q1, according to [download page] a new report from Covario. That compares to 7.2% share for Yahoo-Bing (and a solid 62% for Google). Read more »
March 21, 2013
Nielsen has just released a study detailing a correlation between Twitter buzz and TV ratings, but how many Americans follow social conversations related to TV content? According to one survey, from Motorola Mobility, the US lags developing countries such as China, Turkey, and the UAE in this practice. The survey found that across 12 countries examined, an average of 43% of respondents reported following social media conversations about a TV program on a companion mobile device while watching the program. But in the US, the average was 23%. Read more »
March 21, 2013
Budget conditions continue to improve this month, details Warc [pdf] in its latest Global Marketing Index. The budget component of the index improved to a reading of 52.4 this month from 51.7 in February, as Europeans recorded budget growth (50.5) for the first time since the index's beginning in October 2011. (A score above 50 indicates a generally improving environment, while a score below 50 indicates a generally declining environment.) Read more »
March 15, 2013
Almost three-quarters of multi-screen consumers across 5 major markets agree that advertising can be helpful in telling them about new products or brands that might interest them, according to [download page] results from a Microsoft Advertising survey conducted with Flamingo Research and Ipsos OTX. But while these consumers are open to advertising, they're more welcoming of ad content on some screens than others. The study finds that the 76% are open to advertising on TV, compared to 57% on computers and 51% on tablets. Read more »
March 8, 2013
An analysis of more than 100 billion visits to more than 1,000 websites across 8 major markets worldwide by Adobe Digital Index reveals that for the first time, tablet traffic exceeded smartphone traffic in February 2013 (8% and 7% of page views, respectively). Adobe attributes the result to higher engagement from tablet users, who view 70% more pages per visit than smartphone users, and notes that each country analyzed saw its share of tablet traffic double during 2012. Read more »
February 28, 2013
Nielsen has released a report [download page] called "The Mobile Consumer: A Global Snapshot," in which it examines device penetration, activities, and advertising across 10 countries. Among the findings, 24% of American smartphone users surveyed during Q2 2012 reported scanning a barcode or QR code in the previous 30 days. Of the selected commercial activities, that ranked behind mobile banking (38%) and location-based services/GPS (48%) in use, but far ahead of NFC/mobile wallet use (3%). Read more »
February 21, 2013
Budget conditions continue to improve this month, finds Warc in its latest Global Marketing Index. The budget component of the index improved to a reading of 51.7 this month, sustaining a rebound begun last month. (A score above 50 indicates a generally improving environment, while a score below 50 indicates a generally declining environment.) The budget index rose in each of the 3 regions tracked, with confidence highest in the Americas (55.5). Read more »
