FSIs

In light of recent data from comScore suggesting that a majority of display ads go unseen (at least per the 3MS standard for 50% of pixels in-view for at least a second), it's worth taking a look at viewability benchmarks according to PointRoll's latest benchmark report [pdf]. Covering 2012 activity, the data shows that viewability rates were lowest on shopping and auction (34.3%) and ad network (36.7%) sites, and highest on employment (68.5%), news (67%) and music and streaming media (66.1%) sites. Read more »

SMS messages achieve a high response rate across industries, and much of that engagement occurs in the first 15 minutes, finds Dynmark [download page] in a new study. Derived from an analysis of almost a billion SMS transactions through 1,500 networks across 42 mobile operating systems and a multitude of countries, the data reveals that the finance and banking and travel and transport sectors garner quick responses, with 57% and 54% of their responses, respectively, coming in the first 15 minutes. Read more »

About 2 in 3 in-stream video ad impressions come from 4 advertiser categories, according to [pdf] a new study from Google DoubleClick. Looking at video ads served on DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) and the Ad Exchange between March 2012 and March 2013, Google reveals that automotive (19%), retail (18%), technology (17%) and CPG (14%) brands led all others, with these categories chiefly the realm of large advertisers seeking branding opportunities. And it looks like that trend isn't going away: 2 in 5 video ad impressions in Q1 came from advertisers new to digital video, with the majority of those being large brand advertisers. Read more »

E-commerce sites exceeded the threshold of excellence in customer satisfaction last year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, and new data from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) confirms that online merchants are providing worthy experiences to visitors. Across 16 industry segments examined in the BCG study, online merchants came in second with a "digital satisfaction score" of 11.8, putting them squarely in the bucket of leaders who are best able to satisfy their consumers' expectations. Close behind, media retailers, with a score of 11.1. Read more »

Socialbakers has released its latest "Socially Devoted" figures for Q1, and the results are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the average response rate grew 6% points quarter-over-quarter to 38%, after only improving by 4% points in the preceding 6 months. But on the other hand, that means that significantly fewer than half of questions posted to brands' Twitter profiles were answered. What's more, the average response time increased by 10%, from 6 hours in Q4 2012 to more than 6-and-a-half hours in Q1. Read more »

The mobile marketing ecosystem is demonstrating rapid growth, with $6.7 billion spent by client-side marketers and retailers in 2012, according to [download page] a study commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and conducted by researchers at Columbia University. That investment should grow to $10.5 billion this year before ballooning to $19.8 billion in 2015, with close to half of that ($9.2 billion) coming from mobile advertising alone. Read more »

58% of national brand advertising campaigns employed geo-precise targeting (including geo-fencing and geo-behavioral targeting) in Q1, according to a new report from xAd. That's more than double the 27% from a year earlier, as the proportion using standard geo-targeting dropped from 64% to 40%. Still, fewer advertisers used geo-precise targeting in Q1 than in Q4 2012. That's because some campaigns benefit more than others from such targeting, and Q4 saw more campaigns seeking to leverage the benefits of geo-targeting to promote their holiday and Black Friday promotions. Read more »

87% of Mass Affluents (current investors with $100,000 - $1 million in assets, excluding the value of their homes) have used social media in the past year, with about three-quarters using Facebook, half using LinkedIn, and roughly one-quarter on Twitter, per results [download page] from a study conducted by LinkedIn in partnership with Cogent Research. Almost 40% of Mass Affluents report using social media for discovery (21%) or consideration (32%) of financial companies: interestingly, they're more likely to learn about financial information through an ad or brand content than through an individual. Read more »

Consumers are increasingly turning to social media for their servicing needs, and brands are steadily becoming more responsive to their inquiries. According to Socialbakers' latest quarterly "Socially Devoted" report, brands responded to 60% of questions posed to them on Facebook during Q1, up from 55% the previous quarter, and almost double the 30% from Q2 2012. That increased responsiveness came amidst an increase in questions asked by fans. Read more »

Smartphone and tablets owners are extremely reliant on their devices when researching local products and services, per new data [download page] from xAd and Telmetrics. The second annual US Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study reveals that 46% use their device exclusively as their primary or default tool aiding their local purchase decisions, with the remainder leveraging other media sources such as the PC. Additionally, half use their device at the beginning of the research process, and one-third use their device throughout the purchase process. Read more »