Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Radio's Mobile Opportunity Is Now

Nielsen says that more than 90% of adults listen to the radio each week. Yes, it might be more and more via app or streamed over a computer, but the ears are there regardless. How come the majority of stations and groups fail to grasp mobile as a way to engage in 2015 and beyond?

The radio action plan for 2016? Start by building a mobile loyalty club. Increase time spent listening. Sell advertising with mobile calls to action using your shortcode. Get with the program.

Hard? Hardly.

There are more mobile subscriptions in the world (7.4 billion per Ericsson) than people (7.3 billion per the United Nations).

Google Wallet now lets you text money to your contacts.

1.4 billion people around the world will use mobile phone messaging apps this year, per eMarketer.

46.5% of online shoppers will pick up in store or ship to store this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation.

Shoppers who use digital spend 33% in store: Point Inside. One more from the same source -- for pre-planning, 82% of shoppers use retail apps outside the store.

Only 9% of Facebook users worldwide say they're interested in using buy buttons on the site, eMarketer reported.

The average age of nightly news viewers is 61, CBS says. The average age for cable news is almost 70.

21% of Americans now report that they go online “almost constantly” – Pew.

Tweet from Sarah Silverman: “We have our differences but we all take our smartphones in with us to poop one leg at a time.”

For first time ever, the year's most popular @YouTube #video ads were viewed more on #mobile than desktop: Marketing Land.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Where "Mobile Addicts" Turn 60 Times A Day

Despite unfettered access to the mobile web, 280 million smartphone users around the world turn to an app or apps at least 60 times a day, Flurry reported. The top category is messaging, followed by utilities, games, finance and news and magazines. Certainly Facebook’s popularity is a big part of this story.

On Disneyland's 60th birthday, it’s important to note how innovative Disney remains. It’s MagicBands, used by tens of millions of park visitors, show how consumers will give up their location in exchange for value – shorter lines, faster restaurant reservations, and more. Much more on this is in my The Art of Mobile Persuasion book.

Spam has fallen below 50% of all email for the first time since 2003, per Symantec.

On mobile, the average viewing session on YouTube is more than 40 minutes, up more than 50% year-over-year.

One-in-3 parents say they've had concerns or questions about a child's tech use, according to Pew. I would’ve guessed the number to be significantly higher.

Also, Pew told us that 47% of parents on Facebook are friends with their children.

Angry Birds 2 will launch on Apple's iOS at month’s end. My soon to be 86-year-old mother in law will be among first to get this.

A gentleman likely in his 60s, who was wearing an Apple Watch, approached me recently in a mall. "I see you are wearing an Apple Watch. Have you been able to figure yours out?" I told him, "Not really". His watch was given to him by his son, who works for Apple.

Google confirmed a buy button is coming soon to mobile search results.

More Google news – it introduced Eddystone, an open source, cross-platform Bluetooth LE beacon format.

Nine of 10 always keep their mobile device within arm’s distance, IBM reported.

While the number of apps used has been flat for two years, the time spent on apps has risen 63%, Nielsen said.

Companies that weren’t ready for the over-hyped Mobilegeddon lost up to 10% of traffic: Adobe.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - A Reality Check On The Dollars Spent On Mobile

In the midst of an important trend-identifying presentation at last week’s Integrated Marketing Week event in New York, an audience member tweeted that mobile will soon eclipse television in U.S. advertising spend.

I and most others disagree, given the scale that television brings even today (and for many tomorrows to come), plus a general reluctance from traditional marketers and media buyers to make a large bet on mobile so soon given issues of measurement, attribution and unproven (to some degree) return on investment.

However, several important stats were offered by a Google executive about YouTube. Among them:

-           On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more 18-34 year olds than any cable network

-           50% of global viewership on YouTube comes via mobile. Plus, viewership is growing 50% year over year

-           Millennials are 2 times more focused on video on mobile than online

-           Over 500 years of video are shared every day on YouTube

The television ad spend for 2015 was forecast to be a leading 40% of the overall $187 billion, according to Strategy Analytics. Mobile advertising was projected to grow 20% this year to reach $7.4 billion.

For the first time, U.S. advertisers will spend more on mobile search than desktop search, according to eMarketer. Mobile is forecast to become dominant in 2016 and 2017, with the spend more than 2 to 1 two years from now.

Mobile usage during shopping trips in the U.S. drives $970 billion in brick-and-mortar sales: Deloitte.

More than 7 in 10 mobile ad dollars are spent in apps this year, per eMarketer.

Mobile ads boost physical store visits by 80 percent in first day of viewing: NinthDecimal.

I learned that TGI Friday’s ran an America's Next App contest. No, not a mobile app. An appetizer. Duh.

Mobile data usage is 16% more for Hispanics in the U.S. than non-Hispanics, Nielsen reports.

An average of 8,796 photos are uploaded to Snapchat every second.

The average iPhone user has 119 apps, according to Apple.

Some of Apple's first partners for its new News app: CNN, Condé Nast, ESPN, Hearst, The New York Times, Time Inc., and Bloomberg.

I see the value of Periscope but a view of letting people in to Apple’s WWDC developer conference in California? Who cares? Shots of the grass browning weren't available?

65% of the U.S. mobile population does not use their mobile device for banking activities: comScore.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Keeping "Modern Family" Modern

ABC’s ‘Modern Family’ shot an episode using only an iPhone and iPad. The attention for the Feb. 25 airing has been significant and, as the Associated Press wrote, keeps “Modern Family” modern.

Mobile now accounts for more than 60% of all digital media time spent: comScore.

Swatch is reportedly working on a smartwatch you'll never need to charge.

90% of YouTube mobile views are less than 5 minutes.

Nearly 50 percent of consumers used a mobile phone to make a purchase in 2014, up from 30 percent two years earlier, per PwC.

By 2016, Deloitte says, mobile will be responsible for as much as 21 percent of in-store spending, or $752 billion.

Seeing someone use the "word" phygital on Twitter is grounds for an unfollow.

Staples reports that 30% of iOS sales are now driven through Apple Pay.

I’ve needed 50 shades to block eyes of 50 Shades tweets and headlines.

Is it too much to expect a conference that focuses on personalization to stop sending you invites to register weeks after you've done so?

New York Times C.E.O. Mark Thompson said the following at the Code/Media conference: “The battle will be won on the smartphone”.

The U.S. Treasury will now accept PayPal.

The NBC iPhone and iPad app has been updated to include live streaming in some markets.

There have been lots of “mobile malware on the rise” headlines. Can you name one person who did something because of it? Nor can I.

Flip phones are selling again– in Japan.

Decades after "hold the pickles, hold the lettuce”, Burger King is delivering on personalization through mobile.

46% of mobile device owners will shop elsewhere if a mobile site or app fails to load within 3 seconds, according to 451 Research.

REI’s Jeff Klonkowsi is one of the thought-leaders I interviewed for my upcoming book. Smart guy. Here’s what the director of digital retail, mobile and business development said last week at eTail West 2015:  “If we’re standing still, someone is going to eat our lunch, and we need to be aware of that.” 

Welcome To The Olympics - Just Don't Be Social

With billion-dollar and exclusive usage rights in place, the Olympic Games have always been about big money and feverishly policed by lawyers on behalf of brands, content owners and media giants. But the advent of mobile and social — which allow us all to mash up content the way we like and share it with anyone using YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other properties — make me question whether anyone (even high-powered lawyers) can hold back the tide.

The advance of user-generated content and consumers’ assumption that they are in control of their content and experiences has huge implications for the London Games — and the brands lining up to get mileage out of the event.

Seeking to prevent guerilla tactics from non-Olympic Games’ sponsors, the International Olympic Committee has decided to restrict precisely how athletes can transmit photos and other information to networks and the wider world.

Yes, you read this right.

The IOC has introduced The Olympic Athletes’ Hub, which it says will include the verified social media feeds of more than 1,000 current and former Olympians. According to Mashable, this destination will post content directly from athletes’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, and incorporate a gamification layer incentivizing fans to interact with the site. Users will be able to access exclusive training-tips videos and gain virtual and real-world prizes according to how many athletes they like and follow online.

Significantly, athletes will not be allowed to tweet photos of themselves with products that aren’t those of the official Olympics sponsors. They are also not permitted to share photos or videos from inside the athletes’ village.

Amazingly, the restrictions don’t only apply to the athletes. Fans who are ticketholders are also barred from sharing photos and videos of themselves during Games’ action via Facebook and YouTube.

The crackdown is largely linked to a pair of new and stringent brand-protecting acts passed in the U.K. in preparation for the Games. (By way of background — and via the Guardian — the pieces of legislation are the 2006 London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act, and the 1995 Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act.)

I have a long history with the Olympics, first as a reporter (Los Angeles 1984), and later as a brand marketer (Atlanta 1996, Nagano 1998, and Salt Lake City 2002). Traditionally, the national and international Olympic organizations have been aggressive (and successful) in seeking to prevent non-sponsors from associating with the Games. But that was before smartphones and tablets. Will these new measures stem the tide of user-generated content and activity? Don’t bet on it. Instead, expect to see ‘bootleg’ footage and content from people at the Games. And watch the Olympic lawyers come after brands and individuals who violate these new rules.

The upshot? The Olympics aren’t the only games we will be watching this summer. While it might seem easier for companies (and people) to get around large sponsorship fees by harnessing user-generated content and content created by companies that are not official sponsors, be prepared for a tussle as rights owners struggle to lock down content and distribution in an age where mobile has changed the idea of ownership forever.

(post first appeared on mobilegroove.com http://www.mobilegroove.com/london-olympic-games-crack-down-hard-on-social-me...