Covid-19 is Boosting Mobile Use, and These Apps Are Taking the Lion’s Share
With many social options put on hold, people find solace in retail therapy. Between April 2019 to 2020, the cost to acquire a user who completes a first purchase in a shopping app has decreased by more than half (50.6%), compared to the same period in 2018. Similarly, the cost to acquire a registration ($8.76) has dropped nearly 40%.
Plus, with a 40% increase in purchase engagement year-on-year — and 110% increase over two years — it’s clear conditions are positive for marketers to reach and engage a highly motivated, high-value audience.
Mobile is Our “Cure for Boredom.” What Does That Mean for Marketers?
A recent survey by mobile app ad firm Digital Turbine found that more than a quarter of consumers open their phones more than 75% of the time without a specific app in mind. Digital Turbine Matt Tubergen checked in with Street Fight to share how mobile app marketers can reach mobile users and the discovery tools those people are seeking.
Publishers Create a Lag In the In-App Ad Market By Ignoring New Standards
For more than a year now, we have seen trend data that indicates massive mobile in-app programmatic spend growth, with in-app video leading the way. Our own numbers confirm these trends.
This is a seeming slam dunk for app publishers, but many of them are dragging their feet to take advantage of the new revenue opportunity. Notably, they are not implementing quality measures like app-ads.txt or the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK that brands are looking for. Both of these standards benefit publishers as much as they benefit brands and indicate a commitment to quality in-app inventory. It’s important to get out in front and show proactive initiatives as buyers decide with whom to trade and how.
The Pivot Stuck: Video Ads Dominate App Revenue
Digital marketing journalists touted the pivot to video so incessantly that mention of it after a certain point sparked obligatory mea culpas. Redundant as the proclamations may have proved, fresh data from mobile ad firm AdColony suggests those who heralded video as the future of digital advertising have been vindicated.
Heard on the Street, Episode 42: Building an ‘Appnostic’ World, with Mobile Posse
As much as we love computing, the best technology is that which disappears. Most components of computing are an abstraction layer that stands between you and a given task or experience. That’s the case with layers of the typical consumer tech stack including operating systems, inputs, and apps.
App fatigue is the problem that Mobile Posse, the latest guest on Street Fight’s Heard on the Street podcast, is endeavoring to reform. The company’s Firstly Mobile platform replaces the app-heavy paradigm with a more curated, personal, and ‘appnostic’ front end to reduce the distance between users and quality content.
Phone-as-a-Service?
It’s becoming clear that we’re headed toward a new vision for our devices: the Phone as a Service (PaaS). Yes, sounds crazy, but look at the parallels between your phone and how/why other “X”s have become services:
X-as-a-service (XaaS) is delivery of X directly via the internet, eliminating the need to use and manage multiple and independent solutions on locally hosted devices, right? So, PaaS is the delivery of personalized media via the phone, eliminating the need to use and manage multiple and independent, locally hosted apps. We’re already seeing that happen.
Heard on the Street, Episode 30: The Art of Digital Persuasion, with Jeff Hasen, Part II
Amid accelerated disruption in digital media, consumer touch points continue to fragment. That includes a growing list of interfaces and delivery channels for content—everything from smartphones to watches to headphones and speakers. So what’s a marketer to do?
This is the topic of Jeff Hasen’s third and most recent book, The Art of Digital Persuasion, which we discuss with the author on the latest episode of the Heard on the Street Podcast. In addition to marketing tactics, Hasen brings other sorts of savoir-faire to the table as a journalist and ad agency exec.
Heard on the Street, Episode 26: The Art of Digital Persuasion, with Jeff Hasen
Amid accelerated disruption in digital media, consumer touch points continue to fragment. That includes a growing list of interfaces and delivery channels for content—everything from smartphones to watches to headphones and speakers. So what’s a marketer to do?
This is the topic of Jeff Hasen’s third and most recent book, The Art of Digital Persuasion, which we discuss with the author on the latest episode of the Heard on the Street Podcast. In addition to lots of marketing tactics, Hasen has also learned a lot in a career that includes work as both a journalist and an ad agency exec.
Reimagining the Mobile Banner: In-App Ad Innovation Spares Brands from Google’s Interstitial Pinch
The future of our work is about designing smarter ways to reach users, so we need to focus on ways to drive engagement, not distraction. And that means finding subtle things that trigger the meaningful interactions. This isn’t 1999; we’re not building banners for last century’s desktop.
So, as January 10 approaches, let’s look at some creative models from the app side of the table
Apps Continue to Battle, But the Mobile Web May Be Catching Up
With a shift to mobile websites, most mobile marketing dynamics will remain, although implementation for sites versus apps will be more than nuanced. Mobile search is already undergoing shifts, and listings management must take into account the role of the mobile platforms, maps, and, probably, Amazon.
6 Reasons Why Hyperlocal Tech Initiatives Continue to Elude Consumers
Hyperlocal is a totally logical concept in the minds of technologists, analysts, and investors, but many hyperlocal tech initiatives have yet to catch fire with consumers. Part of the challenge is people are creatures of habit. Here are six reasons why hyperlocal tech will continue to elude consumers’ grasp in 2016.
Editor’s Take: The Apps vs. Browser Debate Is a Distraction
The venerable apps vs. mobile web debate continues to rage on but it is largely a distraction for local merchants. Business owners do need to understand the changing media landscape to make the most effective possible use of their limited marketing budgets, but their time and their dollars are better spent on marketing fundamentals rather than investing in the increasingly difficult and crowded race to acquire, retain, and monetize app users.
Street Fight Daily: Thumbtack Is Now a Unicorn, Amazon Leverages Existing On-Demand Workforce
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Thumbtack Becomes Latest Unicorn, Raises $125 Million at $1.25 Billion Valuation (Forbes)… Amazon Taps ‘On-Demand’ Workers for One-Hour Deliveries (Wall Street Journal)… Walmart Doubles Down on Online Grocery Shopping with Curbside Pickup (TechCrunch)…
Report: Mobile Context and Location Services Market to Reach $43.3 Billion by 2019
The mobile context and location services market is set to reach $43.3 billion by 2019, according to a new report. That’s up from an estimated $12.2 billion in 2014. The report also found that by 2019, more than two-thirds of revenues will be driven through highly targeted and contextually aware ad-supported apps…
How to Ensure Your Mobile App Is ADA-Compliant
Federal courts have dictated that all mobile applications in the U.S. need to be accessible to those with disabilities, thanks to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Given these rulings and the 56 million people with disabilities in the U.S., you need to make sure your app complies with the law.