Last month, 46 percent of adults surveyed said they are now smartphone owners, according to Pew’s findings. This represents an 11 percent growth in the past nine months. Not surprising is that the numbers are higher for young adults, ages 18 to 35. What the Nielsen study revealed is when age and income are both taken into account, those between the ages of 55 and 64 who make more than $100,000 a year are almost as likely to carry a smartphone as those in the 35-44 age bracket making less than $75,000. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

As mobile usage increases and smartphone adoption continues on its charted growth path, we’ll continue to see consumers using their mobile phones for functions other than making calls like accessing social networking sites or playing games. That’s good news for app developers and businesses that are increasing their social and mobile presence across various networks to engage this growing audience.

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Gillian Heltai, comScore’s senior director, presented new search data showing that while local search is still growing, its trajectory is slowing down. She broke search into online and mobile.

Year over year, online search grew 9 percent online to 19.3 billion searches in Sepatember 2011. Of these searches, 2.8 billion are local. 10 percent of U.S. online display ads are locally targeted. IYP/local searches declined 20 percent while local Web searches increased 9 percent. Only 3 percent to 4 percent of searches are paid clicks; the rest are organic searches.

Heltai said there’s a perfect storm for local based services in mobile media of search, GPS-capable devices and smartphone penetration. Seventy-five percent of mobile subscribers have a GPS-capable device, an annual increase of 11 percent. More people are doing more mobile searches. Mobile search grew 26 percent with 39 percent doing at least one mobile search per month.

Overall, 88 million mobile subscribers accessed local content on mobile device in September 2011, up 28 percent. More than 88 million (up from 69 million) accessed local content. Forty percent of all mobile users access local content; 75 percent of smartphone users do.

As smartphone/GPS-cable devices increase their penetration,the growth of local mobile search will stimulate mobile advertising growth. One-third of mobile media users recalled seeing ad.

Heltai concluded by observing that while consumers clearly are moving into mobile search in a big way, small and medium businesses are becoming overwhelmed by their range of advertising choices. They need to understand not just that mobile search is where their consumers are; they also need to be shown how to engage with their consumers on this high-growth platform.

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Internet Yellow Pages sites saw a modest 5.1 percent boost in usage over the past year, according to new data from comScore and the Local Search Association, detailed in a press release and webinar today. That’s the good news for directory publishers.

The more concerning, if not entirely surprising, datapoint for the Yellow Pages industry is that just 7 percent of consumers choose IYP first when conducting a local search, with 74 percent choosing a search portal (Google, Bing, etc.), and 9 percent preferring a local search portal (e.g., Google Maps). IYPs fared better as a second choice, with 23 percent indicating that they would turn to an IYP if their first local search choice was unsuccessful. These figures are further indication of the degree to which IYPs are dependent on search engines as traffic originators.

Notably, among those who do choose IYPs first, 58 percent indicate that the recognition and reputation of the publisher’s brand was the primary reason for their preference for IYPs. By contrast, those who indicated other sites as their first choice tended to cite “speed/accuracy” (58 percent) or “convenience” (60 percent) as the reason.

One explanation for the huge difference in first choice preference was that search engines tended to facilitate searches high in the purchase funnel, at the information gathering stage, while IYPs continue to specialize in low purchase funnel activity, where the consumer is close to or at the purchase decision.

ComScore data from January 2011 show 13 percent of searches on the top-five search portals are local in nature. The broad category of IYP/local search sites together grew by 15 percent to 5.6 billion searches; however, that category is dominated by Google Maps. Growth for the IYP component alone was the more modest 5 percent.

The biggest story however, is the explosive growth of mobile, and as a key subplot, the growth of apps as an avenue for mobile local search. ComScore says 77.1 million mobile subscribers are accessing local content, which is about a third of all subscribers in the United States. This is a 34 percent rise over 2009. Of those accessing local content, 87 percent are doing so via a GPS-enabled phone.

Fifty-four percent of mobile users say they use mobile applications to access local content, a 34 percent rise. Browsers and SMS/text both declined as preferred avenues for mobile local search, through browsers still reign at 73 percent (down from 75 percent).

The deals phenomenon was also on the study’s radar, not surprisingly. Four of 10 respondents say they purchased an online coupons (including daily deals), with 70 percent indicating satisfaction with the experience, and 79 percent saying they will do so again. Perhaps troubling for directory publisher is the fact, noted on the webinar, that users who prefer IYP as a primary local search resource were less likely to have purchased an online coupon.

This announcement of online YP and local search usage data follows the recent announcement regarding the LSA’s Yellow Pages usage study, conducted by Burke Research. That study also showed a preference for search over Yellow Pages, which still holds a strong position as a resource for consumers.

The post ComScore Data Show Mobile Local Exploding, IYPs Growing Modestly appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

During the 72-hour whirlwind that was ILM:10, several other announcements also came down the pike. Among them:

– Group buying giant Groupon continues its flurry of partnerships. The Chicago-based deal a day inked separate deals with the Chicago Tribune Media Group and JiWire. The Tribune agreement calls for Groupon to power local deals each weekday on the company’s recently launched ChicagoShopping.com site. ChicagoShopping.com wants to add depth to the deal-a-day experience by enabling users to personalize deals around specific shopping interests.

Groupon has several co-branded deals with traditional media companies, including McClatchy and Media General. Typically, it furnishes the publisher with an exclusive offer for its market audience and splits revenues equally. All merchant sales, creative and payment processing is handled by Groupon, which as a result, is able to add valuable buyer information to its database.

The pact with JiWire marks an important step for Groupon in targeting more granular, sub-metro deals. It also opens up new inventory possibilities for a brand that has quickly seen demand outstrip supply. JiWire’s network of public Wi-Fi hotspots (more than 30,000 in locales such as cafes, coffee shops and airport lounges) will allow for hyperlocal targeting of deals at venue level. JiWire users are typically on-the-go and tech-savvy, which may ripen new deals categories such as travel-oriented restaurant and retail chains.

Deal-a-day competitor LivingSocial has also debuted sub-metro deals, but not with such granularity. In related efforts to open up new inventory, Groupon introduced personalized deals over the summer.

– It didn’t take eBay long after its $75 million purchase of Milo to begin incorporating the company’s real-time shopping data into its product line. EBay is integrating Milo’s local store inventory and pricing information into its RedLaser barcode scanning applications.

RedLaser’s single-scan interface enables product and price comparisons at nearby stores. Milo’s data adds yet another content layer. EBay is also expected to incorporate Milo functionality into other online and mobile products, notably its Shopping.com site and perhaps ProStores (an online storefront software company for SMBs).

– ComScore released an early wave of holiday online spending stats (Nov. 1-Dec. 3). The gradual economic comeback has triggered a 12 percent increase year over year in total online spend. Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) eclipsed $1 billion in e-commerce by itself.

Large national brands have experienced the strongest growth. The top 25 online retailers are up 20 percent over 2009, and some of that increased market share is at the expense of small and mid-market shops, where sales remain flat.

The post Post ILM:10: News and Notes Aplenty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

October U.S. online video rankings from comScore reaffirm an established trend: Watching video online is a social exercise. Fueled by YouTube’s stranglehold on unique viewers, viewing sessions and minutes per viewer, Google posted dominant numbers, besting its closest competitor — Yahoo sites — by almost 93 million UVs and 1.7 billion viewing sessions. In total, YouTube accounted for 37 percent of all viewing sessions, with viewers averaging a staggering 271.6 minutes, or 4.5 hours, for the month.

Facebook, while seeing slight declines from September, still ranked fifth in total UVs with more than 47 million. That number gave it a larger viewer base than AOL, Microsoft and Fox Interactive Media.

Hulu, while tenth in UVs, placed third in minutes per viewing. The online video joint venture also served up the most video ads (4.6 billion) and enjoyed a robust 34 ads-per-viewer ratio. Google finished tenth in total video ads, even as it practically monopolized the viewing public.

All told, 84 percent of the U.S. Internet audience watched online video in October, and 45 percent of the total population was exposed to video ads.

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We know certain Web phenomena are women driven. Groupon and DailyCandy, for instance, are heavily dominated by women; Facebook, to a lesser degree. Gilt Groupe, the high-end “flash sales” fashion site, is more of a women’s thing (although a surprising number of men also use it). Local community news and school information is something else that has traditionally been dominated by women (especially mothers, who take a statistically greater interest than fathers).

Now comScore has done a comprehensive study of the differences between women and men on the Web. Among the key findings is that women far outpace men for the conversational features: social networking, instant messaging and e-mail. Worldwide, the difference is 16.3 percent to 11.7 percent for social networking; 11.3 percent to 10.4 percent for instant messaging; and 7.7 percent to 6.8 percent for e-mail. Men, however, slightly outpace women in their use of directories/resources: 2.4 percent to 2.2 percent.

All this plays out in the the different ways the genders use Twitter, which I would have thought would be dominated by tech-oriented men since it is a “technology.” But comScore points out that overall usage is about equal. What men and women do there, however, greatly differs. A higher percentage of men (38 percent) tend to post tweets than women (28 percent). Women tend to use Twitter to find deals and promotions. They also use it as more a conversation medium and to follow celebrities.

The post ComScore: Women Use Interactive Local Media Differently appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Zillow announced today that it will power Yahoo’s “for sale” listings, in much the same way that Cars.com powers Yahoo’s new and used cars listings. Zillow typically carries 4 million-plus listings. The announcement spearheads a slew of online real estate announcements prior to next week’s Inman Real Estate Connect conference (which I am attending).

The enhanced Yahoo and Zillow tie doesn’t achieve the “buy a slot” status of other Yahoo vertical outsourcing — it would have been too expensive for any of the major real estate portals — but it also goes well beyond the current Yahoo-Zillow relationship, which basically consists of Yahoo’s syndication of Zestimate home valuations. That has been in place since 2006.

Under the new deal, the two companies bring together the real estate Web sites that have the second (Zillow) and third (Yahoo) highest number of unique visitors, per comScore. The deal, which is symbiotic for both companies, shows how things have changed from five or six years ago, when Yahoo itself was seen as a major threat to use open Internet listings to dominate real estate advertising. Now, Yahoo is basically content leveraging its sales relationships with national brokerages, while Zillow focuses on the content and local accounts. Real estate remains highly profitable for Yahoo.

While Zillow listings won’t go up on Yahoo until later this year, the two companies are immediately coordinating their sales efforts. Zillow’s “Premier Agent” program will be extended to Yahoo Real Estate. Current Zillow advertisers will be offered the chance to extend their relationship to Yahoo. Additionally, Zillow’s local “Showcase Ads” and “Featured Listings” will automatically be extended to Yahoo, making it easier for both sites to reach a quorum of users. For Sale By Owner advertising will also appear on both sites. One thing that Yahoo doesn’t get is access to Zillow’s growing display business.

The post Zillow Extends Ties With Yahoo Real Estate; Will Power Listings appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Newspapers aren’t doing well, but they still represent one of the leading ways to reach audiences, online as well as in print. New data from comScore Media Metrix, apparently released to coincide with Editor and Publisher’s Interactive Media Conference taking place in Las Vegas, showed that 57 percent of Internet users in the U.S. looked at a newspaper site in May at home or at work.

The New York Times is the leading online brand, thanks in part to its national footprint. Also receiving significant national traffic is USA Today, which is No. 4 among the newspaper groups; The Washington Post, which is No. 5; and The Wall Street Journal, which is No. 10. More in the realm of local pure plays are Tribune (No. 2), Advance (3), McClatchy (6), MediaNews Group (7), The New York Daily News (8) and Hearst Newspapers (9).

ComScore also notes that the average CPM on online newspaper sites was $7, which is nearly three times the average CPM rate, which is $2.52.

Outside of top knowledge worker markets such as New York and Washington, we aren’t sure that 57 of 100 Internet users would say “sure” if we asked whether they read the online version of a newspaper in the last month (Anyone want to do my “train station platform” test?) But the statistics have been consistent and suggest a possible second life for the newspaper industry.

The post ComScore’s Top 10 Online Newspaper Companies (by Usage) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Newspapers aren’t doing well, but they still represent one of the leading ways to reach audiences, online as well as in print. New data from comScore Media Metrix, apparently released to coincide with Editor and Publisher’s Interactive Media Conference taking place in Las Vegas, showed that 57 percent of Internet users in the U.S. looked at a newspaper site in May at home or at work.

The New York Times is the leading online brand, thanks in part to its national footprint. Also receiving significant national traffic is USA Today, which is No. 4 among the newspaper groups; The Washington Post, which is No. 5; and The Wall Street Journal, which is No. 10. More in the realm of local pure plays are Tribune (No. 2), Advance (3), McClatchy (6), MediaNews Group (7), The New York Daily News (8) and Hearst Newspapers (9).

ComScore also notes that the average CPM on online newspaper sites was $7, which is nearly three times the average CPM rate, which is $2.52.

Outside of top knowledge worker markets such as New York and Washington, we aren’t sure that 57 of 100 Internet users would say “sure” if we asked whether they read the online version of a newspaper in the last month (Anyone want to do my “train station platform” test?) But the statistics have been consistent and suggest a possible second life for the newspaper industry.

The post ComScore's Top 10 Online Newspaper Companies (by Usage) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.