As we keep saying, the age of big data is colliding with the age of mobile. This is playing out in lots of ways, most notably mobile and location signals used to better target mobile ads. But it’s not just targeting as in where the ad shows up… but also what it contains.

xAd has been pushing this idea for a while and it’s now out with its latest quarterly Mobile Location Insights report. The data xAd utilizes in particular is situational (smartfences) and behavioral (user data, brand affinity, etc). These are showing lots of growth on its network.

As its been doing for each quarterly report, xAd reports that this location targeting has real performance benefits when compared with the rest of the mobile ad industry (where location targeting doesn’t index as high). This goes for clicks and secondary actions like calls.

Going one level deeper, xAd reports that additional use of situational and behavioral user profiling data creates an even greater performance delta over location targeting alone. This happens to the tune of 10 percent greater click through rate throughout xAd’s network.

This all culminates in a case study about a campaign run for Scion. By executing a number of its signature tactics in location targeting and data utilization, xAd was able to achieve a 40 percent lift in click through rate and a 120 percent lift in secondary actions.

Lastly, xAd provides a nice service to this nascent mobile location targeting marketplace by defining some boundaries (literally). There’s lots of confusion out there about the different flavors of location targeting and data. xAd jump starts the dialogue with some level setting.

We’ll be discussing this very topic with xAd’s Dan Hight during a session at next month’s Leading in Local conference in San Francisco. The panel is on the collision of big data, mobile and local. Ping me for a discount code to the show (mbolandATbiakelsey.com).

Meanwhile, you can read the rest of xAd’s free report here.

The post xAd: It’s Not Just About Location… Big Data is Big Differentiator appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Today, BIA/Kelsey released its U.S. Local Media Forecast (2012-2017), showing local ad revenues of $133B (2012) growing to $152B (2017). This includes advertising targeted to geographically specific audiences, such as Newspapers, Radio, TV, Interactive, etc..

One important slice of this forecast is the location targeted ad revenues attributed to mobile. That’s of course a small but quickly growing segment. In addition to these location targeted mobile revs, we panned back to look at the overall U.S. mobile ad revenue picture.

Interestingly, location targeted mobile ad revenues will grow to 54 percent of overall mobile revenues by 2017. This is driven by many market forces we examine in great detail and from discussions with industry players. We also break down revenue by format such as search and display.

The forecasting process is a doozy but we get bulletproof results and valuable findings. We’re looking to continue our streak of accurate numbers — affirmed in retrospect — for the past 5 years of looking closely at the mobile ad opportunity, not to mention decades covering local media.

The mobile exec summary is below, and BIA/Kelsey clients can log in to download the full report. Anyone else interested in finding out more can email me at mbolandATbiakelsey.com. We’ll also discuss these findings in greater depth next month at our Leading in Local conference.

Executive Summary

— Location targeted mobile advertising — the centerpiece of this forecast — is inclusive of total U.S. mobile advertising (see slide 19 for this breakdown).

— To understand the localized portion requires first panning back to the total mobile ad revenue picture. Here, BIA/Kelsey projects revenue to grow from $3.65B in 2012 to $20.68B in 2017. This projection has increased from our previous forecast (March 2013).

— Increased projections result from guidance from mobile ad networks and ad share leaders such as Google (33% of paid clicks now come from mobile devices); and Facebook (49% of ad revenues attributed to mobile, up from 23% in March).

— Google’s Enhanced Campaigns*, launched in July, will compound these factors by forcing mobile ads on search advertisers (default campaign inclusion). This will accelerate a mobile advertising learning curve and adoption cycle for all search advertisers, including SMBs.

— Enhanced Campaigns will also notably close the current gap between mobile ad rates and desktop equivalents (rates are demand-driven).

— This will play out as an influx of advertisers in Google’s bid marketplace for mobile keywords will naturally boost bid pressure and thus CPCs. There is shift is already underway, evidenced by data shared with us by search marketing agencies.

— The share of the overall mobile ad revenue pie attributed to location based campaigns will grow from 37% ($1.4B) in 2012 to 52% ($10.8B) in 2017.

— This share shift remained fairly consistent from our previous forecast, as the factors driving
localized mobile ad adoption have remained steady.

— These factors include advertiser demand, higher ad performance from location targeted ad campaigns, and resulting increases in mobile ad rates (CPMs, CPCs).

— Other important factors driving this localized share include the adoption of mobile local advertising tactics (i.e. geo-fencing, click-to-call, click to map) by national advertisers, who account for most U.S. mobile ad spending.

— SMB adoption — a slow but growing share of localized mobile advertising — will likewise impact its growth.

The post Location Targeted Mobile Revs to Reach $10.8B by 2017 appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

During my travels over the past week (AdTech NY and Qualcomm’s LTE Direct Summit) the same idea came up a few times which started to make me think.  Could all of the signals emanating from mobile device (see “big data meets local“) unlock better local yield management?

In other words, could knowing how far away someone is to a business — and several other variables — enable predictive modeling about their probability of transacting. This isn’t necessarily new but takes on new flavors if worked into an equation that defines their price sensitivity or elasticity?

From there, it becomes clear about offering different pricing to existing customers, repeat customers, faraway customers, nearby customers, customers with green eyes and love of craft beer, etc. This gets us closer to mobile’s promise of more effectively driving offline commerce.

It’s especially relevant within the context of perishable inventory (think empty movie theater or restaurant). This is of course nothing new, and gets to the yield management endgame of the daily deals craze of 2010-2011. But continuing advancements in big data push it further.

It boils down to segmenting consumers by willingness to pay for something — a function of location-oriented factors like weather, behavior, time, product category, etc. This makes it a juiced up version of the airline model that maximizes revenue with demand-driven variable pricing.

Groupon’s mobile efforts take this to heart. There’s also Thinknear (situational targeting), xAd (Smartfences) and Retailigence (local product availability). These each reveal variable demand, impacted by location-related variables and time. The next phase is optimizing pricing accordingly.

This will all be at the center of a lot of the things we continue to look at and write about at the intersection of mobile, social, local and big data. The emerging world of mobile shopping and payments (subject of my recent report), is central to all of this. Stay tuned for more.

The post Could Mobile Bring Airfare-Style Pricing To Local Commerce? appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

We keep saying that media darlings like Foursquare and Gowalla will have to evolve beyond the game mechanics and check-ins that have driven their usage. Simply put, these drivers will lose novelty.

Among other things, they’ll need to develop an exchange of monetary value or utility. Foursquare knows this and has been vocal about it. Meanwhile, I’ve seen two announcements in as many days that suggest we’re moving in that direction.

The first is Foursquare’s announcement that it will partner with fitness management company RunKeeper. The deal will allow RunKeeper’s users to gain Foursquare prizes and designations (including badges) for doing things other than checking in (a first for Foursquare). Those actions all relate in some way to fitness milestones tracked on RunKeeper.

The second announcement is from GetGlue, a company that lets you check in to TV shows and other events and receive mailed prizes such as collectible decals. This week, it formed a handful of partnerships with television networks (joining its existing deal with HBO). Checking in during airings of “Mad Men,” for example, gets you these giveaways.

Beyond engaging users and getting them to watch these shows, GetGlue and the networks benefit from follow-on marketing. They’ll also get a fair amount of viewer analytics from the check-in activity. But the main point is that it’s another step toward connecting the dots between online and offline activities.

Panning back, there are lots of commercial implications to this general concept, given that most commercial activity happens offline. This is the principle behind Foursquare et al, but they have a long way to truly reach it. Expect a lot more of these features and companies to emerge.

The post Evolving the Check-In: Deeper Integration With the Real World appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.