Mobile Marketing Magazine

InMobi Unveils AdROIt Solution

Mobile ad network InMobi has unveiled AdROIt, which offers advertisers automated, cost per acquisition-based performance tracking to improve ROI for their mobile advertising campaigns. InMobi says that AdROIt for advertisers expands on its focus to provide detailed, transparent analytics that seek to improve performance for its network partners.
AdROIt utilises ‘goal seek’, allowing advertisers to track key mobile advertising campaign objectives (e.g. quotes for car insurance; reviews on a new digital camera; requests for hotel rates) on a cost per acquisition (CPA) basis,  and then link this performance to a myriad of influences such as the advertising creative, publisher, and consumer targeting details. Using real-time reporting and automated performance feedback, InMobi creates a self-learning network that according to the company, improves performance for advertisers with every impression and every click.
Craig A.  Owensby is Chairman and CEO of PT Code Jawa, an Indonesian content provider and mobile technology developer. He says:
“Over the last six years, we have found that the key to profits is accurate, meaningful information about the effectiveness of our distribution channels. For WAP advertising, the situation is no different. PT Code Jawa has been using InMobi's AdROIt technology for the last two months, and we can say, without question, that the impact has been huge. In the past, we would need to make educated guesses as to which ads led to the needed conversion rates - now we know. Using AdROIt, we know which kinds of publishers generate the best results for us, which means we can spend more in order to drive up market share for those publishers that work, while de-targeting those who do not generate good results. In my opinion, InMobi's AdROIt technology is a game changer in the WAP ad industry.”
Sridhar Ranagathan, VP of Product Management at InMobi says the benefit of AdROIt lies in its ability to incorporate feedback in real-time and automatically adjust the campaign performance accordingly.
“In a mobile advertising industry that is increasingly competitive and complex to manage, we continue to deliver innovative products such as AdROIt, to help advertisers to effortlessly improve performance and feed our self-learning network technology,” he says.
There’s more information about AdROIt here.

GetJar Measures Conversion of App Dowloads to Users

Independent app store GetJar says it is the first app store to enable developers to measure the conversion rate of mobile downloads to users across all open platforms, including Android, BlackBerry, Flash, Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile.
GetJar notes that developers want users, not downloads, but says that until now it was very time consuming to set up tracking codes and analytics to measure the conversion of app store downloads to users. GetJar has now automated this process, enabling developers to analyze the performance of their application by phone, country, and network. In addition, the Conversion API, used in conjunction with GetJar’s Pay per Download (PPD) promotion system, can help developers manage their cost per active user and optimize their marketing efficiency.
Traditionally, says GetJar, there was no inexpensive way for developers to test their app on every phone. There are over 2,500 different mobile phone models that can browse the web and download apps and each of these has different variations for operators over time. GetJar tracks 25,000 different variations in total. Even developers with the best intentions couldn’t possibly discover and test every carrier and firmware variation, the company says. Thus, users became defacto testers and were subjected to many apps that simply didn’t work on their phones.
“With GetJar conversion tracking, developers will know where their apps run, and where they don’t,” say GetJar VP of Product, Chris Dury. “This conversion data will allow developers to improve their apps, increase conversion, and gain an advantage over the competition, by increasing users, not just downloads.”
Developers can also host their apps on their own sites using GetJar App Download Page (ADP) and can track conversions for app downloads. ADP is a free, white-label hosting solution for mobile app developers to deliver app downloads from their own websites and convert their existing traffic to mobile app users. Consumers simply click a download button and ADP automatically detects the phone and downloads the appropriate app version.
To get started, developers simply add a conversion code into their apps published on GetJar. When the app is opened for the first time, it will notify GetJar. Developers can then see the results in the analytics on the GetJar developer site. For more information and complete documentation, you can create a developer account here.

Bango Says Its Analytics Solution is OK with Apple

Following the furore over the recent changes to Apple’s iPhone Developer Program License Agreement – for more on this click here -  mobile payments and analytics firm Bango has issued a statement confirming that the use of Bango Analytics does not infringe the agreement.
The recent changes to the Apple developer license agreement state that: "Device Data may not be provided or disclosed to a third party without Apple’s prior written consent. Accordingly, the use of third party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited".
Bango notes that this clause makes it hard for developers to deploy analytics solutions and get the valuable insight they need to drive the success of their iPhone applications, since most analytics solutions need to extract and disclose detailed device data to the analytics vendor in addition to the developer.
“They require this data to function, but in doing so are in breach of the Apple rules,” the statement says. “Their dependency on platform specific code also conceals what information is being disclosed making it impossible to know whether you are in breach, right up until Apple rejects your app.
“Developers using Bango Analytics do not need to provide or disclose any device data to Bango in order to get precise measurement of app success and customer engagement. Bango uses an anonymous, server side ‘identifier’ technology that protects consumer and device information while delivering levels of accuracy not found in traditional analytics solutions. Applications, campaigns and websites are all measured using consistent web standard techniques, rather than complex platform specific code, which gives the app developer confidence and total control over the level of information they wish to record and ensures all data being disclosed is completely transparent.”
Bango CEO Ray Anderson says: “Developers are currently paralyzed by the new Apple rules and don’t know how to proceed. Bango’s unique approach using server based Identifier technology gives them a way to retain the detailed measurements they need for success, while remaining compliant with Apple’s constantly changing rules.”

Smaato Adds Analytics to SOMA Platform

Mobile ad optimization firm Smaato has announced a partnership with Motally to deliver smarter and cross-platform analytics for mobile developers and publishers. Motally is a San Francisco-based provider of independent mobile analytics for mobile Internet, iPad, iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and other platforms.
Smaato notes that many app developers and mobile website publishers have serious issues in trying to track the usage of their properties across different platforms. Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics provides a set of tools that enables mobile publishers to optimize their inventory for iPhone, Android, Symbian and the upcoming iPad, to maximize user experience and insights. In addition Smaato’s SOMA platform adds visibility and aggregated reporting across all major mobile ad networks worldwide.
Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics offers developers and publishers a dashboard view that enables them to see mobile traffic at a glance or drill down into more detailed stats and charts. It also offers data on users’ location, device and network provider, as well as detailed traffic tracking to reveal the click flow and the top pages on a site. The solution is easily integrated into mobile sites and apps via   SDKs and code snippets.
Anyone wishing to use Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics can sign up as part of their SOMA registration here.

Mind The Gaps

I spent an enlightening couple of hours this morning at the GSM Asociation's London HQ listening to a presentation from the GSMA and comScore about the Mobile Media Metrics initiative, which aims to help brands and media agencies make more informed mobile media buying decisions by giving them metrics about the numbers of people visiting mobile sites, the types of handset they are using, and demographic information, using anonymised data supplied by the UK’s mobile networks.
It’s a laudable initiative, though as the GSMA's Henry Stevens acknowledged, it doesn’t do anything to simplify the process of actually buying mobile media. He told me that this was the next thing on the organisation’s agenda.
One media buyer I spoke to told me he was “90% happy” with the Mobile Media Metrics initiative. The unhappiness stems from the gaps that still need filling in. There are three key ones. The first is the absence of data relating to mobile browsing done over wi-fi networks, either via a wi-fi-enabled Smartphone, or a non-SIM-enabled device such as the iPod touch. With around 20% of mobile web browsing taking place over wi-fi, this is a pretty big gap. comScore’s Paul Goode explained that this will be resolved as mobile site owners 'beacon' their sites. This is the process of putting in place a tag that will track activity on the site, including activity carried out over a wi-fi connection. Goode estimates that the wi-fi gap will be filled by Q3 or Q4 of this year.
The second is the fact that when brands or publishers want to look at activity on sites by type of device, some devices, including one called the iPhone, are currently excluded, though Goode pointed out that in the case of the iPhone, this is not down to the operators, as it is with some other devices.
The third gap is the absence of data from 3 UK. Goode said that this should become available in April. The fourth gap, which seemed to come as news to a few people in the room, was the fact that traffic from BlackBerry devices is not currently included in the Mobile Media Metrics data. “RIM traffic is encrypted when it runs through the network, so we can see it occurs, but we cannot unpack it,” Goode confirmed.
This, like the wi-fi hole, is another pretty big one, and Goode says it is down to the same issue as the wi-fi problem, so will be addressed in a similar timescale.
For the moment, then, the Mobile Media Metrics initiative is some way from being the finished article. That said, media planners and buyers have been crying out for mobile metrics, and even if it is still a little rough around the edges, the mobile advertising marketplace is a better place with it, than without it.

David Murphy
Editor

GSMA Launches Mobile Media Metrics Service

The GSM Association (GSMA) and comScore, in partnership with operators O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3UK, have announced the official UK launch of the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) product, a census-level solution for mobile media reporting. Taking irreversibly anonymised mobile Internet usage data from all five UK mobile operators, the service aims to provide comprehensive insights into mobile media consumption, empowering brands and agencies to plan effective and focused campaigns for the mobile medium.
“On behalf of our operator partners, comScore and the GSMA, we are excited to be launching Mobile Media Metrics in the UK, our first market, and we anticipate that it will accelerate growth in the mobile advertising market,” says GSMA CEO, Rob Conway. “The underlying principle of Mobile Media Metrics is to deliver valuable and actionable reporting tools to the media industry, while respecting the privacy of individuals. Access to transparent measurement is essential in establishing mobile as a legitimate advertising medium, and Mobile Media Metrics is a critical element in advancing this process.”
The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics service is based on anonymised, census-level data for mobile Internet usage across mobile networks, which is augmented with demographic data that has been collected with the consent of a representative sample of mobile Internet users. The service provides an aggregated view of mobile Internet usage behaviour, enabling market-level analysis of site visitation and engagement metrics, such as page views, time spent on specific sites, and device types and features.
“The initiative undertaken by the GSMA and comScore is a great step forward for mobile media,” says Richard Foan, Managing Director of ABCe and Chair of JICWEBS. “Based on ABCe’s independent validation of Mobile Media Metrics, advertisers, agencies and media owners can rest assured that key metrics are compliant with and endorsed by the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS).”  Based on pre-production data from three operators, as the operators ramp up to full delivery of anonymised data to comScore, 16 million people in the UK accessed the Internet from their mobile phones in December 2009, viewing a combined total of 6.7 billion pages and spending an aggregate of 4.8 billion minutes online during the month. The top 10 sites accounted for 70% of both total pages viewed and total time spent online on mobiles during the month.
The top 10 sites and number of visitors were:

1. Facebook.com (5 million)
2. Google sites (4.6m)
3. Telefonica Mobile Networks (3.7m)
4. Orange Sites (3.6m)
5. Vodafone Group (3.3m)
6. Yahoo! Sites (2m)
7. BBC Sites (1.9m)
8. Microsoft Sites (1.6m)
9. Apple (1.5m)
10. Nokia (1.1m)

When viewed by the number of minutes spent on the site, the list looks pretty similar, but AOL (including Bebo),makes it in at No.5, and Flirtomatic is in at No.9. Telefonic and Nokia do not feature in the top 10 by minutes spent on the site.
GSMA MMM Core Reports is the foundation of comScore’s GSMA MMM suite of reports on mobile browsing. Full production data for the MMM Core Reports will be released in March 2010 based on February data. The GSMA and comScore say they are planning a full complement of additional MMM products to measure mobile usage of applications, search, reach and frequency, ad tracking, and ad effectiveness, as well as linkage of the MMM database to Kantar Media’s Target Group Index (TGI). The MMM service will also be expanded to include wi-fi traffic through site-centric measurement of publishers’ and ad networks’ sites, using comScore’s Media Metrix 360 solution, for a de-duplicated view of the online and mobile Internet. comScore says that pre-production data for January from four operators will be delivered later in February 2010, and that full production data from all five operators is anticipated early in Q2 2010.
All the operators are, not unnaturally supportive of the initiative. For 3UK, Neil Andrews, Head of Portal Advertising, says: “Network operators have long sought the independent verification which will allow them to monetise mobile Internet usage on their networks. Media buyers have also been excited about mobile for years, but have never had access to the independent statistics to justify large ad spend; hopefully Mobile Media Metrics will change all this. 3 is very excited about the opportunity provided by this initiative and we look forward to helping media buyers generate a higher ROI through the use of mobile advertising.”

Brands Fail to Measure Mobile, says Bango

83% of brands do not use mobile specific analytic tools, leading to inaccurate data on campaign performance, according to research conducted by Bango. Of those that do implement some form of campaign analytics, only 17% said they had sourced a specialised mobile solution designed to measure mobile user behaviour accurately and consistently. Even more surprisingly, 27% admit to not implementing any analytics in their mobile campaigns.
Bango surveyed over 100 participants in a webinar run in late 2009, including brands, agencies and specialist mobile providers. Over 90% of these brands said they will increase their mobile advertising investment in 2010. Global spending on mobile advertising in 2009 was $500 million (£310 million), according to Juniper Research.
“The positive from this data is that mobile marketing is in growth mode, at a time when other forms of advertising are being squeezed hard,” says Bango CEO, Ray Anderson. “Yet eight out of 10 of those surveyed do not take the essential step of implementing mobile analytics to capture accurate user data. Accurate and comprehensive reporting is what will drive brands to focus more on their mobile marketing campaigns.”
With mobile advertising now an integral part of many brands digital marketing strategy, knowing what happens after the user clicks is essential, says Bango. The company has recently released a new version of its mobile campaign analytics solution, which provides brands and agencies with powerful reporting tools and custom filters that deliver insight into how individual customers interact with mobile advertising and search marketing campaigns. 
Bango’s says its analytics solution is more accurate than traditional analytics solutions, with the ability to persistently identify individuals across multiple marketing campaigns, ad networks, search engines, websites and connections, including users switching between their carrier network and wi-fi. To help brands and agencies measure their mobile marketing campaigns accuraately, Bango offers a 30 day free trial of its mobile analytics package. There’s more information here.

mobileSTATS Updates Tracking Solution

mobileSTATS has announced the launch of version 3 of its mobile analytics application of the same name.
The solution offers real-time tracking of all types of websites, including mobile sites, and can be accessed via PC or mobile. Bespoke reports can be generated in any type of format if required. It comes in two versions. mobileSTATS SNAPSHOT is a campaign specific service for small and medium-sized businesses undertaking targeted marketing drives, which offers a view of the last seven days activity for £9.90 per domain per month. mobileSTATS BIGSHOT
Is a more comprehensive service, offering continuous tracking of visitor activity, from £24.31 per domain per month.
“We truly believe that with the ever-increasing usage of Smartphones, together with the huge usage of social networking site, businesses are now starting to comprehend the importance of a mobile marketing Strategy, and we are confident that our application is a leader in tracking any type of site traffic directly from your mobile phone,” says Co-founder Jon Kelly.
You can see a demo of the solution on the mobileSTATS website, or access it on your phone at: www.mobilestats.mobi 

apprupt Solution Tracks App Downloads

apprupt, the performance marketing network for iPhone applications, has announced the launch of ‘apprupt Performance Analytics’ for paid apps. This first free product of its performance marketing suite enables iPhone developers to measure and optimize the success and outcome of their mobile and online marketing campaigns by tracking exactly how many downloads of an app were generated via a specific link.
“Up until now, there was no way for developers to gain insights or reports on their marketing activities across channels. Accordingly, optimizing and finding an individual overall marketing strategy has not been possible and developers have relied on clickthrough statistics and gut feeling,” says apprupt Managing director, Kjell Fischer. “With apprupt Performance Analytics, every iPhone developer can now track their marketing effectiveness and cost of customer acquisition to base their further strategy on verified data.”
Since the service works with any kind of link, it provides useful information for any kind of developer, regardless of the marketing budget. Every developer engaging in promotional activities can use the service to find out which channels are working well and which are not.
While the performance tracking has been tested with a selected group of app developers, apprupt is now going into public beta with its analytics product. To use its tracking algorithm, developers integrate a tracking library into their app and update it in the Apple App Store. They can then create links via the apprupt platform and use them for their app marketing. For each individual link, apprupt delivers relevant performance statistics, like number of downloads and conversion rates. By earning revenue through affiliate fees from Apple, apprupt is able to provide the service free of charge.
“apprupt Performance Analytics is our first step of a long-term product strategy,” says Fischer. “For the future, we plan to expand our product range around the topic of performance marketing for mobile apps. Together with and for developers, we want to create products that bring profitability and transparency to this still very young market.”
Developers can sign up for the service here.

comScore Handed Mobile Metrics Task

The GSM Association (GSMA), the body that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry, has selected comScore to be its measurement partner for the GSMA’s Mobile Media Metrics (MMM) commercial implementation in the UK.
The GSMA, comScore and the five UK operators (Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3 and T-Mobile) have now reached a formal agreement to launch the GSMA MMM services in the UK, following the results of the feasibility study announced at Mobile World Congress in February this year.
Initial data will be available in the fourth quarter of 2009, with the full commercial launch early in 2010. The GSMA says this joint action by the UK operators will create a unique market research tool that will drive the growth of mobile media, to the benefit of consumers, mobile service developers and the broader media industries.
“comScore has been a dedicated and effective partner in developing a technical solution for MMM that both meets the measurement needs of the media industry and fully respects the privacy of consumers,” says Henry Stevens, Director Media and Entertainment at the GSMA. “comScore has combined mobile-specific expertise with its established strength in online media measurement, and we are very pleased to continue this successful relationship. Together we will show how, in a challenging economic environment, mobile is and will be a major driver of growth for the advertising and media industries.”
Results of the MMM feasibility study, which were announced at the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, were based on a sample of irreversibly anonymised, aggregated data from UK mobile operators. The feasibility study aimed to develop the process for measurement and demonstrate the level of analysis that the MMM solution will deliver for all mobile browsing activity.  The GSMA will be working with ABC Electronic to deliver independent verification of MMM to industry agreed standards.

Openwave Launches Mobile Analytics 7.0

Openwave Systems has announced the launch of Openwave Mobile Analytics 7.O, which it says provides deep analytics and rich reporting for mobile devices, including feature phones, Smartphones, netbooks and other mobile devices. 
Openwave Mobile Analytics 7.0 is designed to help operators better understand mobile data usage, segmented by various subscriber demographics and peak usage times, and identify data consumption patterns that can help them better price and deliver targeted content to users, and optimise their network bandwidth.
Openwave says the solution provides early identification of mobile data trends, enabling operators to make timely decisions to avoid bandwidth and capacity problems, and target business opportunities, while increasing revenues. The offering’s business intelligence and reporting capabilities not only describe what is happening in an operator’s network, but also provide insight as to why it is happening and what is likely to take place in the near future, based on both historical and current data analysis. The solution does not require cookies or JavaScript to tag and monitor user activity.
“There has been exponential data traffic growth, driven by an increase in the number of users accessing the mobile internet and increasingly sophisticated devices being introduced to the mass market that has caused operator network traffic to spike, and this growth is expected to continue to dramatically increase in the coming years with the introduction of netbooks and an ever increasing proliferation of Internet-enabled consumer devices,” says Brent Iadarola, Global Program Director for the Mobile & wireless communications group at Frost & Sullivan. “As operators plan strategies for managing the onslaught of data traffic that will likely overtax their networks, solutions that allow operators to analyse traffic usage patterns to better manage capacity and optimise bandwidth will help them to affect the topline in the near and long-term.”