PointRoll | Do More with Digital

Mobile Benchmarks Show Mobile Ads Have Grown 88% Year Over Year

Kailei Richardson — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:14:32 +0000

Mobile ads grew 88% year over year and both mobile click-through rates and mobile in-banner completion rates are in line with the rates obtained via rich media, according to the second installment of PointRoll’s soon-to-be-released 2012 Benchmark Report.

These and other results appeared in MediaPost Thursday. Interactive mobile ads posted strong brand time and video completion rates of 14.45 seconds and 40%, respectively — indicating that consumers were often able to gather the brand information they wanted without clicking. Furthermore, mobile users are less likely to click through to a site than they are to view a video within the interactive mobile ad. “At this point consumers are at least as engaged with mobile ads as they are with rich media,” said PointRoll CEO Mario Diez. “Another way of saying that is that despite the small size of most mobile devices, the benefits of well-targeted mobile ads are aligned with the richest laptop and desktop ads.” The highest interaction rate occurred among retail ads, but consumers spent the most time with ads for consumer goods and — who would have guessed it? — ads for books and periodicals.

TREND WATCH: Google+ Gets a Makeover, Mobile Marketing, Seven Species of Social Commerce

Victoria Fortnum — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:15:10 +0000

Google+ Gets a Makeover
During the Google I/O Annual Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA on Wednesday Google announced it’s plan to revamp its Google+ social network. The 41 new features or enhancements center on three major areas: Google+ social stream, Hangouts and photos. Below is a breakdown of what changes you can expect to see in all three major areas.

Social Steam: Users can layout their social stream in up to three columns that combine the visual elements from Pinterest and Flipboard. Items in a users stream can be flipped over like a playing card to find out more information. Google will now automatically tag posts with relevant hash tags. There will also be a “Reviews”section in users profiles where all of their local reviews will live.
Hangout: This feature will now be a separate mobile app that will include video, photos and ongoing conversations that can be archived. The messages will sync between all devices and features are consistent.
Photos: One new feature uses a computer algorithm to sift through big batches of photos and determine which photos are the best to share with friends based on whether the photo shows a landmark, is sharp or blurry, has people who are smiling and is framed artistically. There is also a new automatic photo enhancements feature and an “auto-awesome” feature that can turn bursts of photos into moving GIFs, collages and panoramas.

Mobile Marketing on Pace to Surpass $400 Billion in U.S. by 2015
The Mobile Marketing Association estimates that mobile marketing is projected to generate more than $400 billion to the U.S. economy by 2015, representing an annual growth rate of 52.5%. Mobile is projected to generate 1.4 million jobs across the country by 2015.

Seven Species of Social Commerce
S-ecommerce is a term used to describe new online retail models or marketing strategies that incorporate established social networks and/or peer-to-peer communication to drive sales. Below are the Seven Species of Social Commerce.

Peer-to-peer sales platforms: community-based marketplaces where individuals can communicate and sell directly to other individuals (eBay, Etsy, Amazon Marketplace).
Social network-driven sales: sales driven by referrals from established social networks, or take place on the network themselves.
Group buying: products and services offered at a reduced rate if enough buyers agree to make the purchase (Groupon, Living Social).
Peer recommendations: sites that aggregate product or service reviews, recommend products based on others’ purchasing history, and/or reward individuals for sharing products and purchases with friends through social networks (Amazon, Yelp).
User-curated shopping: shopping-focused sites where users create and share lists of products and services for others to shop from.
Participatory commerce: consumers become involved directly in the production process through voting, funding and collaboratively designing products.
Social shopping: sites that attempt to replicate shopping offline with friends by including cat and forum features for exchanging advice and opinions (Fashism).

Mother’s Day Mobile Sales up 23%
In the week leading up to Mother’s Day, online shopping grew by 15%, with average orders reaching $209. Mobile Mother’s Day shopping was up 23% from 2013. Online jewelry sales saw the biggest jump, three weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, online jewelry sales increased 180.6% compared to 2012.

The post TREND WATCH: Google+ Gets a Makeover, Mobile Marketing, Seven Species of Social Commerce appeared first on PointRoll | Do More with Digital.

In-Stream Video Benchmarks Show Surge in Popularity and Effectiveness

Kiley Peters — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:32:26 +0000

In-stream video grew 37 percent from 2011 to 2012, and its performance far outpaced that of competing ad formats. That’s the word from the first installment of PointRoll’s soon-to-be-released 2012 Benchmark Report.

Leading industry analyst Will Richmond reported the early findings in this morning’s VideoNuze, noting that the click-through rate (CTR), for in-stream video is four times higher than the CTR for rich media and mobile.

These in-stream video benchmarks illustrate where the industry is headed, and thus where marketers should focus their efforts. The data informs strategic creative decision making that will engage users and maximize ROI.

In-stream video has become increasingly effective,” said PointRoll CEO Mario Diez. “In click-through rate, video completion, awareness — any measure you choose — it simply works. Viewers like and respond to it, particularly when it’s interactive. That’s why the format is growing so fast.”

You can view the full in-stream portion of the upcoming report here.

TREND WATCH: Mobile Marketing Hits $6.7 Billion, Facebook’s EdgeRank, How Internet Users Divvy Up Their Time

Victoria Fortnum — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:20:10 +0000

Mobile Markeing Hits $6.7 Billion According to a new study by the Mobile Marketing Association, mobile marketing generated $139 billion within the U.S. economy in additional sales in 2012. That figure is expected to grow 52% annually to $400 billion by 2015. Spending on mobile marketing in 2012 totaled $6.7 billion, that amount is expected to reach $20 billion by 2015. Nearly 85% of the $139 billion in sales driven by mobile marketing last year occurred in brick-and-motor stores. The study suggests that increased sales caused by mobile marketing benefit all 16 major U.S. industry categories, especially CPG-related retail, CPG-related manufacturing, and educational service. Facebook's EdgeRank Post Rocket, a Facebook Newsfeed Publisher, put together an infographic to explain Facebook’s EdgeRank. EdgeRank is the algorithm used by Facebook to determine where and what posts appear on each individual user’s newsfeed. Affinity, weight and time decay are the three variables that make up EdgeRank’s algorithm.

Affinity – the relationship between the viewing user and the creator of the story. If the user has a close relationship with the user or brand, the ranking will be higher Weight – different types of posts carry different weights. The higher the weight, the higher the score. Photos/videos have the highest score followed by links and plain text updates. Time-decay – in order to keep user’s Newsfeed fresh, posts lose value as it ages.

Additional Highlights:

10.5 billion minutes per day are spent looking at the Newsfeed.
In the United States, people spend more time on the Facebook Newsfeed than ABC, MSNBC, Yahoo News, CNN, New York Times and Huffington Post, combined.
Posts between 100 and 250 characters get 60% more likes, comments, and shares than posts over 250 characters.
Posting photo albums, photos, and videos get 180%, 120%, and 100% more engagement.

How Internet Users Divvy Up Their Web Time eMarketer released a new study on how U.S. internet users divvy up their time between computer, mobile phone and tablet. Below are their findings.

79% use computers to access the internet; down 5% from early 2012.
43.5% use mobile phones to access the internet; up 8% from early 2012.
17% use a tablet to access the internet; up 4% from early 2012.
Users spend 23% of their time accessing emails, 14.9% on social media, and 13% on entertainment on mobile.

Google+ Visitors Spent an Average of About 7 Minutes on the Site in March In comparison to Facebook, Google+ users are spending no time on the social network. The average Google+ visitor only spent 6 minutes and 47 seconds on the site in March vs. 6 hours and 44 minutes on Facebook. However, Google+’s Android and iPhone apps had 20 million unique visitors, up 238% from March 2012. Facebook had 99 million unique mobile visitors. Twitter had 29 million unique mobile visitors.

Making Your Life Easier: Dynamic/DCO Best Practices

Kiley Peters — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:40:48 +0000

Dynamic ads work. Driving a 471% lift in conversion compared to non-dynamic ads, it’s clear that marrying creative and data creates a perfect union. As more than 60% of PointRoll ads served leverage Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) we’ve learned what can make or break campaign success. Download our brief DCO Best Practices guide to learn more including:

Identify when DCO makes sense and when it doesn’t.
Don’t constrain yourself to a “template.”
Leverage the advertiser’s data.
Dramatically different images of offers will have the largest impact with optimization.
Start small.
No optimization algorithm can replace what you know about your business.
Large sample sizes needed with Conversion tags.
Questions to be prepared to answer.
Questions be prepared to ask.

The post Making Your Life Easier: Dynamic/DCO Best Practices appeared first on PointRoll | Do More with Digital.

TREND WATCH: What Brands Should Know About Millennials, LinkedIn’s Professional Portfolio, Facebook Users On Mobile

Victoria Fortnum — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:21:18 +0000

What Brands Should Know About Millennials
Although there are no precise dates for when the Millennial Generation starts and ends, Millenials birth dates typically range from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. Millennials are often said to be the most tech-savvy generation to date. Digiday compiled a list of 15 Stats Brands Should Know About Millennials. Below are some highlights.

By 2030, Millennials will make up 50% of the U.S. workforce.
80% of Millennials sleep with their phones next to their beds.
Millennials send around 20 texts per day.
41% of Millennials have no landline at home and rely on their cellphones for communication.
Millennials purchasing power is estimated to be $170 billion per year.
56% of Millennials think technology helps people use their time more efficiently.

LinkedIn’s Professional Portfolio
LinkedIn’s new Professional Portfolio feature allows users to ad visual content like photos, presentations and videos to their profile pages. Users can upload any number of images, videos and presentations in the summary, work experience and education sections of their LinkedIn profile. This new feature is great for creative professionals like designers and photographers.

Facebook Has 751 Million Active Users on Mobile
At the end of March, Facebook had 751 million monthly active users on mobile. Up 54% from the same quarter one year ago. Mobile represents 23% of the company’s total ad revenue, bringing in around $375 million a year. Facebook’s stock went up 3% in after-hours following the earnings release.

YouTube’s New Design
YouTube’s new design is available to all brands until May 15th. The new design promotes users to subscribe to brands pages with the ultimate goal of enabling marketers to create channels that develop communities of brand enthusiasts. Here’s what’s new:

Similar to Facebook’s Timeline cover photo, brands will now have the ability to upload Channel Art at the top of their Channel. This cover image will also have social links to direct visitors to a brand’s Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
The new Guide is integrated into Channels pages, allowing subscribers to access the brand’s full Channel, not just feed, when they click on the Channel in their Guide.
Brands can now prioritized and customize what other channels they subscribe to.
Brands will have the ability to create a “welcome video trailer” to non-subscribers telling them why they should subscribe.

The post TREND WATCH: What Brands Should Know About Millennials, LinkedIn’s Professional Portfolio, Facebook Users On Mobile appeared first on PointRoll | Do More with Digital.

Report Builder Added to OnPoint Analytics & Webinar

Adam Dubrow — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:29:26 +0000

I am pleased to introduce the beta release of Report Builder in OnPoint Analytics. In addition to the enhanced data visualizations announced last month, OnPoint Analytics now allows users to easily build and export data directly into Excel. Most reports can be produced in a matter of seconds and larger more robust reports are sent via email – allowing you to continue using OnPoint for your measurement and analytical needs. Additionally, we have also created a Data Summary Builder. Once the data is exported to Excel, this feature allows you to quickly summarize larger data sets to garner meaningful insights and tell a story about your campaign(s). Simply right-click the dataset, select “Build Data Report,” and you’re on your way! The advantage to using the Data Summary Builder is that it can perform meaningful calculations with just a couple of clicks, making it easier than ever for you measure, gain insight and optimize. To get started, contact your PointRoll account team to get a walkthrough of the new OnPoint Analytics enhancements or to discuss setting up a connection with our reporting API. You can also register for an upcoming OnPoint Analytics Webinar to learn more about our Report Builder and enhanced analytics. Select a date below to register.

The webinar will provide an overview of OnPoint Analytics reporting capabilities, details on general navigation, report and data summary builder functionalities, saved reports, and best practices. Sign up today. We greatly value feedback and want our customers to be actively involved in the evolution of our products, please don’t hesitate to contact me at adubrow@pointroll.com or enter your feedback directly in the “Tell Us What You Think” link when logged into OnPoint. Stay tuned for future enhancements that will help you easily access and understand your campaign performance.

New CEO Mario Diez Dishes on his Return to PointRoll

Maura Dailey — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:29:05 +0000

Just about a month ago we welcomed Mario Diez back to PointRoll as CEO. Here Mario shares why PointRoll and what drives his passion for digital marketing.

Finding Efficiencies with Agency Partners

Mitchell Kreuch — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:59:24 +0000

Our agency partners are talking and we’re listening. From “we don’t have enough time, we don’t have the right tools, and we don’t have enough people” to “the more devices consumers are using the harder it is to implement across them,” bottom line, agencies are facing implementation challenges that are distracting them from focusing on strategy.

At PointRoll, we strive to make it easier to create, deliver and measure digital marketing campaigns and lighten the load for our agency partners. For example, did you know that PointRoll’s Dynamic Creative Optimization capabilities can cut campaign delivery time by more than 60%? You can generate thousands of unique ad units instantly, instead of building them individually, saving time and effort.

Take a look at the infographic below to learn more about the challenges facing agencies and how PointRoll can help you build once, publish everywhere and measure everything.

The post Finding Efficiencies with Agency Partners appeared first on PointRoll | Do More with Digital.

TREND WATCH: Facebook Fans Are Worth $174, YouTube Turns 8, #BostonMarathon Tweets

Victoria Fortnum — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:59:15 +0000

A Facebook Fan Is Worth $174 According to a new study by Syncapse and Hotspex, a Facebook fan is worth $174 to a CPG brand, up 28% since 2010. The study looked at Facebook fans and non-fans and their product spending, brand loyalty, propensity to recommend, media value, cost acquisition and brand affinity to arrive at the figure.

$174 is the average brand worth. Brands with higher average purchase prices makes a fan more valuable. For example, the value of a BMW Facebook fan is $1,613.11.
Three quarters of fans are likely to share good brand experiences and share promotions and discounts with their Facebook friends.

YouTube Turns 8 Tuesday, April 23^rd, marked YouTube’s 8^th birthday. Over the past eight years, YouTube has had over 1 trillion views – about 140 views for every person on the planet, during this existence. YouTube has over 1 billion unique visitors to YouTube per month and viewers watch more than 4 billion hours of video. YouTube’s mobile has tripled since 2011, accounting for 25% of all global views.

YouTube’s Most Popular Videos To Date (from all categories)

PSY – Gangnam Style; 1,551,973,277 views to date
Justin Bieber – Baby ft. Ludacris; 850,860,839 views to date
Jenifer Lopez – On the Floor ft. Pitbull; 664,941,682 views to date
Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna; 555,790,453 views to date
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem; 535,749,062 views to date
Charlie Bit My Finger – Again!; views to date
Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) Official 2010 FIFA 2010 FIFA World Cup; 519,616,200 views to date
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance; 516,595,766 views to date

#BostonMarathon Tweets Syracuse University professor, Anthony Rotolo, and student, Andrew Bauer, were working on a data analysis and Internet research project for the university when the Boston Marathon tragedy occurred. They realized they had access to all of the social media location data and decided to show “technology’s connection to the real world.” Together they created the #BostonMarathon map which displays as a heat map,, allowing users to click into specific areas to reveal tweets and photographs.

"Even people who weren't super familiar with Twitter and its capabilities could realize all these people were sitting in the area at the time tweeting these things that were happening in real time," said Bauer. "I feel like it makes it just a little more concrete than just looking at a Twitter feed."
On April 15^th, 2013, between 4:06pm – 7:04pm EST, there were 509,795 tweets with the #BostonMarathon hashtag.

M-Commerce Up 31% In First Quarter Mobile commerce soared 31% in the first quarter from last year, increased tablet use and improved customer service played a major role in the jump. M-commerce currently accounts for 17.4% of total online retail sales, up from 13.3% from Q1 2012. Tablet traffic has climbed nearly 80% since last year. Experts are saying, "This trend reflects markets' ability to create a positive consumer experience for consumers shopping on their iPads and Kindles, by designing for the fingers and making it easier for customers to browse via their mobile device for m-commerce."