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Super Bowl Advertisers Ready to Target Mobile Users

February 2, 2012 by

Are you a fan of football but do not watch the Super Bowl for the ads? There may be no escaping them this year as increasingly advertisers realize that there is an untapped market for them in the online world during a game known for its broadcast ads.

A recent survey by Harris Interactive that was commissioned by mobile marketing firm Velti, as reported by MediaPost, shows that a full 60% of mobile phone users plan to also use and view their phone while watching the game.

While the news that people will use their phones is hardly earth shattering, another part of the report shows that people are twice as likely to use their phone during the ads and during the half time show. This might not be great news to companies that are shelling out an average $3.5 million for a 30 second ad, up 17% from last year.

As mobile usage soars advertisers target new space

According to Forbes the price on Super Bowl ads has increased an average of 5.7% annually, and it is predicting that the going rate will double again within the next decade making online increasingly appealing.

A late comer advertiser or a company that delays in buying the time, which sold out prior to Thanksgiving this year have an option, and one that companies that are advertising on the game telecast are taking as well- targeting mobile users in what is now being called the second screen market.

Already the bulk of the ads that are slated for broadcast on the airwaves are available online as either an ad targeting users or as a YouTube video to attract more fans. However there is an entirely different class that is just sticking with the less costly mobile ad space.

The broadcast ads are dominated by major corporations, centering around 5 market segments: automotive, beer, motion picture, soft drinks and tortilla chips, according to a recent Nielson study. Many of these will replicate their presence online as well, but there is opportunities for others as well.

The popularity of Super Bowl ads is amazing. Simply head over to YouTube’s Ad Blitz, a site dedicated to Super Bowl ads, to get a feel for just how popular this is. As of Thursday morning prior to the game there were 39,000 subscribers to the channel and 800,000 video views.

Go to Coke’s Facebook page and you can see a group of polar bears, one set in each team’s uniforms, reacting to the game in real time. The loss of eyeballs during the broadcast could be part of the broadcast advertisers own doing since many seem prepared to drive broadcast viewers online.

The Harris study found that sites like Shazam, Subway and Chevrolet have specialized apps that will support viewers driven from broadcast ads to on-line and present the opportunity to win prizes or participate in some activity.

Then if you have seen an ad that seems worth viewing again on the broadcast, you can always head over to iTunes to get an app that allows you to view past favorite Super Bowl ads as well as new ones as soon as they are available on YouTube.

I expect that the number of ads that are designed to be viewed by mobile devices only will be a strong growth category in the future, particularly as tablets continue to grow in popularity. A sharp advertiser does not care if you continue to watch the game after you have viewed their ad, so why not try and snare your attention via some focused programs online at a corporate web site?

Filed Under: Apps, Live sports via mobile, NFL, NFL Mobile, Nielsen Ratings, Smartphone, Tablets, YouTube Tagged With: ,

London Calling: BBC Sports Upgrades Site in Advance of Summer Olympics

February 2, 2012 by

The BBC has remade its BBC Sports website and will include a significant increase in the amount of live sports that will be made available on the site, a move that will certainly cheer fans of English and European sports.

The move is the first major change at the site in over a decade and recognizes the fact that the manner in which users visits the site, the technology that they use to do so and their expectations of what a good sports site contains has dramatically changed over the ensuing years.

The BBC said about the upgrade “As such, live coverage sits at the heart of the new designs. Whether it’s text commentary on transfer deadline day, audio & video coverage of events, or highly visual and immersive, up-to-the- second tables and stats – this is a sports service custom built for modern sports fans.”

The impact of social media can be seen in the inclusion of comment modules but that seems to be just a first step since that is something that it should have had for years. The BBC said that it will also work for increased sharing of content on the site.

This is just the first step from the BBC, which said that it will be adding additional features to help mobile users with tablets, smartphones and other mobile and connected devices gain access to sports in any manner in which they wish to access it. The broadcast giant said that additional products and features will be rolled out prior to this summer’s London Olympics.

Putting live data and video upfront and foremost shows that the BBC understands that its clientele is changing from one that only accessed the site from computers and may have access to a television at the same time to one that is increasingly mobile and wants more.

Expectations of what is available online have changed forever and fans expect to see live action and replays and if the BBC did not provide it they would simply look elsewhere for the information. The site currently is the most popular sports destination online in the United Kingdom, with 11.5 million weekly visitors.

Filed Under: English Premier Soccer League, Olympics, Smartphone, Soccer, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Pac-12 Looks to Build ‘Digital Network’ for Social-Media Centric Sports Future

January 31, 2012 by

The Pac-12 conference, one year into its new broadcasting deal is now looking to expand its presence in other areas aside from broadcast television, a move that will encompass streaming media and other technologies broadcast to smartphones, tablets and other devices, mobile and immobile.

To spearhead the program the conference‘s wholly owned subsidiary Pac-12 Enterprises has hired David Aufhauser as vice president and general manager of digital media. He has been in various positions in the sports and social media market for almost two decades with his most recent position being Vice President, Media at Say Media where he managed the global ad network. Prior to that he led business development at Yahoo Sports and has a variety of positions at Citizen Sports, Evite and Netscape.

The job will entail all aspects of the digital media properties of the Pac-12 as well as the creation and management of the Pac-12 Digital Network. The Digital Network will be a unified web site that will provide world wide access to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as computers and even television for a wide range of sports activities that the Pac-12 is involved in.

The group will handle hundreds of sporting events and provide original programming at all 12 major campuses. This will include live streaming, mobile technology and social TV capabilities, the world. The network is expected to be launched in late summer 2012.

Last year the conference entered into a major upgrade on its broadcasting presence by working with major cable companies to create six regional cable networks as well as signing new national deals with FOX Sports and ESPN. The Digital Network is expected to work with the television networks to provide a more unified presence for the league. The new effort will also handle all sponsorship, licensing and event management for the Pac-12.

His hiring is just the latest in a string of newly enlisted personnel, all seemingly with wide experience in both sports and an array of various media. Last August the conference hired Gary Stevenson as the head of the Enterprise group. Stevenson has more than 30 years in a variety of sports and broadcasting experience including working with the NBA, the PGA Tour and owning his own sports consulting firm OnSports.

The Pac-12 Enterprise has also hired Bill Cella as its chief revenue officer. Cella has experience in sales and marketing and will design and implement long term strategies and oversee the management of all revenue generation for Pac-12 Enterprises.

Expect this to be the tip of the iceberg and a move that is carefully watched by both rival conferences and the NCAA governing body. No school is going to let additional revenue slip through its fingers and we will probably see a number quickly emulate the Pac-12.

The NCAA on the other hand may want a bigger piece of the pie. When Major League Baseball teams started to move onto the Internet MLB itself was a bit slow to follow. When it did it moved everything under its own umbrella, and no doubt gets a larger cut for its effort.

Filed Under: ESPN, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, Pac-12, Smartphone, Social Media, Tablets Tagged With: ,

Friday Grab Bag: Tablet Sales Grew 260% in 2011

January 27, 2012 by

Market research firm Strategic Analytics’ latest study of the tablet market shows that global tablet shipments reached 27 million units in the last quarter of 2011 and that Android-based systems captured a 39% share.

The 4th quarter sales represent a 150% increase over the 10.7 million units sold a year earlier. Apple is still the king of the hill with a 58% share, a number that translates into 15.4 million iPads sold.

The report notes that Microsoft has a miniscule 1.5% share of the market, although that may change when Windows 8 hits the market later this year. Overall for 2011 tablet sales reached 66.9 million units, a 260% increase and the company found that increasingly consumers are opting for a tablet rather than a notebook computer.

Onavo lands $10 million in Series B funding

Mobile app developer Onavo has raised $10 million in Series B funding in a round that was led by Horizon Ventures, the private investment arm of billionaire Li Ka-shing. The other new investor in the round was Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic equity arm of Motorola Mobility.

Along with the funding the company added Jason Wong from Horizon Ventures to its board. Onavo’s previous investors, Sequoia Capital and Magma Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

Onavo develops a mobile app that can run on both Apple iOS and Android mobile devices and monitors data usage and has the ability to compress data in real time by routing the data through its cloud-based servers prior to its appearing on a mobile device.

Apple loses another round in patent wars

A Dutch court has reaffirmed a lower court ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet does not violate Apple’s patents and is not a copy of Apple’s iPad. Apple had been seeking to ban sales of the device in the Netherlands.

This follows a ruling in the US where a judge allowed Samsung to sell the tablet prior to the court case that will hear Apple’s arguments regarding the issue. At least Apple was not on the wrong side of one ruling-Samsung has filed its own patent suit and a court is allowing Apple to sell its iPads in the country as well.

Motorola has also gone on the offensive and has asked the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida to ban iPhone sales. It alleges that the iPhone infringe on six of its patents. It is very likely that Google gave Motorola due to terms in its pending purchase of Motorola.

Not to be deterred Apple has also filed a pair of new patent complaints in Germany against Samsung. And so it goes.

Jupiter Research sees a bright future for Ultrabooks

Market research firm Jupiter Research predicts that sales for ultrabooks, a sleek, lightweight notebook style being touted by Intel and partners, will experience very strong sales but will still trail the increasingly popular tablets.

The firm predicts that Ultrabook sales will reach 178 million in 2016, yet that will be significantly lower than the estimated 253 million tablets it expects to see sold in that year.
Ultrabooks in part will suffer simply because they will be later to market, while tablets have already seen very strong sales.

However it notes that due to the demanding engineering challenges in building an Ultrabook they will be significantly pricier than most tablets and that one of the key technologies expected to help sales, Windows 8, is not due until much later this year.

Rival social network companies tweak Google

Google has long been accused of playing favorites, with itself as the favorite. Now Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are striking back with the aptly named browser add-on called “Don’t be evil”

The name is a riff on one of Google’s unofficial mottos and the app will allow user of Google’s search engines to see how a search result page would look using Google’s pure organic search results. They claim that Google is slanting the searches to favor its one social network, Google+.

For an analysis of how search results can be different with and without the app goes to the Search Engine Land web site and read Danny Sullivan’s nicely researched piece on the differences.

Notes from earning reports…

Samsung Electronics has posted a record operating profit of $4.72 billion in its fourth quarter, driven by its surging smartphone sales. I guess those ads are working.

Motorola Mobility reported an $80 million loss for the 4th quarter with unit sales of tablets and phones down from the same period a year earlier, 10.5 million compared to 11.3 million. It shipped only 200,000 tablets in the current quarter.

Nokia on the other hand has a different story to tell. It reported that its smartphone sales dropped 27% in the fourth quarter. Expect it to accelerate the introduction of the Lumina 900, one of its new line of smartphones that run on Windows 7 operating system. However don’t cry for the company just yet, aside from still selling in excess of 20 million phones its deal with Microsoft calls for it to get a quarterly platform support payment of $250 million.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter

Intel Patent Buy from RealNetworks Targets Smartphones and Tablets

January 26, 2012 by

Intel has entered into a deal to buy a significant number of patents and next generation video codec software from RealNetworks for $120 million. As part of the deal RealNetworks will retain select rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products.

The deal includes the sale of the approximately 190 patents and 170 patent applications and next generation video codec software. In addition the two have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on future support and development of the next-generation video codec software and related products

RealNetworks said that the sale will not materially alter its expectations for future sales and that it would use the funds from the deal to invest in new businesses and markets while also retaining its existing markets.

It is pretty obvious where Intel sees this technology going-it has been working feverishly to get its technology adopted in the smartphone and tablet space, and is seeking to enhance its notebook presence by working with partners to develop a new very slim category that it calls ultrabooks.

Renee James, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group said in a release that “We believe this agreement enhances our ability to continue to offer richer experiences and innovative solutions to end users across a wide spectrum of devices, including through Ultrabook devices, smartphones and digital media.”

Intel has always been a strong advocate of investing in technology in good times and bad. During the Dot.Com bust it continued to heavily fund its massive research and development efforts, one of the biggest in the world.

It currently spends in excess of $6 billion annually in R&D and has labs around the world doing research not just in semiconductors but a surprising range of other activities as well including studying the habits of tech users to see how and why they use products.

But the company has also used its strong financial position to use cash as a form of R&D, purchasing companies and technologies that it sees as either important to it as a key competency or as an investment that can enable it to participate in new markets if they emerge.

Buying technology and even developing new technology is only one step. The seamless integration of that technology into core products, or passing it on to others to us in conjunction with Intel developed products is the next step.

It had once gone on a huge buying spree in the communications market only to sell off assets at pennies on the dollar. I expect that Intel has learned quite a bit from that experience a decade ago and will put that to good use.
Also in favor of a smooth integration of the acquired technology is the fact that RealNetworks is not just some startup that has ‘gee whiz’ technology but an established player with technology that Intel is no doubt very familiar with.

Filed Under: Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Fujitsu Contest Shows Flexible Design Concepts for All-in-One Device Combos

January 26, 2012 by

Want a quick glimpse of the future of high tech gear? Maybe these products will not see the light of day but a recent concept contest by Fujitsu has shown some great product ideas for a range of technologies.

Naturally a number caught my eye but one combo product really had me thinking that it would be interesting to own. The product was a combination notebook computer, tablet, smartphone and digital camera-but not as an all-in-one solution but rather as removable parts of a whole.

The concept design, which is on the short list in the Fujitsu Design Competition 2011 was created by designer Prashant Chandra which he named “Lifebook 2013”. It is designed to both provide a user with all of the tech tools that they might be carrying and put them into one slim, highly integrated package.

The drive behind the design is not just a gimmicky form factor that enables users to have a convenient place to keep all of their devices together. As additional devices are added their functions and capabilities are added as well.
Add the camera and get a high end digital imaging device as part of your notebook.

Add your phone you have communications, possibly your MP3 collection and other features. A tablet could serve as a second display or as a keyboard, helping to keep the weight down. Syncing all of a users devices should be a snap under a design like this.

But a key differentiator would be that the processors that are stored in the individual devices could also be tasked with some of the laptop’s functions as well.

If this device did manage to come to market in some form in the near future Fujitsu would have to exercise absolute control over both software and hardware design. Code would need to be written to enable programs to take advantage of the different processors, and to adapt when some processors or hardware are not present.

It would also have to be aware of what is and is not present so that it can alter its abilities in real time. A user would not want to constantly change settings when using a phone.

One hidden advantage is that a user might be able to use their smartphone as the communications device for the notebook and tablet without getting contracts for those devices. If nothing else it might serve to push telcos to offer better bundles so that a person can reasonably afford to have cellular capabilities on multiple devices with a reasonable contract covering them all. Ah to dream.

Filed Under: Fujitsu, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,
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