Apple Studies iTunes User Downloads to Hone Mobile Ads

Apple Inc., with a storehouse of billions of music, movie and software downloads, is studying the buying habits of many of its 150 million iTunes users to show more appealing mobile ads and fuel competition with Google Inc.  Through the iAd program that began last week, Apple started placing ads in iPhone applications for the first time. Early iAd clients include Nissan Motor Co., Unilever NV, JC Penney Co., Best Buy Co. and AT&T Inc.  At stake is leadership in mobile ads, forecast by EMarketer Inc. to almost triple to $1.56 billion in 2013. Google, which gained the biggest share of online advertising by placing ads based on PC-Web surfing habits, may use that tack to widen a lead on handheld devices. Examining consumers’ entertainment and software purchases may give Apple an advantage, says Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at marketing firm ICrossing.  “Apple knows what you’ve downloaded, how much time you spend interacting with applications and knows even what you’ve downloaded, don’t like and deleted,” said Pasqua, whose clients include Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. She isn’t currently working with Apple on iAd campaigns.

Read More: Bloomberg.com

Display Advertising Acting More Like Search

While online display advertising has grown tremendously in the last decade, its growth rate and ultimate size have been outstripped by the growth and size of search.  And during a downturn search tends to hold or grow its relative position even more.  As a result, many players in the display world are looking to search to see what aspects of search can be better leveraged in display.  I think there are three key areas where display is working to become more like search.  First, in the area of data.  A tremendous amount of the power of search comes from the fact that the consumer’s intent is largely declared by their act of searching.  Clearly that is of great value to an advertiser.  By gathering data that better approximates current intent – for example, by incorporating an anonymous user’s recent queries from an e-commerce site – display advertisers can come closer to search in this respect.  The rise of data exchanges like BlueKai and Exelate is intended to help address this need.  The second area of historical “search advantage” is creative.  Search “creative” has historically been text, which is easy for even the smallest advertiser to create and change.  This means a broader number of potential advertisers.  Companies like AdReady and Tumri make the real-time assembly of display creative much easier and lower cost.  If companies can generate display creative on the fly inexpensively, the ability to better target display ads is significantly enhanced.  Finally, display advertisers are becoming more like search in the area of real-time bidding.  Search has allowed advertisers to bid for keywords and calculate their return on investment relatively easily.  With the rise of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) such as MediaMath and Invite to help advertisers interface with ad exchanges, the display advertising world is similarly helping advertisers efficiently access quality inventory at a competitive price.  

Read More: Blog.Searchandise.com

For Online Advertising, Media Consolidation Is a Good Thing

Much has been written about the “long-tail” concept since Wired’s Chris Anderson popularized the idea in 2004. But for all the discussion about how effective long-tail strategies are for search-engine optimization, viral marketing, web retailing and social-media marketing, it seems that many online advertisers — especially display advertisers — are missing the boat.  Media continues to consolidate, and increasingly the vast majority of online ad dollars go to just a handful of web publishers. By ignoring the rest of the web publishing world, online advertisers are avoiding a perfect opportunity to reach much larger audiences at a reduced cost. From an advertiser’s perspective, the universe of websites can be divided into four groups.

Read More: AdAge