InsightExpress has just released the latest installment of its
quarterly Digital Consumer Portrait --conducted over the past 20
quarters -- and there is an overwhelming counter-intuitive trend
emerging from the data: some advanced mobile behaviors are not on
an ever-increasing trajectory. The use of check-ins is going down,
but so is the accessing of video and usage of coupons on mobile
phones. Huh? What is going up is smartphone penetration: Nielsen
reports from November data that we've nearly reached the 50% mark.
What I believe is happening is that we are moving beyond the
euphoria, early adopter, guys-will-do-anything-on-phones phase into
a realm where normal people who have lives and other things to do
than play with their phones all day now have these mini-mobile
computers.
The video piece going down is actually logical. Unless you are
on 4G (still very limited market availability and Apple doesn't yet have a 4G
model), video on your smartphone pretty much sucks -- you might do
it as novelty, or when really bored, but all the time? Maybe not. I
also think there's a "best available screen" phenomenon going on
which data from FreeWheel -- it releases data on digital video ad
views and usage of professional video content and its latest
reports attest to the phenomenal video delivery device that the
iPad is (full disclosure, I produce these reports). In just the
past two quarters, even though there are many fewer devices in
market, iPads best iPhones or Androids for sheer volume of video
delivered.
The decline in people citing coupon usage on their phone needs
further study. I wonder if it might be a burn-out factor of the now
ubiquitous daily deal sites. At one point I had six of them coming
into my inbox every day and then I called it quits. None of them
have really differentiated their offerings and they have yet to use
their data to increase the relevance -- don't send me another spa
offer ever, Groupon and Living Social! Facials make me break
out…but you didn't need to know that .
What does all this mean for marketers? It's actually good news:
since smartphones are mainstream we can now reach people through a
vibrant and viable third screen which reach of a huge chunk of the
U.S. population. Forget about limited behaviors that require too
much of the consumer-like check-ins. Marketers can reach consumers
through the games they are playing, the weather they are accessing,
the music services they are listening to, all through a device that
is more personal and fundamental to people than perhaps their own
wallets -- oh, but I am getting ahead of myself. That's indeed the
direction the biggest mobile players like eBay/PayPal, Apple and
Google all want to go. Let's check in next year and see where we
are with mobile payments -- better yet, read all about what you
need to know to prepare now in the Ad Age Insights trend report,
Mobile Marketing: M-Commerce.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathryn Koegel is a
media and marketing consultant and author of several Ad Age
Insights trend reports on mobile marketing. She can be reached at
[email protected]