Half Of The World Internet Users Don’t Know Where The Internet Resides [REPORT]

By

-

October 1, 2014

The impact of the Internet on the world platform has been sensational. In the present scenario about 3 billion people are connected to the Internet that is approximately one third of the total population of the world and by 2020, the number of devices connected to Internet is expected to rise to 26 billion. Amidst this rising internet population and so many users coming online each day, it’s no less than a surprise that there is still a huge gap between the global audience knowledge and understanding of the Internet.

According to the latest report published by Tata Communications, titled Connected World II, only half of all the global respondents precisely know that where the Internet resides, while 82% don’t know that the fastest mode of internet delivery to their devices is through sub-sea cables. 64% of respondents incorrectly believe that the Internet is infinite and 70% incorrectly state that ‘everyone’ owns the Internet. Consumers globally have strong emotional ties to the Internet and spend a significant amount of time using it in their daily lives, although expectations for the future of the Internet vary by country to country.

Tata Communications is a leading provider of A New World of Communication, and is responsible to provide connectivity to the world’s 24% of internet routes. The report is based upon 9,417 responses captured from across the globe.

One in four surveyed Americans say they can’t survive more than five hours without access to the Internet

One in ten of US respondents between the ages of 15-45 spend more than 12 hours a day on the Internet but the majority of them were unable to identify how the Internet works, where it comes from, and who owns it. Almost 54% of them acknowledged feelings of fear, anger and anxiety when disconnected from the Internet. Also, the US respondents were the least inspired by wearable technology, with interest hovering around 12% and 29% of U.S. respondents consider light speed connectivity the most inspirational opportunity that the Internet will facilitate in the next three to five years, followed by real-life video communications (22%), smart cities (20%) and automated products (17%). Interestingly, almost 30% of surveyed 15-35 year old Americans admitted to give up traditional television for their online time and older respondents accepted to put down their beer and wine to stay connected, with a resounding 31% leaving alcohol behind for the Internet.

Eight out of ten Indian internet users admit to ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) when not connected

The Indians prove to have an edge over their global counterparts when it comes to understanding of the Internet with around 30% stating that sub-sea cables are the fastest way to deliver the Internet, compared to 18% globally. Moreover, 60% of surveyed Indians identify network connected data centers as the correct source of the Internet, compared to 51% globally.The report also revealed that 82%of surveyed Indians admit to a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) when not connected to the Internet, the highest percentage globally and despite the nation’s dependence on all things digital, 60% of Indians surveyed equate the Internet with the World Wide Web; showcasing a gap in the actual understanding of the Internet. The Internet’s ability to ‘connect people globally with incredible speed’ is cited by more than three quarters of the Indian respondents as its principal benefit to society, as opposed to ‘providing a democratic platform for expression’ (10%), ‘enabling e-commerce’ (4%), ‘making shopping easier (3%)’ or a ‘social equalizer’ (5%).

The study also reveals that Asian respondents appear to be the most internet dependent with less than half of surveyed Singaporeans and Indians capable of lasting up to 12 hours without internet access compared to 86% of German, 77% of French, 75% of US and 70% of UK respondents.

Respondents from Asia and those from the USA and Europe are distinctly different in their vision of the most inspirational opportunity that the Internet will deliver in the future: 32% of surveyed Singaporeans and 27% of surveyed Indians pick smart cities as their preferred choice for what the Internet will enable in the future. Respondents from the UK, France, Germany and the USA, meanwhile, feel that light speed connectivity will be more important.

15% of French national respondents use the Internet for six or more hours every day

About 21% of the 15-35 year old sample group spends six or more hours online in France. The average daily use in France for respondents is 4.2 hours against a daily global figure of 5.1 hours for other respondents. Only the German respondents spend less time online with 4.1 as the average daily figure of internet interaction. 67% of those surveyed in France do not know that the Internet resides in data centers and this is the highest percentage of respondents from all the nations surveyed. Despite this, French respondents are quick to acknowledge the benefits delivered by the Internet with 76% of those participating citing the ability for instant global connection as the key benefit, delivered today and one-quarter believing that the most inspirational benefit the Internet will give us in the future will be light speed connectivity.

Germans recognize the Internet as a driver for innovation, but its workings remain a mystery

43% of the German respondents said that they do not care when they couldn’t connect to the Internet and almost 13% of German respondents are even relieved when they’re without internet access, preferring the downtime over constant connectivity. However, 12% of surveyed Germans did admit to feeling angry when not able to connect. The survey also investigated what people would give up to get internet access, with 38% of surveyed Germans willing to quit alcohol, 24% chocolate, and 16% TV for internet access. Only 54% of the German respondents could accurately identify that the Internet resides in network connected data centers, 22% had other alternatives in mind, including ‘super computers’ and ‘inside mobile phones’ and 24% couldn’t make a guess as to where the Internet comes from. Many of the Internet foundations remain unknown, with almost 79% of surveyed Germans incorrectly thinking that the Internet and the World Wide Web are the same thing.

Half of the people in the UK surveyed don’t fully understand how the Internet works

The report revealed that majority surveyed Britons have an emotional connection to the Internet, with 62% suffering from FOMO, anger or anxiety when unable to connect and as a result, surveyed Britons are using the Internet more than ever before, with 37% of 15-35 year olds using the Internet for six or more hours each day. When it comes to millennial, 5% of the surveyed among 15-25 year old said they couldn’t survive even fifteen minutes without an internet connection. Also, over two third of UK respondents (70%) incorrectly think the World Wide Web (invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee) and the Internet are one and the same but on a positive note, the cloud, once considered a business-to-business technology, is well and truly mainstream with 74% of UK respondents able to correctly state that information in the cloud is actually held in data centers.

“The Internet has truly changed the way we function. As technologies evolve and adapt, there is a huge potential for the Internet to affect different aspects of life, economy and society. The use of these technologies will continue to expand in unexpected ways, and organisations will need to continuously explore, adapt and embrace new digital realities to thrive in”

says Julie Woods-Moss, Chief Marketing Officer and CEO of Tata Communications Nextgen Business.

Educating people about where the Internet resides, how the Internet is delivered and what cloud computing really means may increase feelings of global community and shared experience that are at the core of our strong emotional ties to the Internet today. Consumers with a better understanding of the Internet are likely to have a greater appreciation for its capabilities and may find new ways to incorporate digital resources into daily activities – resulting in usage levels even higher than we see today!

90% Of The Top 100 Listed Companies In UK Are On Twitter Inc. (TWTR) !

By

Anmol Gupta

-

September 30, 2014

2

In the present scenario, the social media platforms have become the most lucrative mode to enhance their success levels. These increasing roots of the social business in 2013 landed on the radar of the corporate communications department and The Securities and Exchange Commission in the US approved the regulation that listed companies must disclose which social media channels are being used for official company and financial communications. Hence the global brands started to integrate the social mechanism and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) emerged as the leader from the front with 83% of business elites in Fortune 500 preferring this micro blogging portal as the most preferred network. But on the contrary the companies not on Twitter have been literally let off the map.

90 of the companies in the UK’s FTSE 100 share index – a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization – have a presence on Twitter, sending out more than 1.4 million tweets collectively over the past year. Gleaning to this Twitter trend in the corporate, the communication agency Battenhall published their second annual report which deduced that among the FTSE 100 companies, just 10 companies did not have a Twitter account which was down from 12 the last year. This reveals that the FTSE companies have become quite active on Twitter, majorly due to 2013’s US legislation from the SEC, but there is still a stagnant factor involved with most brands doing a bad job or nothing at all to make use of this social dais.

The main highlights of the report were:

• 6 of the 90 companies on Twitter have never tweeted, down from 8 last year.

• 10 of those that are on Twitter have not tweeted in the last month, down from 19 last year.

• Only 39 companies have more than 10,000 followers, up from 28 last year.

• 20 companies have fewer than 1,000 followers, down from 21 last year.

• The FTSE 100 companies tweeted 1,459,223 times in just the last year.

• The top performers on Twitter are Burberry, Coca-Cola HBC, ITV, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.

• The worst performers are GlencoreXstrata, Prudential, BHPBilliton and CRH.

Tweets towering tremendously in past one year

During this time last year, the FTSE had created a total of 582,227 tweets in total but a year later, the story has completely changed. The total tweets for the FTSE 100 now stands at over 2 million – 2,041,450 which is the exact number i.e. 1,459,223 new tweets in just the last year wherein Tesco alone has tweeted 644,000 times in total, which is more than all of the FTSE 100 this time last year.

10% of the FTSE 100’s have not yet adopted the new digital world and continue to follow the old trends. Although, for the last year two companies have adopted this new techno world- BHP Billiton and Weir Group which is a positive sign.

Also, only 37 out of the 90 companies on Twitter are verified whereas 53 are not. So this is something the companies need to request as showing the company is acknowledged by Twitter add to its business credentials.

The growth leaders and lagers

Most of the FTSE 100 companies have grown in size in the past year with Burberry Group accumulating the largest set of new followers in the last 12 months followed by the ITV Group. The majority of the companies finds it easy to grow their following, as long they are producing good content. However, the 10 accounts on the FTSE 100 index grew by almost nil margins and failed to reach even one new follower per day.

The most influential brand was deduced to be Marks and Spencer which gained an influential score of 83.4 using the Moz scoring system which measures the influence of engagement and follower size and where 100 is the highest score possible. On the other hand, the least influential score was jointly shared together by six brands-Shire, Arm Holdings, CRH,Prudential, GKN, Travis Perkins and St. James Place all scoring unity on this index.

Some swindling phenomenon which occurred last year

16 companies gained verified status from last year
1 company actually lost its verified company status – that was AstraZeneca
10 companies dropped out of the FTSE 100 altogether from last year, meaning there are 10 new names.
One company turned its account private – Glencore Xstrata.
Two accounts that exist are private – Glencore Xstrata and BHPBilliton.

The last year has proved to be a revolution as most of the UK PLC have gone social. There have been significant changes, but without regulation similar to that seen in the US, there is still a very polarized outlook when it comes to how brands are using social media for communications.

With Mobile Internet Ad Spending Growth of 210%, China Is The New Leader In The Industry !

By

Srishti Yadav

-

September 30, 2014

1

With regard to the different ad formats used in the mobile sector, mobile display ad format is turning out to be the single biggest category of ads, and is expected to remain so throughout the next five years. According to the latest projection report from eMarketer, mobile internet ad spending will account for 20.2% of all digital ad spending in Asia-Pacific and 5.5% of total media ad investments in the region this year. The total mobile internet ad spending in Asia-Pacific region will surpass $8.36 billion in 2014, and would reach to $25.38 billion by 2017. With a total mobile internet ad spending growth of 210% in 2013 and 2014, China has proved its ever growing dominance in the industry. Specifically in Asia-Pacific region, China will see a share of more than one third of all mobile internet ad dollars, surpassing Japan for the first time. Japan, with its ever growing industry and technology craving population had uptil now ensured that it had half of mobile internet ad spending in the entire region.

China to enjoy triple digit growth in ad spending: Display and Search ads’ contribution on rise

According to the latest estimates of eMarketer, in China spending on mobile internet ad will more than triple this year. The country’s increasing population and its mobile internet user base has helped it to claim the top spot in mobile internet advertising. It is predicted that contribution of Search and Display ads in the total mobile internet ad spending will reach more than $2.83 billion this year, an increase of $1.83 billion from the previous year. If the current rate of growth is sustained, this figure will surpass $12 billion by 2017.

Behind China, leading the chart are Australia and South Korea with the ad spending growth of 150% and 120% respectively. Spending levels is expected to double in India and Indonesia too. However, it is Japan which needs to work upon its market strategies as the estimates show its growth rate to be significantly lower, at 23% this year.

The growth rate and share of mobile internet as spending in India between 2014 and 2018 portrays an interesting scenario. The country is known to be the third largest and fastest growing smartphone device market, after the China and the US. Many other countries in Asia-Pacific region, such as Japan, Australia and South Korea, lags behind India when it comes to the number of mobile phone users. India has more than 157 million mobile internet users, and the number is estimated to rise up to 519 million by 2018 fiscal. In spite of all these India’s contribution to the region mobile internet ad spending does not see a boost in coming years. By 2018, country’s contribution is projected to stay less than 1% and the year-over-year growth rate is projected to decline to 60% in 2018 from 88.2% in 2014. The figures depict the fact that mobile internet users in India may not be the active adopters of mobile advertisements, and mobile internet advertising companies can’t really rely on the domestic market to scale up their business.

The growth in the rate will slow down as mobile website and application number soars

Due to ad space inventory supply growing faster than the demand, growth in mobile advertising spending is expected to slow down. According to analyst firm Gartner, it is due to the fact that mobile websites and applications are increasing faster than brands request ad space on mobile device screens. However, a shift to mobile web display can be seen after certain years of higher growth in app industry. Moreover, with people preferring to opt to mobile for smallest of reasons, as minimal as to look out for nearest destinations, small industries are targeting mobile ads to advertise about their products/services. This number will grow each year owing to the growth in the market and innovations in technology that China has been long known for.

Mobile population and Internet users back China’s claim to the top!

By the end of 2013, the number of smartphone users in the country touched 700 million and it’s expected to grow phenomenally in 2014 due to staggering growth of homegrown low-price smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi and ZTE. People of China are looking out for new technologies as they are seeking out smartphones with features that cater to their desire to pace up with changing times. It is the demand among the general population that saw the growth of low-cost smartphones. Today there are smartphones worth $50 and Android tablets with prices around $200 in the country.

According to the reports of semi-official China Internet Network Information Center, China had 632 million Internet users as of the end of June. What makes the number eye popping is that it is just slightly more than double the entire estimated population of the US. The number is somewhat near to the estimates from internetlivestats which puts the number around 641 million.

“The Internet continues to play an increasingly important role in China and the biggest revolution currently underway on the Internet is the shift to mobile. Traffic to social networks, online video sites, and search are all beginning to cross the 50% mark. In 2014, brands will attempt to keep pace by funneling more advertising spend into cross-screen mobile search and mobile video campaigns. Mobile display will also continue to ramp up as brands spend more on hero app ad buys and in-app ad networks.” said Andrew Carter, President of Trading and Knowledge, GroupM China.

China will continue to provide most promising market for mobile landscape

With smarter technology in place, mobile sector is already counted as one of the most promising sectors in China. There is a continued demand of makers like Xioami and companies like Intel are setting up their centers in the country to proliferate their market. No wonder the existing figures have already taken the analysts by awe, it is the future which holds the reality if China can really be show-stopper in years to come.

In 2014, mobile internet ad spending in Asia-Pacific is estimated to contribute 17.7% of the region’s total digital ad spending. As the number of mobile devices and mobile internet users are bound to increase in the next few years, the contribution is projected to double, reaching 35% by 2018.

Blackberry Ltd. (BBRY) Q2 2015 Results And Passport Sales: Is The Game Finally Over ?

By

Vasanth R

-

September 30, 2014

4

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) announced its fiscal Q2 2015 financial results on 26 September 2014, and the results beat analysts expectations with a lower than expected revenue loss. Total revenue earned for the quarter was US$916 million compared to US$ 1.57 billion in a year ago quarter. The company’s revenue loss was US$207 million compared to US$965 million during the same period a year earlier. While global smartphone sales soared to more than 300 million units, BlackBerry manged to sell just 2.1 milion smartphones. Yet, the handset division earned an adjusted gross profit for the first time in more than two years.

BlackBerry’s current CEO John Chen has been resolutely optimistic about the company’s future and predicted a return to profitability by 2015. Several new smartphone models are set for a year-end release, and the newest smartphone named ‘Passport’ features one such interesting new concept created by BlackBerry. There is also a planned release of a reworked Classic model featuring the Bold keyboard smartphone, for which strong demand is expected. The current market situation has, however proven to be far more challenging than expected, and in the following section we have tried to get the answer of Why!

Blackberry’s Market Share is Virtually Non-Existent

At the height of its power in 2010, BlackBerry was shipping almost 15 million smartphone devices every quarter. That figure dropped drastically with the rapid emergence of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Android smartphone models. To understand BlackBerry’s precarious position one needs to only look at the market share of Blackberry OS in several key smartphone markets. In the US the market share of BlackBerry OS is now just 2.3%, and shows no clear sign of gaining. The smartphone market in the US is already saturated and newer expensive smartphone models such as the Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Fire phone are already losing out. In the UK which was once a BlackBerry hub, its market share is a measly 1.3%, dropping from 3.5% a year earlier. The figures in China stand at 0%, which means Blackberry is almost non-existent in the world’s biggest smartphone market. interestingly, BlackBerry is still popular in South Africa and some countries where upgrade cycles are far less frequent.

All these figures highlight the impossible scenario BlackBerry now finds itself in. In a competitive market where Apple sells at least 32 million iPhones every quarter and Android sells million more devices globally, BlackBerry simply lacks the means to ever regain its lost place. Yet the firm can still ignite interest in new users with a low-cost model and appeal to its target audience, the business professional.

The Passport Smartphone Is A Bizzare New Model

To regain its lost grounds, Blackberry has once again tried to lure smartphone users with the new smartphone, Passport. However, BlackBerry’s newest smartphone is undoubtedly a bizarre twist to its range of smartphones. The new device has a touch screen size of just 4.5 inches and features a tiny physical keyboard as well. Other specs include a 13 MP camera, 3GB RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, all powered by BlackBerry 10 OS. Pre-order bookings for the device were at just 200,000 units in two days, compared to 4 million iPhone 6 pre-orders. The device lacks several third-party apps such as Instagram and Snapchat which apparently fails to attract new users in scores. Yet the device would certainly have appeal among users who are interested in productivity smartphones and not for other uses. It’s perhaps the best new device BlackBerry could come up with, but it may not be enough though.

Will Security and Software Management Services Save The Day?

BlackBerry suffered a mighty fall because of a variety of factors such as wrong hardware direction, loss of engineering talent and most importantly poor software. The Blackberry smartphone OS was simply unable to match up to the wide variety of apps and services provided by Apple and Google. Blackberry CEO John Chen has touted BlackBerry’s security, mobile device management and QNX operating system as the company’s biggest strengths. Yet even this may not shift things in BlackBerry’s way anytime soon. The uncertainty surrounding the future has forced corporates to turn to other solutions such Good technology and International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM). Sensing the turning tide, Apple has teamed up with IBM to offer more iPads to enterprise and this may be the final nail in the BlackBerry’s coffin.

The End May Be Nearing Soon

The reality of the situation looks obviously clear for BlackBerry. The company has set an ambitious target of 10 million smartphone sales in fiscal year 2015, and even if sales are likely to improve steadily over the next few quarters BlackBerry may be setting itself up for future acquisition, similar to Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK). Although the company has US$3 billion in cash it is far more likely that all its hardware and software business will be sold individually. The future may indeed be grim for BlackBerry but one thing is for certain; John Chen is not letting the company sink without a fight.

Can BlackBerry pull off an upset in the coming months with a new radical model? What more does John Chen have to do to revitalize Growth? Do let us know in the comments section below.

Facebook Inc. (FB) Launches The New Cross-Platform Ad Network Atlas

By

Aarzu Khan

-

September 29, 2014

0

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has finally launched the long hauled cross platform ad network – also being seen as a Google AdWord competitor – Atlas. The social media giant was looking forward to provide a more robust and seamlessly integrated ad network to hundreds of thousands of advertisers who are actively targeting more than 1.5 billion users available on Facebook and Instagram, together. The new ad network focuses on people-based marketing, ditching the cookies and enabling the true cross-device marketing for marketers.

“People spend more time on more devices than ever before. This shift in consumer behavior has had a profound impact on a consumer’s path to purchase, both online and in stores. And today’s technology for ad serving and measurement – cookies – are flawed when used alone. Cookies don’t work on mobile, are becoming less accurate in demographic targeting and can’t easily or accurately measure the customer purchase funnel across browsers and devices or into the offline world.“ said Erik Johnson, Head – Atlas, in a blog post while announcing the launch.

Facebook acquired Atlast from Microsoft in the month of March last year for an undisclosed amount. Then Rumors claimed that Facebook paid nearly $100 million to Microsoft for Atlas, which was bought by Microsoft for $6.2 billion in 2007. However, Microsoft failed to capitalize on the ad network and eventually sold it off to Facebook for peanuts. But not all the analysts saw the deal as a result of the write-off acquisition; many believed that it was a strategic move by Microsoft to back Facebook to challenge Google indirectly in its dominant space of digital advertising.

The new Atlas is designed to serve ads more effectively on Desktop, mobile, tablets and offline. The platform is developed to measure and serve ads on across platforms as people are tend to shift platforms and devices more frequently than ever before. The traditional as technology of Cookies doesn’t work on mobile and has become prone to generate more inaccurate demographic when a marketer target users on various devices for the same ad campaign. Facebook is trying to provide a more effective medium for marketers to run ad campaigns on Facebook as well as Intagram. In future, monetization of WhatApp through ads could also be easily integrated with the system and marketers would have access to a better system to run their ads on all the three platforms meritoriously.

To start Atlas has already signed its first major partnership with Omnicom. Besides, it has also partnered with several other companies for more types of ads:

Paid search: Kenshoo (SPMD), Marin Software (PMD)
Social advertising: SHIFT (SPMD), Social.com, Social Moov (PMD)
Video & rich media: Jivox, Innovid, Celtra, Flashtalking, Medialets, Goldspot Media, Phluant

With the official launch of Atlas Facebook has moved closer to Google in Digital advertising market. In 2014, Internet Ad Spend is estimated to reach $121 billion. By the end of 2018, the industry is expected to touch nearly $200 billion mark as the internet and smartphone penetration would be at its peak. And, In current scenario, Facebook is apparently the only player that could compete with Google in this space.

Free Internet For Everyone On Earth By June 2015: Major Regions Covered !

By

Aarzu Khan

-

September 29, 2014

6

You may find it difficult to believe, but it’s true and now its tested also. A US based organization, which is working on an ambitious project that would allow it to beam free Wi-Fi to everyone on Earth from hundreds of low-orbit satellites, has recently started providing free Wi-Fi signals to 1.3 billion people in North America, Europe and most of the Middle East. The project, known as OUTERNET, is already in process to cover some part of the Asia-Pacific region and is scheduled to offer free Wi-Fi access through hundreds of satellites by the end of 2014. The OUTERNET is scheduled to connect every human being on earth, having a computer or mobile, with internet by June 2015. Currently, OUTERNET provides 200 MB of data per day through its high-speed signals, but soon it would be upgraded to 1 GB. The company is eyeing on providing 100 GB of data per day to users across the globe.

Media Development Investment Firm (MDIF), as the company known by, is planning to take the web access to the next level of advancements. The organization believes that only 60% people on Earth have access to knowledge and information on the Internet and with the growing influence of technology in our lives, it’s important that every person with a computer or a smartphone must be connected to the internet. The project also aims to solve the problem of restricted access of the Internet in countries like North Korea and China as people there could access the various internet websites directly through OUTERNET, bypassing local restrictions and regulations. To make the project more viable the company is seeking the donation from people, including Internet giants Facebook and Google, to get the project on the road.

The company has planned to launch hundreds of low cost miniature satellites, known as cubesats, into the low Earth orbit. Each satellite will receive the data from ground stations located at various places across the globe. Unlike traditional internet protocol, the OUTERNET will depend on the technology known as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) multitasking, which will send data bytes to each system connected to the internet via OUTERNET. The whole system will function just like a TV that received signals from the satellite and user keep flickering channels with a push of a button.

Mr. Syed Karin, Project Lead – OUTERNET, recently fielded few questions on Reddit related to the much ambitious project. He said ‘We have a very solid understand of the costs involved, as well as experience working on numerous spacecraft.”

He feels that that the project holds a very high possibility of success as the first phase of connecting North America and Europe has already been concluded successfully. Launching a low Earth orbit satellite and beaming signals are not a very first-time exercise. However, challenges lie in serving billions of users seamlessly, who would be connected to Internet through OUTERNET.

Besides, the growing concern among telecom providers is another challenge the project will face definitely. Telecom providers across the globe are already facing heat from the growing adoption of mobile messaging apps, their revenue from messaging is almost dead in many of developed and developing markets. The huge penetration of mobile internet is the way to go ahead for the telecom companies, however, in the presence of free Wi-Fi web access to devices, they would be left merciless with no other options but to generate revenue from calls and a few over-the-top services.

But OUTERET will fight against Telecom companies, who have already started lobbying against the project. Mr. Karin said “We will fight….and win.”

Google Inc. (GOOGL) Retargeting Search Campaigns Generate Greater ROI When Combined With Social !

By

Anmol Gupta

-

September 29, 2014

2

Retargeting campaign – also known as remarketing campaign – combined with Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Search ad campaign and Social Media campaign, especially with Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), brings more engagement and results in greater ROI, claims the recent study.

In the last report on Retargeting we analyzed its successful competence to drive positive ROI which has made it an integral part of digital marketing strategy along with the highlights of the plentiful challenges associated with this emerging trend. But the report of Marin Software deduced further that these impending challenges and trends took a different perspective when the search campaigns of remarketing were managed alongside social campaigns which yielded substantially better performances.

Google’s RLSAs drove higher CTRs and lower CPCs

The comparison of Google RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) and non RLSA campaigns gleaned that CTRs generated by RLSA campaigns was 2 to 3 times higher as compared to non-RLSA campaign CTRs. Taking into account the three month’s performance level between the two campaigns, a number of factors were inferred that contributed to this performance gain; Marketers could have improved their audience segmentation efforts by creating more targeted, actionable segments, they could have optimized budgets by increasing spend on the higher performing segments, and reducing spend on worse performing segments; or they could have refined their creative strategy and messaging to drive better results.

Another interesting finding in the report was that not only did RLSA campaigns have higher CTRs but they also achieved higher CTRs while delivering those leads at a lower CPC2 compared to non-RLSA campaigns. Hence RLSA have been delivering astounding performance which has not only given the marketers better engagement, but at the same time decreasing the cost of each engagement.

The combination of retargeting on both Facebook and Display yielding better performance for marketers

The analysis of data of advertisers on the Perfect Audience Platform cogitated that a multiplied effect was obtained when marketers holistically optimized their running of search and social (non-retargeting) campaigns and a similar data was obtained when they choose retargeting on both Facebook and Display channels as compared to only retargeting on one of the channels.

The above graph shows that marketers who were simultaneously retargeting on Facebook and the Web enjoyed higher click-through rates on Facebook compared to a cohort of similar marketers who were retargeting only on Facebook.

The findings were similar for marketers who simultaneously retargeted on both Facebook and the Web, compared to similar marketers who were retargeting only on the Web. In this case, the performance gap for display retargeting was even higher than the performance gap for Facebook.

The best practices for Retargeting across channels

The use of search intent to build better cross-channel intelligence is one of the effective ways in cross channel retargeting campaigns through which marketers can leverage search intent data to create more targeted, higher-value retargeting lists. Without intent, a marketer can’t be sure what the right message should be, what creative elements to include, or whether the user is worth targeting at all. However, if you can overlay search intent on top of your basic retargeting lists, you can segment and refine them to give you more insight and increase the likelihood of conversion. Also, the search intent data can be used by the marketers for grouping certain search terms together develop broad user personas, even without the assistance of third-party data. By doing so, the marketer can then leverage gained insights when they retarget these users across search, social or display.

A common use case for Google RLSA involves increasing visibility to past site visitors by broadening the keyword list an advertiser might bid on. Hence, by maximizing the reach and optimizing returns by selectively combining retargeting and negative retargeting can be termed as another effective method for retargeting across multiple channels.

For example- When a travel retailer bids on a high-cost generic term like “NYC hotels” on Google then the advertisers need to bid on the keyword to attract new customers, but they would prefer to avoid incurring multiple clicks on the same high-cost ads from the same users. Therefore to achieve that, a marketer could bid on the initial click and pay the high CPC fees. However, once the user has clicked on the ad and visited the advertiser’s site, the marketer could immediately start negatively retargeting that user on Google to minimize costs. Simultaneously, the marketer could start retargeting to this user on the web through the display ad exchanges, and on social channels through Facebook and Twitter. This allows the marketer to achieve a significant increase in reach and frequency, and stay top-of mind with the potential of customers while doing so most cost effectively than if the marketer had relied only on the search.

By taking the insights from each of these channels and combining their impacts, the marketers can get a complete overview of who their potential customers are and how they’re interacting across all of their marketing campaigns, in order to drive increased returns. Retargeting is a powerful branding and conversion optimization tool, but it works best if it’s part of a larger digital strategy. Retargeting works best in conjunction with inbound and outbound marketing or demand generation. Strategies involving content marketing, AdWords, and targeted display are awesome for driving traffic, but they don’t help with conversion optimization. Conversely, retargeting can help increase conversions, but it can’t drive people to your site. Hence the best chance of success is combining one or more tools to drive traffic and retargeting to get the most out of that traffic.

Facebook Page Fans Visit, Spend And Buy More Than Traditional Customers !

By

Anmol Gupta

-

September 29, 2014

1

With the number of social media users closing to the 2 billion mark and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) alone harboring 1.3 billion MAUs, there’s no surprise that why this platform has become the most preferred avenue for both B2B and B2C marketers for promotion and branding of their products. Therefore, for sustaining their customers, many enterprises are setting up corporate social accounts nowadays, which has led to the emergence of numerous social media marketing vendors seeking to help brands increase, improve and incur their customer interactions.

It’s easy for the companies with a social media presence to deduce the qualitative results such as number of followers or social interaction but the evaluation of its quantitative results like the impact on business of the social media consumption still seems a tedious task for them. Hence, to answer this million dollar question that what is the measurability of social media, particularly in terms of driving sales, shopper social media company Collective Bias and independent customer analytics company YetiData published a paper explaining how a large regional specialty retailer quantified the impact of their Facebook page on their customer’s path to purchase.

Facebook brand pages’ a better choice for customers than calling customer care

Facebook in present times hosts over 15 million brands and hence has become a lucrative platform for connecting, engaging and sharing information with customers and prospective customers. A like on their pages indicates that the customers really want to engage with their brand. Hence, social media network can act as an effective medium to build brand trust and enhance the customer experience. These are the first preference of the customers to gather knowledge about a product and with 84% of young shoppers getting influenced by the brand pages of Facebook, they have definitely proven to be a better option for one to one interaction than their customer care numbers. The more engaged consumers became with posting on Facebook, the more they bought.

Facebook customers are better spenders

YetiData and Collective Bias conducted a four year-long study of a major grocery store’s Facebook page (150,000 fans) and analysed that Facebook fans of the store on average bought 125 more items than a typical customer which was a substantial 35% rise. Conjointly, the Facebook fans who engaged with the page at least 10 times spent more than $1,000 annually than a typical customer which was whopping 95% higher. Also, the users who were engaged to these levels visited the store 40 more times annually than a typical customer.

Bob Loos, the Director of Analytics at Collective Bias talked about how key engagement is when trying to convert Facebook fans into paying customers:–

I think the general opinion is, “Why wait until you have them in the store to make them a buyer?” If you have very good content, then by the time they’ve engaged with this really great content, they’ve already, in their minds, used this product. You can convert before you have to win them in-store. … When you’re starting a new Facebook page, you need fans. But it doesn’t necessarily help to grow you fanbase if you’re not going to engage. You’re then throwing good money after bad. There’s a lot of test-and-learn that goes on when we post things on a page.”

The study revealed that the commitment of the brand pages to respond to the customer queries, concerns and kudos led to the formation of a consumer base that was more interested in shopping. Adding to it, the retailers have to also “lock in” the customer base once formed because over 75% of the profit for the endorser is from a mere 25% of customers who are Facebook fans and a Facebook fan of the business spent nearly 50 percent more than a non-fan over time. So just targeting the newer customers and loosing the grip of the old ones would progressively slice their profit.

Also, the study highlights that majority of the Facebook business audience is female which accounts for more than 60% of total fanbase hence they tend to buy more items. But on the contrary, male Facebook fans visited 20% more often the store as compared to women.

Omni-channel approach more viable for promotion

The marketers should maximize all efforts to lure in more customers, which should include analyzing both the social media and in-house tactics. Eliminating the void between the in-store and online consumer base is necessary for attracting customers on each index on the path of buying. They can’t just rely on one channel for their growth because both are interlinked-online updates can be used to drive customers to the in-store purchases and the in-store social updates would lead them to follow on the web. The combination of digital and physical platforms for attracting the customers will not only help the customers to enjoy a better and a unique shopping experience, but along with it they’ll also deluge a feeling of connectedness with the brand.

Android’s Low-Cost Smartphones The New Rage In The India Market !

By

Srishti Yadav

-

September 29, 2014

11

Known for being one of the most prolific markets for market giants like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KRX:005935 ), Nokia, India is witnessing the growth at a pace making it one of the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. A recent report that took a closer look on Android users in India, released by Opera Software called ‘Opera Software’s State of the Android Mobile Web report’ revealed that The Opera Mini user base in India has increased by 25% over the past year. Its smartphone user base has surged by 120%, report stated. 47% of all its users have migrated to smartphones. Android smartphones, with their affordability standards, are leading the graph with its user base increase of astounding 160%.

“Opera Mini’s basic phone users are upgrading to Android smartphones at a pace we haven’t experienced before,” says Sunil Kamath, Vice President for South Asia at Opera Software.

With prices as low as low as 2K, Android is turning out to be consumers best bet

No wonder market giants like Apple, Samsung etc have had a monopolistic control over the smartphone market for long, but certainly “non-so-well established” manufacturers are putting up a good fight with the big guns. With their state-of-art features, highly affordable prices, irresistible designs, they have become the best bet for consumers. We have previously covered this promising sector of under 20K smartphones. At a time when Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus has taken its price tag comparable to MacBoook Air, it will be interesting to see the shift in consumer preferences in coming years.

The latest report from Opera highlights few keytrends that are defining and describe market shifts and help to visualize the smartphone market scenario in India in coming years:

On Opera Network, homegrown Micromax enjoys the largest chunk of the smartphone pie with a 30% market share, followed by Samsung (25%). However, Samsung beats Micromax with distinctive margin in data consumption on a smartphone. Samsung users consumed nearly 56% of data on Opera Network as compared to just 21% by Micromax users. This clearly indicates that the majority of Micromax smartphone users are still confined to basic features of Smartphone and are first time smartphone users.

On Opera Network, Facebook is the most popular website, which is driving the growth of mobile data consumption. Around 70% of users to Opera Mini come from Facebook. The finding depicts that social media, especially Facebook, is the main reason behind the growing adoption of mobile internet in India.

Mobile shopping is witnessing an unprecedented growth in India, as recorded by the Opera report. Number of user visits surged by 356% in last one year, Flipkart being the most popular among Opera Mini users.

The consumption of video on mobile is on the rise in India, as recorded by Opera. The video consumption on Opera Mini grew by 205% in the last one year. YouTube remains the most popular video sharing network, followed by DailyMotion and MetaCafe, registering an impressive growth in its users on Opera Mini by 175%, 450% and 205%, respectively.

With 7.9 % growth in internet user base, Android is making best use of the growing demand

Worldwide internet user base is growing at the rate of 7.9 %. Right behind China and United States, India is the quickest-expanding smartphone globally, according to Britain-based consultancy Canalys. “India is a market that offers huge potential as hundreds of millions of users have yet to upgrade”, said Jessica Kwee, an analyst at Canalys. With a population of 1.25 billion, 9.58% of share in world’s internet users and projected annual smartphone sales growth of around 40 per cent for the next five years, India is providing promising figures encouraging global brands to turn to Indian markets to increase profit.

Micromax, Karbonn and Xolo lead the competition at the low-end spectrum of the market

Intex cloud FX—at Rs. 1999 is the latest entry into India’s cheap smartphone market. This smartphone of Caifornia based Mozilla joined hands with Indian phone-maker Intex to join the league of brands competing to lure consumers with their prices. Firefox-powered Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 for Rs. 2,299 is the closest rival in the market. Some of the around 10K smartphones, which are user’s favourite have been compiled as under:

Micromax Canvas Fun A6: Priced around Rs.5,000, this smartphone with 4-inch display with an internal memory of 4GB runs on Android 4.2. It provides 2G, 3G,Wi-Fi facilities.

Xolo A500S Lit: This dual sim phone powered by dual-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 processor and 512MB RAM, id priced around Rs. 5000. Running on Android 4.4 it offers 2G, 3G,WiFi facilities.

Intex Aqua Y2: Supporting dual sim cards, display of 4-Inch, it runs on Android 4.2. Available at Rs. 4,700, one can access internet facilities through 3G and WiFi.

Celkon A35K Campus: Powered by 1 GHz single core processor and 256 MB Ram, it runs on KitKat-the latest Android version Available at around Rs. 3,600, it offers 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi facilities.

Karbon Smart A11 Star: Run on Android 4.0 ( Ice Cream Sandwich) this smartphone with 4-Inch display is available at around Rs.4,500. It provides 2G, 3G, Bluetooth for connectivity

Spice Mi-436 Stellar Glamour: Priced at around Rs.5000, this dual sim phone with 4-inch display is powered by 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 processor and runs on Android4.2 ( Jelly Bean)

The list of affordable smartphones at affordable prices is unending. Even market giants like Samsung and Nokia do not lag behind, Samsung Galaxy Star, Nokia Asha are a simple addition to the list. Lately Nokia X, Nokia XL also targeted this spectrum with its low prices.

Android One: Google’s latest attempt to hit the lower spectrum!

Android One is a Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) programme where it is partnering with local smartphone manufacturers to create “high-quality” but low-cost Android smartphone.

Partnering with Micromax, Spice and Karbonn, Android One is Google’s latest attempt to cater to the growing demand of cheaper smartphones is yet to see the responses. However, the bigger question is whether the existing rivals Motorola Moto E (Rs. 6,999) and Xioami’s Redmi 1S (Rs.5,999) have something to worry about? These two low-cost smartphones have become an instant hit in the market. Running on the latest version of Android (4.4 KitKat), this dual sim phone has a micro SD card, quad-core processor and front/rear camera; a feature that can make anyone grab a hand on it.

Whatever may be future, With Android One it seems Google wants to rest back the control of the Android ecosystem from its long time rivals like Samsung, Sony, and LG.

For the ones already geared up to buy the new Android One smartphones, it’s right there at Flipkart!

Google Inc (GOOGL) Android One Is A Win-Win Opportunity For Everyone

By

Asif Iqbal Shaik

-

September 28, 2014

1

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) recently kicked off its Android One initiative from India. While many analysts see the new initiative as a possible threat to dominant players likes of Samsung, of Smartphone Industry, here is an analysis why this would turn out to be a Win-Win situation for all smartphone vendors and users both.

Smartphones have penetrated into the lives of majority of population in developed markets like US, Europe and East Asia countries like Japan and Korea. According to IDC, global smartphone shipments is set to pass the 1.2 billion mark and most of this growth would lie in developing markets like China, Indian subcontinent, South-East Asia, African countries and Latin America. According to the another report by Ericsson, smartphone market is bound to reach around 5.6 billion units by 2019 and Asia Pacific is expected to capture almost half of this market.

Unlike developed nations, a majority of smartphone buyers in these markets would be price conscious. It was pretty obvious that every smartphone platform maker will focus in markets like these for further growth but Google had to make sure that it focussed the right kind of users, the price conscious ones, especially the $100-$200 price bracket.

According to the latest numbers from Strategy Analytics, Google already owns 84.6 percent of the smartphone market and it is hungry for more. When Google introduced the Android One initiative for the first time during Google I/O 2014, everyone knew that it was Google’s next big step in extending their already existing lead in smartphone market share. After US and China, India is the biggest smartphone market in the world. Even though it largely controls the development of Android, due to its open nature, Google had already lost its control over Android in China due to some strict regulations against their services by the local government. Google didn’t want to lose the Indian market, which reportedly has a potential to be a smartphone market bigger than China by 2016.

It had learnt its lessons from the Nexus initiative that proper distribution and sales channel are necessary for its success. Android One was all about reach for Google so this time, it launched the Android One in collaboration with multiple device vendors. The Android One first launched in India in collaboration with some of the top local smartphone brands; Micromax, Karbonn and Spice.

How is Android One beneficial for end users?

Earlier, when a consumer who wanted to jump from a feature to a smartphone would just want the presence of Android in the device but now, smartphone users have matured enough to understand the presence of the latest version of operating system as well as the importance of further software updates. One of the major selling points about Android One would be Google’s promise about providing the latest version of Android for 2 years from its release.

With a price tag of around just $100, all Android One smartphones are either a match to competing devices or better than them. Even though Xiaomi is providing better hardware specifications at a similar price tag, it is to be noted that Xiaomi is able to provide a very limited number of devices to consumers and they might never outsell Android One devices. Android One devices will be available on all major online as well as offline stores. Google has already worked with MediaTek to fine-tune the user experience on Android One smartphones. Even Qualcomm is expected to provide their SoCs for the next batch of Android One smartphones. As such, Android One devices don’t offer much better hardware than its competitors, but what it offers users is the trust on Android.

	Android One	Xiaomi Redmi 1S	Asus Zenfone 4 A400CG	Nokia Lumia 530 Dual SIM
Screen	4.5-inch, 854 x 480 pixels	4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 pixels	4-inch, 800 x 480 pixels	4.3-inch, 854 x 480 pixels
Operating System	Android 4.4.4 KitKat (Upgradeable To Android L)	Android 4.4.4 KitKat (MIUI v5.0)	Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (Upgradeable To Android 4.4.4 KitKat)	Windows Phone 8.1
Processor	1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6583	1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400	1.2GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2520	1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
RAM	1GB	1GB	1GB	512MB
Storage	4GB, microSD card slot	8GB, microSD card slot	8GB, microSD card slot	4GB, microSD card slot
Primary Camera	5MP, AF, Flash, 1080p Video Recording	8MP, AF, Flash, 1080p Video Recording	5MP, AF, 1080p Video Recording	5MP, 480p Video Recording
Secondary Camera	2MP	1.6MP	VGA	Not Present
Connectivity	Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0	Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0	Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0	Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0
Sensors	Proximity, Light, Gyro, Compass, GPS	Proximity, Light, Gyro, Compass, GPS	Proximity, Light, Compass, GPS	Proximity, Light, Gyro, Compass, GPS
Battery	1700 mAh	2000 mAh	1600 mAh	1430 mAh
Price	INR 6,299	INR 5,999	INR 5,999	INR 6,398

Android One accelerates sales from local smartphone brands

Google has already decided a reference hardware platform for all the Android One devices, so vendors are restrained from investing their time, effort and money in deciding the components or OEMs that are needed in manufacturing these devices. They only need to spend their effort in optimising their distribution as well as sales channel, thereby improving the time it needs to bring a device to store shelves.

Apart from this, it would be a first incident where Google will be co-branding Android devices. Google is going big on the advertising front for Android One smartphones. When a consumer watches a TV or print advertisement about Android One device where Google is actively promoting products, it increases the credibility factor of those devices in a consumer’s mind. It brings a sense of trust which they would not have otherwise. A joint marketing efforts from Google means increased awareness about Android One which in turn means more sales.

Also, due to increased credibility, local brands who are participating in the Android One initiative would be able to fend off their Android competitors from China such as Xiaomi as well as devices based on other platforms such as Windows Phone, Firefox and Tizen.

What’s in it for Google?

One thing which allowed Google a huge marketshare lead over other platforms is the availability of Android devices at various price points. But these devices weren’t without their problems. Thanks to low-end hardware and expectation of lower revenue, smartphone vendors did not spend much of time and money in optimising the software. This usually results in less than satisfying user experience of entry-level Android smartphones. According to the latest numbers from Google itself, only 24.5 percent of Android users are using the latest version of software. This creates an inception among low-end Android smartphones users that Android doesn’t satisfying user experience and software updates. Android One would greatly enhance a consumer’s respect for entry-level Android smartphones.

Google has also promised Android L updates to Android One smartphones as soon as it gets released publicly. Not only this helps Google in stopping vendors in forking Android, it also becomes easier for Google to keep competing smartphone platforms like Windows Phone and Firefox at bay.

A majority of Google’s revenue comes from its search business and the more number of users use Google Search, the more revenue it gets. People are increasingly moving away from desktop to mobile. It is expected that Google will work with local content providers and services, making Android One smartphones a part of people’s lives. This increased market share means more clients for Google who would like to advertise on their platform. Google will be investing heavily in tying up with telecom providers to improve data connection speeds in order to make Android One buyers use Internet on a regular basis, which is a part of its “rain maker strategy”.

“Access for access’s sake is not enough. With Android One, we not only want to help people get online, we want to make sure that when they get there, they can tap into the wealth of information and knowledge the web holds for everyone.” – Sundar Pichai, Head Of Android & Google Chrome.

In Google’s official blog, Sundar Pichai explains that with Android One, their motto is to capture “the next five billion“. This would not only increase Google’s search market share and revenue from it, it also increases their revenue through Play Store. Play Store recently beat Apple’s AppStore in terms of app downloads but not in revenue. According to a report from RadioFreeMobile, Google Play Store will beat Apple AppStore in revenue by 2018 and a large part of its reason would be Android One. In developing nations, where Android One will be launched, majority of people do not have credit cards to buy apps from the Play Store. So, Google is in talks with major telecom providers such as Bharti Airtel for carrier billing.

This is how Google’s idea of Android One will turn into a win-win opportunity for everyone, be it the end consumers, device vendors, telecom providers or Google itself.

Tata Docomo Offers Connected Home With Connected Lifestyle !

By

Dazeinfo

-

September 27, 2014

0

The world of IoT – Internet of Things – is estimated to grow to 40 billion devices by the year 2020. The industry would largely be driven by nearly 4.5 million developers and tech giants Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) already have started empowering these developers to built exclusive apps that could help both the companies to take advantage of early stage penetration. However, due to the complexity involved users are yet to understand the core advantages of the IoT and the industry is growing slower than expected rate. Consumers are looking to have rather simpler, personalized and intra-connected systems that make the adoption of IoT more meaningful and closer to the activities of their daily life.

While companies are aiming B2B sector as the first adopters of IoT, its has been identified that a large segment of consumers is exploring the possibilities of making their personal life more technology friendly and advanced by bringing in IoT to their life. Smart Home is one such example that brings the concept of connected Home to the reality and Tata Docomo – India’s one of the leading telecom providers – has planned to venture into the market with offerings that allow users to make their home more connected and full of life, without compromising with security aspects.

Tata Docomo has started rolling out the high-speed broadband network to some of the Tier 1 cities in India, where users are willing to take their lifestyle to a new level of advancements and experience. The company has started offering the broadband connectivity with the speed upto 100 Mbps that helps people doesn’t only stay connected to the Internet, but also connect and control their most of the devices and content with the help of the Internet and Smartphone. Tata Docomo believes that people must see it, to feel it, and with the growing influence of the internet in our lives, we could now be more demanding from our idiot box and optimize our home life for the optimum gains of knowledge as and when it’s required.

Speaking exclusively with Dazeinfo, Prateek Pashine – Head of Enterprise Business, Tata Teleservices, said “Being the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony, Tata Teleservices is committed to bring the revolutionary offerings in the space of Internet and Telephony. By combining both of these with the help of state-of-the-art infrastructure we want that users must experience the next generation of lifestyle at home.”

Though the penetration of Internet and smartphone in India is still at a nascent stage, the early adopters of technology have already been exploring possibilities and opportunities in this space. The lowing cost of both Internet and smartphone in India is helping users to transform their home into a Smart Connected Home. Definitely, it’s the first wave of the technology integration meant for B2C segment and by offering the required infrastructure Tata has apparently taken a big lead over its competitors, who are still struggling to provide a ceaseless Internet connectivity to their consumers.

88% Of Digital Marketers Employing Retargeting Tactics To Re-engage Users But With Numerous Impending Challenges

By

Anmol Gupta

-

September 25, 2014

1

Retargeting has become the hot favorite technique in the online advertisement space to lure in more and more customers and increase the market sales for a particular brand because in general only 2% of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store and the next 98% have to be brought back by retargeting. Hence Retargeting, also known as remarketing by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), is a form of online advertising that can help keep a brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave its website. Therefore, if an endorser is not using retargeting as a part of digital marketing strategy then probably it is being retargeted by some other brand that is using this methodology.

The Retargeting Trends and Challenges

Despite of this retargeting trend becoming an integral part of the digital marketing world, still many marketers are unfamiliar of its effectiveness. Hence, to understand the state of retargeting amidst the marketers, Marine Software conducted a survey of 233 enterprise marketers and inquired about their retargeting practices and challenges. The report highlighted that in the present moment 88% of marketers are currently employing this tactic to re-engage users who didn’t purchased on their initial visits to their consortium. The rest 12% who haven’t implemented this practice of retargeting attributed the main reasons as poor past performance, poor fit with marketing goals, lack of budget, and privacy/regulatory constraints for keeping it out of their marketing mix. However, over 50% of this group said that they had plans to start retargeting within the following 12 months.

The most preferred channel for retargeting deduced in the survey was display followed by search. The popularity of these two mediums can be accounted due to their alignment with Google AdWords retargeting offering through GDN (Global Development Network) and RLSA (Remarketing List for Search Ads).

89% of marketers who were retargeting, reported of using a combination of Google’s retargeting tools, search retargeting through RLSA, and display retargeting through GDN. However, with Google, Bing, and other major search engines moving to secure search, the opportunities to retarget search queries have abated.

Marketers are even focusing on retargeting across multiple channels, but the drawback attached with this phenomenon is that over 50% of such promoters reported having disparate goals for each channel they were retargeting on and according to a recent Econsultancy/Oracle report, only 10% of marketers said that their messaging, execution, and delivery were aligned when performing cross-channel marketing.

Marin Software Chief Marketing Officer Matt Ackley talked about the effectiveness of combining Facebook and display retargeting; “It starts with the premise that the path to conversion is a multi-channel path. It’s not like somebody just uses search. It’s not like someone just goes to Facebook and gives all their information. I think the fact that it is a multi-channel path means that you have to be present when you’re implementing different types of targeting strategies. You have to be present across channels in order to stay top-of-mind.”

Attribution, sufficient list volume, and lack of transparency are ongoing challenges

The most tedious task for the marketers in terms of redirecting is to attribute their performance across various channels. Hence, to get a better idea of how to attribute their performance they can employ lift tests to determine how much lift is attributable to the retargeting campaigns, and what, if any, cannibalization from other marketing efforts.

Also, generating sufficient volume when retargeting through Google RLA’s is another ongoing challenge for the marketers both in quantitative and qualitative aspects which hold true for large brands and advertisers as well. However, list volume in the survey seemed less of an issue on the social and display channels.

Lack of Transparency occupied the third spot in this list of challenges to be faced with redirecting by the advertisers. Transparency can be molded into different senses by different companies, but the common themes basically involve an amalgam of media transparency, performance transparency, and pricing transparency. Most of the above listed spheres are addressable but a number of these issues can be attributed to the misaligned incentives that can possibly come into picture when a particular brand works with a retargeting company who charges on a CPC (Cost Per Click) or CPA (Cost Per Action) basis, while purchasing inventory on a CPM (Cost Per Mille) basis.

Retargeting budgets: Limited but liberal

The retargeting tactic being adopted by almost 90% of marketers now as a digital marketing strategy seems already a prevailing ploy, but in contrast the allocation of budgets for this gambit still makes it seem an experimental stratagem which needs to prove its performance. Almost half of the marketers claimed that they did not have a fixed budget for retargeting. Furthermore, 51% of marketers told that they spent 10% or less of their budget on retargeting.

On the whole, the substantial competence of retargeting to drive positive ROI has successfully increased its presence in marketing budgets as more than 50% of marketers plan to escalate their retargeting spends across search, social, and display over the next 12 months. In addition to this, the emerging retargeting modes like mobile and video targeting also appear to be propitious opportunities of growth in the following year and it would not be surprising if they gain a large share of retargeting market strategy in the coming times.

iPhone 6 Sales Figure Forced Samsung To Launch Galaxy Note 4 In October !

By

Neeraj M

-

September 24, 2014

0

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may be busy to satisfy the unprecedented demand of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but its arch-rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KRX:005930) is closely monitoring the market response to the new iPhones. After the seeing the record first weekend sales of large screen iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the Korean electronics giant has reportedly preponed the launch of the recently unveiled Galaxy Note 4. According to the latest confirmation from Samsung Galaxy Note 4 would be available from 26^th of October in Korea.

While the company has decided to stick with one-region one-country launch strategy, Galaxy Note 4 would be available in 140 countries by the end of October this year, reports Samsung.

The 5.7-inch display Android smartphone is being considered as the Samsung’s answer to 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. However, Samsung’s announcement to launch Galaxy Note 4 earlier than expected is being considered as the result of the pressure mounted on the company after the startling market response to Apple iPhone 6. Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in its first weekend sales. Both, Apple and Samsung, enjoy a greater influence over smartphone market and together they are expected to control 45% of worldwide smartphone shipments in 2014.

The success of Galaxy Note 4 is quite important for Samsung. While the company has strengthened its presence in the US in the last one year, its worldwide smartphone market share has been declining for the last couple of quarters. Samsung’s smartphone market share shrunk to 25.2% in Q2, 2014, a decline of nearly 7% point compared to the year ago quarter. Samsung shipped 74.3 million units of smartphones in the second quarter of 2014, which is 3 million lesser than what company shipped in the quarter year ago. It is important to highlight that this decline in samsung’s market share was recorded during the time when the worldwide smartphone industry grew by 23.1% and all smartphone manufacturers, but Samsung, gained the ground.

Samsung is facing tough time due to the declining Average Selling Price (ASP) of smartphone worldwide and emerges of local players in emerging markets. At 2014, ASP of Samsung’s smartphone is estimated to go down by 9%. While, on the other hand, local players like Xiaomi, Huawei, Micromax along with Motorola, are fueling the competition by introducing the low-price smartphone. Asia-Pacific region will emerge as the main driving force behind the worldwide smartphone industry growth with Chin and India playing a key-role. However, in China, Xiaomi just dethroned Samsung as the top smartphone manufacture while in India Micromax is actively closing gap with Samsung.

Only 37% Of Marketers Are Able To Measure Social Media ROI: How About You?

By

Aarzu Khan

-

September 24, 2014

2

Social Media has become an integral part of online marketing these days, and companies making strategic investment in various social media channels to promote products/services. In a recent study 9 out of 10 marketers accepted that social media is important for the growth of their business, with 97% implementing some form of social media marketing strategy in their overall marketing activities. However, only 37% of marketers said that they know to measure the ROI (Return On Investment) of their social media marketing investment.

AdWeek derived this data from the Social Media Examiner Report 2014, which polled 2,800 marketers of all sizes, and Spreadfast/Forrester 2014 State of Enterprise Social Media Marketing Report, which surveyed 160 senior executives from the companies with revenue $1 billion or greater. According to the AdWeek, 92% of businesses have accepted that social media marketing is an important arm of their overall marketing unit. 72% of marketers went on quoting that that understanding the importance of social media marketing they have strategically put the responsibility of social media marketing under a chief marketing officer (CMO) or other top executive.

Despite of putting the social media marketing under the lens of its top executives 78% of large marketers are not able to measure the ROI of their social media marketing efforts. This is the situation when it has already proved that measuring the ROI of social media is a simple six step process and every marketer must deploy this strategy to understand which social channels is performing best for their products or services.

Facebook emerged as the top platform for social media marketing as 94% of marketers prefer the social channel ahead of twitter (83%), LinkedIn (71%) and YouTube (57%).

When asked about the role of content, 58% marketer said that originally written was the most important and 81% of marketers are planning to increase such content writing in 2014.

Here is the detailed infographic that highlights the other findings of the report in a visual format;

Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone 6 Record Weekend Sales Means A Lot More Than You Can Imagine

By

Srishti Yadav

-

September 24, 2014

7

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced on Monday that it has sold over 10 million new iPhones 6 and iPhones 6 Plus models. It’s been merely three days since its launch on September 19 and is said to have broken all previous records. Apple had already muted analysts with its pre-order sales which went as high as 4 million in the first 24 hours. With this latest press release, it is already being compared to the weekend sale of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models of the previous year which topped nine million. It is one million more than previous year sales of 5s and 5c and doubles that of iPhone 5 two years ago. What makes the number more staggering is the fact that they do not include China’s share where these two new launches are yet to be released. MacStories has analyzed the iPhone pre-order sales and opening sales and the comparison with previous versions describing the success of Apple.

iPhone Opening Weekend Sales

Lately, the momentum gained from the opening weekend will definitely help carry Apple to record sales this holiday quarter. Apple will sell about 58 million iPhones in the holiday quarter, up from 51 million in that period a year ago, estimates Maynard Um, a senior research analyst for Wells Fargo. However, another financial analyst Toni Sacconaghi from Sanford C. Bernstein estimates this figure to be between 55 million to 60 million during the holiday season.

Apple’s iPhones are not only about features, consumer’s geography has a big hand

With the launch of smartphones with the larger screen, a dynamic shift in the market preference has been observed. Consumers in certain economies tend to be driven more by the brand than the application, features or the operating system. In such a scenario, Apple already has a lead over the others. Particularly in Asian countries, consumers tend to lean towards the larger screen phones. They have been found to be the quickest adopters of the iPhone6/6 Plus, as per the Localytics. This analytics company with its data-centric approach also found that more industrialized countries tend to prefer larger screen size. It has been reasoned out because of their ability to afford and willingness to pace up with the latest technology.

It also found that cities with a longer commute and/or higher number of knowledgeable workers tend to prefer large screens. It has been backed on the grounds that browsing during a long commute requires devices with the large screen for convenient use of mobile apps and enhanced experience.

The implication of September and December quarter

It is expected that the September quarter will see a 7% quarter over quarter increase with the selling of 38 million iPhones. This is a positive sign when compared to the September quarters of 2012 and 2013 where sales were down 1% and 4% quarter over quarter, respectively.

If we assume analytics estimation to be true and take 38 million Phones as the estimated number of iPhone that will be sold in the September quarter, October to December iPhone unit growth rate to be 60% and channel inventory increases by 800,000 then the company would sell about 59.6 million.

Why is China so important to Apple’s success?

With China’s wireless subscribers around 1.27 billion, 3G subscribers account for 497 million. China Mobile (NYSE:CHL), a leading telecom service provider, reported a total of 796 million subscribers in August, with 3G and 4G customers accounting to 242 million and 29 million respectively. The numbers of subscribers have been increasing gradually. comScore report compares it with the US, which has 173 million smartphone users out of a total of 241 million wireless subscribers. Moreover, IDC, a research company, estimated that at least 20 percent of all smartphones shipped last year in China – the largest smartphone market – were five inches or larger. Considering these factors in the context of 4G enabled large 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone it’s evident that the China market is vital for Apple’s success.

Not vital currently, China will be instrumental in Apple’s success next year

Though the numbers above suggest that China is indispensible for Apple’s growth, however, it is to be noted that having China as a part of the first official wave would have only been a disadvantage. Already the lead-times for 6’s is varying from 7-10 business days to 3-4 weeks (as per Apple’s US website).

“Even without China, Apple was able to move $6.5 billion of product in three days, which would be impressive for any industry,” said Walter Piecyk, managing director at BTIG Research.

China’s inclusion would have made it more difficult to fulfil customer orders. China is responsible for about 17% of Apple’s total revenue in fiscal 2014. Owing to its growth of 20% year over year, the company will need China soon, but probably not currently. By early 2015, with Chinese New Year starting on February 19, Apple can expect China to play its role in making iPhone 6/6 Plus a success beyond measure.

<img class="tdb-logo-img" src="https://dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dazeinfo-WHITE-web-mobile.png" alt="Logo" title="" width="151" height="31" />BRIEFSfestival

<img class="tdb-logo-img" src="https://dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dazeinfo-WHITE-web-mobile.png" alt="Logo" title="" width="151" height="31" />BRIEFSfestival

<img class="tdb-logo-img" src="https://dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dazeinfo-WHITE-web.png" alt="Logo" title="" width="250" height="52" />BRIEFSfestival

<img class="tdb-logo-img" src="https://dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dazeinfo-WHITE-web.png" alt="Logo" title="" width="250" height="52" />BRIEFSfestival

One in four surveyed Americans say they can’t survive more than five hours without access to the Internet

Eight out of ten Indian internet users admit to ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) when not connected

15% of French national respondents use the Internet for six or more hours every day

Germans recognize the Internet as a driver for innovation, but its workings remain a mystery

Half of the people in the UK surveyed don’t fully understand how the Internet works

Tweets towering tremendously in past one year

The growth leaders and lagers

Some swindling phenomenon which occurred last year

China to enjoy triple digit growth in ad spending: Display and Search ads’ contribution on rise

The growth in the rate will slow down as mobile website and application number soars

Mobile population and Internet users back China’s claim to the top!

China will continue to provide most promising market for mobile landscape

Blackberry’s Market Share is Virtually Non-Existent

The Passport Smartphone Is A Bizzare New Model

Will Security and Software Management Services Save The Day?

The End May Be Nearing Soon

Google’s RLSAs drove higher CTRs and lower CPCs

The combination of retargeting on both Facebook and Display yielding better performance for marketers

The best practices for Retargeting across channels

Facebook brand pages’ a better choice for customers than calling customer care

Facebook customers are better spenders

Omni-channel approach more viable for promotion

With prices as low as low as 2K, Android is turning out to be consumers best bet

With 7.9 % growth in internet user base, Android is making best use of the growing demand

Micromax, Karbonn and Xolo lead the competition at the low-end spectrum of the market

Android One: Google’s latest attempt to hit the lower spectrum!

How is Android One beneficial for end users?

Android One accelerates sales from local smartphone brands

What’s in it for Google?

The Retargeting Trends and Challenges

Attribution, sufficient list volume, and lack of transparency are ongoing challenges

Retargeting budgets: Limited but liberal

Apple’s iPhones are not only about features, consumer’s geography has a big hand

The implication of September and December quarter

Why is China so important to Apple’s success?

Not vital currently, China will be instrumental in Apple’s success next year

<img width="250" height="52" decoding="async" class="tdb-logo-img" src="https://dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dazeinfo-WHITE-web.png" alt="Logo" title="" />DazeinfoStay ahead of the tech curve

Category

Links

Stay connected

Newsletter Signup

Subscribe to our newsletter

BRIEFSfestival

BRIEFSfestival

BRIEFSfestival

BRIEFSfestival

DazeinfoStay ahead of the tech curve