Holiday Tablet Traffic Leaps 229%

What Does The Louis CK Experiment Mean For The Future Of Digital Content Distribution?

Ever since leading comedian Louis CK announced the release of his new stand-up comedy special for $5 over his website louisck.net, the media has been abuzz about the potential for this sort of digital distribution model to be successful and shift the paradigm for the way content is marketed and distributed. The results appear to show that CK’s effort was a fairly unmitigated success, generating more than $1 million in revenue against $250,000 in production costs. After covering his costs, CK generously donated a significant portion of the proceeds to several charities, paid his staff handsomely, and kept the remainder for himself – truly a win-win-win effort.

Giants Vs Patriots: Playbook For The Social Super Bowl

Which Super Bowl XLVI team is winning the online competition? According to Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, it might be a draw: the New England Patriots had more visitors on their team’s website, but the New York Giants have more buzz on social media.

Mobile Use To Soar During Super Bowl

Nearly 60% of mobile phone users plan to look at or use their phones during this  year’s Super Bowl, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive, commissioned  by mobile marketing firm Velti. The finding underscores the broader shift toward  two-screen viewing, with people turning to smartphones or tablets to augment  traditional TV watching.

Facebook Files For $5B IPO, Shows 425M Mobile Users

Millennials Look To Digital Word-Of-Mouth To Drive Purchase Process

In a few short years, millennials—consumers currently ages 18 to 34—will account for a sizeable portion of US purchase decision-makers. Yet Bazaarvoice found these digital natives are already using and creating online content to recommend or dissuade friends, family and anonymous site-visitors from a brand, product or service.

Shopping Days Are QR Days As Scanning Triples In 2011

People are getting into the mobile scanning habit, according to the latest  quarterly report from code enabler ScanBuy. The maker of the popular ScanLife  platform and code program manager for Starbucks, Home Depot and Coca-Cola saw  more scans in Q4 2011 than it had in all of 2009 and 2010 combined.

Forecast: Mobile And Social Media Revenues To Grow 31% In 2012

Women’s Influence On Purchase Decisions On The Rise

Today’s US woman is expanding her “sphere of influence,” according to September 2011 research from Fleishman-Hillard, Hearst and Ipsos Mendelsohn. Through social networks and web tools, she is both contributing and seeking out purchase recommendations from friends and followers.

Want To Print Facebook? Better Get 11.5 Billion Sheets Of Paper

52% Use Mobile While Shopping

By all indications, mobile traffic and m-commerce made impressive gains during the holiday season as a growing number of  people turned their handsets into personal shopping assistants. New research from the Pew American & Internet Life  Project further highlights that trend, showing that more than half  (52%) of adult cell phone owners used their devices while in a store to get help  with purchasing decisions.

Study Shows New Era Of Abundance In Music, Entertainment

A new white paper presented today a Midem, Techdirt founder Mike Masnick heralds a very different present and future for the music and entrainment industries than the doom and gloom often presented in the mainstream media. Combining statistics from a  number of sources, “The Sky Is Rising” shows that:

Tablets Dominate Mobile Purchases

Findings presented at the Mobile Insider Summit Friday suggest that when it  comes to m-commerce, smartphones are for browsing but tablets are for buying.  During a panel focusing on mobile shopping during the 2011 holiday season,  mobile retail and marketing experts indicated the tablet was the device of  choice for mobile transactions.

Optimistic About The Record Business? You're Not Alone

“I am optimistic,” Tom Silverman wrote in the email that included a link to his latest fact-filled blog post. “What do you think?”

Silverman, of Tommy Boy Entertainment and the New Music Seminar, is optimistic about the sate of the record business. I think he has good reason to be optimistic. In a post at the blog of his New Music Seminar, Silverman walks readers through a litany of stats from 2011 that give reason to feel good about the state of the record business: strong growth in digital album sales, surprisingly resilient CD sales, CD sales on the Internet and healthy vinyl LP sales.

Marketers Value Social Media For Both Branding And Customer Acquisition

As marketers include social media as part of their overall strategy, 97% agree that it provides benefits and value to their business.

Millennials Trust People, Not Brands, When Buying

Marketers that are trying to connect with millennials ages 18 to 34 to promote  products and services related to love and Valentine’s Day might want to consider  tapping social influencers who produce user-generated content (UGC). This  generation trusts people rather than brands, and values the opinions of  like-minded strangers as much as people they know, according to a new study  scheduled for release Monday titled “Talking to Strangers.”

Google Music Update Brings Downloads, YouTube Sharing

NPD Reports On E-Commerce A Look At Consumers’ Cross-Category Online Shopping Behaviors

“As we enter the second decade of E-Commerce it becomes more important for retailers, and perhaps even more so for fashion retailers, to use their online properties to offer an evolved shopping experience, a three-dimensional shopping experience. That is to combine the two dimensions of Brick & Mortar, the ‘touch and feel’ with the ‘information and impulse’ of the online experience,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group, Inc.

Mobile Usage Soars For Internet, Ad Forecast To Hit $2.6B

Tablets have become the consumer’s fourth screen, especially among those with smartphones. Techies with smartphones continue to use tablets at a higher rate. Those in the United States — at 17% — are among the highest, followed by Japan at 11%, and the United Kingdom at 10%, according to Google. The data appears to fall into line with AdWords tools allowing marketers to add WiFi ad targeting.

Social Sign-On Is Consumers’ Choice

As retailers and other websites consider the appropriate degree of integration between their sites and social networks like Facebook and Twitter, social sign-on can be a valuable tool. Internet users who might otherwise be reluctant to input their personal data over and over again across sites may be more willing to share that information if offered a less annoyingly repetitive way to do so, like through social sign-on. Sites that offer such a tool may find they better engage and convert visitors into customers.

Despite Cautious Forecast, Mobile, Online Video Double-Digit Ad Drivers

Due to “maturity,” online ad revenue growth will slow in 2012, according to a  new forecast from MagnaGlobal. Still, the Interpublic unit forecasts  double-digit growth (up 10.9%), driven by three key digital areas, including  paid search (+12.6%), online video (+22.4%), and mobile (+44.2%).

9 Tips For Integrating Social Media On Your Website

Are you leveraging the power of social media on your site?

Together, social media channels and your website should work seamlessly to promote your online brand.

Women Influencing More Purchase Decisions

Women, who have long been considered the CEOs of the American household, are  exerting more influence than ever before on the purchases they make for  themselves, and they’re exerting greater influence over the friends’ purchases  as well, according to a new research study from Fleishman-Hillard International  and Hearst Magazines.

Tablet, E-Reader Owners Double Over Holidays

The share of U.S. adults who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19%  during the holiday season, fueled in part by the launch of less expensive devices like the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet, according to  a new study.

IFPI Digital Music Report 2012: The Effectiveness Of Anti-Piracy Strategies

The main news to come out of IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2012 is that digital sales and services grew by 8% in 2011 to $5.2 billion, combined with a slowing decline in the overall recorded music market, which fell 3% from a total trade value of $16.7 billion in 2010 to $16.2 billion dollars last year. But the report also contained interesting data concerning the timely issue of preventing copyright infringement and the effectiveness of anti-piracy legislation.

Digital Shift To Spark Media M&A In 2012

Emerging digital companies in the entertainment and media industry will spur  M&A activity in 2012, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. In particular,  the firm pointed to companies in categories including over-the-top interactive  TV, online social games and digital lockers as ripe for M&A transactions.

Facebook Continues Its Global Dominance, Claiming The Lead In Brazil

Brazil’s social networking market has a new leader. Earlier this week comScore released results showing that Facebook surpassed Orkut in December, becoming the largest social networking destination in Brazil for the first time.

Facebook’s ascent in Brazil is impressive with the site gaining 23.7 million unique visitors in the past year, tripling its audience and rapidly narrowing its gap with long-time market leader Orkut. Facebook closed out the year reaching 36.1 million Brazilians to secure the #1 spot in the market.

Do Strong Pre- And Post-Holiday Music Sales Point To Another Up Year?

After U.S. album sales posted their first annual increase in seven years, the recording industry is now left to wonder whether an encore is possible in 2012.’ Based on recorded-music sales during the year-end holiday season and sales during the weeks immediately after Christmas, the data suggests that another annual gain could be in the cards.

Marketers Follow Users To More Social Sites

Social media sites beyond Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are seeing significant boosts in usage, both in the US and elsewhere in the world. And where users go, marketers will follow.

Tablet Users Spend More On Commerce

Along with tablet, pad, and playbook, may we suggest another name for those slab-like mobile computers: ecommerce magnet.

2011 State Of Online Music

Next Big Sound measures daily music consumption and purchase decisions around the globe, and makes it all available in a single dashboard. From Facebook fans to physical sales, Next Big Sound combines artist metrics with context to inform decisions in the modern music industry.

Facebook Commerce Holds Promise For Retailers

Social media and ecommerce have evolved since 1-800-FLOWERS launched the first Facebook storefront in July 2009. Internet users have become more comfortable with online buying on Facebook as they spend more time on the site.

Loyal Users Drive 25% More In-App Purchases

NRF Forecasts Retail Industry Sales Growth Of 3.4 Percent In 2012

Though stubbornly high unemployment and continued uncertainty over the prospects for job growth will continue to dampen the outlook for industry retail sales growth in 2012, the retail industry will still grow at a rate faster than many other industries. This year, retail industry sales will rise 3.4 percent to $2.53 trillion*, according to the National Retail Federation – slightly lower than the pace of 2011, in which sales grew 4.7 percent. Many economists estimate that real U.S. GDP will rise approximately 2.1 to 2.4 percent.

‘Downturn Shoppers’ Look To Digital For Savings

Price-conscious consumers do more online research, download coupons and compare prices in-store via smartphones.

Smartphone Reach Hits 46% In 2011, iPhone Tops Android

Last year ended with smartphone penetration in the U.S. reaching 46%, according to the latest data from Nielsen. That’s almost at the halfway mark predicted by the media research firm before the start of 2011 and up from 30% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Among people who got a new mobile device in the last three months of 2011, 60% bought a smartphone.

Kickstarter Raised $20 Million For Musicians In 2011

Kickstarter recently took a look back at 2011 and it was a big year for them and for a whole lot of people whose projects were successful.  Over $99 million was pledged overall and over 11 thousand projects reached their funding goal to get their piece of that pie.  Even if Kickstarter were the only crowdfunding site in existence, their success is an amazing example of what the Web has made possible and music has been a big part of that success story.

Social Media Accounts And Conversations On The Rise

Companies often have several different accounts or pages on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. As these accounts and the interactions with customers on social media increase, program managers must learn to balance the influx and continue to interact with fans.

More Than Half Of Retailers To Test Tablets In-Store

In-App Purchase Revenues On Track To Eclipse $5.6B In 2015

Mobile Games | Screen Size | 2D Barcodes | Music Sales

66% of men aged over 30 spend more than 1 hour a day playing games on their mobile phone, compared to 50% of men aged 12-29, according to a January 2012 MocoSpace survey that polled 15,000 of its mobile gaming community. Women aged over 30 showed an even greater propensity towards mobile gaming consumption: 74% said they spend more than an hour a day playing games, including 27% who reported spending more than 3 hours a day.

M-Commerce Wrap Up: 4 In 10 Bought Gifts Via Mobile

How did m-commerce wrap up 2011? According to a post-holiday study from Motricity, nearly four in 10 consumers (38%) used their mobile devices to purchase a gift, followed closely by using a digital coupon or signing up for a coupon (37% each).

Germany's 2011 Music Sales: Adele, Udo Lindenberg, Shakira Top Charts

Adele, was the most successful international act in the German album charts in 2011. The British singer’s album “21″ (Indigo) spent 49 weeks in the top 100 rankings and 39 weeks in the top five, going five times platinum after reaching over one million sales. This was researched by the trade magazine “Musikmarkt” in Munich in cooperation with the market research institute Media Control in Baden-Baden.

A Look Back At The 2011 Holiday Shopping Season

comScore reported that e-commerce had a strong season, with sales for the period from Nov 1 through Dec 25 increasing by 15 percent over the corresponding days the year earlier. The National Retail Federation reported that it expects total sales to be up about 3.8 percent versus year ago, which falls short of the 5.2 percent growth recorded during the 2010 shopping season, but is still a respectable growth rate. Nonetheless, with a growth rate about 4x faster than total spending, it’s clear that consumers continue to be attracted to the convenience and lower prices offered by the Internet.

Facebook Activates 'Listen With' Button

Facebook has launched a new “Listen With” feature that allows users to listen to music along with friends via the social network. People can also listen together in a group while one of their friends plays DJ.

Apps Reshaping Digital Media Consumption At 2012 CES

Las Vegas — The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is all about gadgets. But as this year’s confab demonstrated, some of the most exciting technological developments related to music are currently focused on software applications for consumer electronics, rather than the actual hardware itself.

Kindle Fire Adds Fuel To Tablet Market Growth

Thanks to strong holiday sales, a low price point and upward consumer interest in tablet devices, Amazon’s first tablet product, Kindle Fire, debuted with satisfactory results. According to global market research firm IHS iSuppli, in the last three months of 2011, Amazon sold 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets, placing the brand in the second-place slot behind Apple in terms of tablet shipments.

Apple And Amazon Lead In Consumer Satisfaction With Holiday Mobile Retail Sites

The role of mobile at retail was the story of the holiday season. Almost every e-tailer and brick-and-mortar store armed itself with better apps and mobile sites to capture all of those savvy smartphone-assisted shoppers. But who delivered the goods in the end? According to its first survey of consumer satisfaction with retailers’ mobile sites and apps, customer experience analytics provider ForeSee says it was Apple and Amazon in a walk.

Sony To Roll Out Music Unlimited Service Across Europe

Sony’s Music Unlimited streaming service is to launch in four new European markets. Formerly called Qriocity, the cloud-based service underwent a name change last year, following the launch of Sony’s unified online music, video and games offering, Sony Entertainment Network.

Families See Digital Devices Aid Connection

The modern version of the family hearth, the TV, has been replaced by the PC and the tablet. A Microsoft“Family Technology Survey,” which asked parents which technology devices they used most to connect with immediate family members, found that 43% said a computer or tablet drew family members together. Only 21% of respondents said they gather around the TV for quality family time.

The Top Brands On Twitter In 2011 [INFOGRAPHIC]

5 Fundamental Flaws In Mobile Marketing Strategies

The hyper-connected consumer of today’s new digital age has little patience for clutter or noise. Their smartphones have become a re-imagined compass to engage the world. How do marketers keep pace with the medium and utilize it fully?

Consumers OK With Ads… If The Apps Are Free

Advertisers and those aiming to reach smartphone and tablet users on their devices should consider the power of free apps.  According to Nielsen’s State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report,  51 percent of consumers say that they are okay with advertising on their devices if it means they can access content for free.  Free apps are preferred by mobile consumers, though many opt for a combination of both free and paid apps to include in their collection, which usually averages 33 apps total.

Advanced Use Of Mobile For Retail Remains On The Horizon

Smartphones are turning millions of Americans into mobile shoppers, and retail is the fastest-growing category for mobile content, but retailers still have a long way to go before they make the most of mobile.

Digital To Get Bigger Slice Of Ad Budget Pie

With more people turning to online and digital sources for their entertainment and information, marketers will be investing more in the digital space on brand-building (as opposed to direct-response) advertising in the coming year.

Express CMO Lisa Gavales Shares How To Turn “Likes” In To Sales

EXPRESS doesn’t just sell stylish clothes to trend-setting young women and men. The brand invites customers into a world of fashion, music and runway glamour, providing video from photo shoots, interviews with popular bands and lively interactions with customers via social media.

Digital Video Ads Expected To Hit $5B By 2016

By 2016, domestic digital video ad spending will explode by over 250%, from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion.

It’s A Social World: A Global Look At Social Networking

Over the past few years, social networks have evolved to become an integral part of the online experience, providing the means for users to facilitate offline connections and build new ones online. In the process, social networks have shaped the way we communicate and have even cultivated new social behaviors. Indisputably, the way we keep in touch with friends, find recommendations, and share ideas with others has changed with the advent of social networking.

Consumer Media Usage Across TV, Online, Mobile And Social

Almost one in three U.S. TV households – 35.9 million – owns four or more televisions, according to a new report on media usage from Nielsen.  Across the ever-changing U.S. media landscape, TV maintains its stronghold as the most popular device, with 290 million Americans and 114.7 households owning at least one. In contrast, 211 million Americans are online and 116 million (ages 13+) access the mobile Web.

QR Codes Prove To Be A Curiosity

People are making use of QR codes, although they’re not really sure of the  purpose those codes are supposed to serve.

Latin Sales Down Slightly In 2011, Digital Latin Sales Up

Sales of Latin music declined yet again in 2011, but the damage was far less than the year before, showing signs that the market may be stabilizing.

Smartphones Turn Millions More Americans Into Mobile Shoppers

In 2011, US mobile commerce sales (including travel) surged 91.4%, to reach $6.7 billion. Continued strong growth will boost sales to $31 billion in 2015. More smartphone users, greater consumer comfort with mobile shopping and an increasing number of retailers launching mobile sites and apps will all play a part in propelling m-commerce sales.

U.S. Online Holiday Shopping Season Reaches Record $37.2 Billion For November-December Period, Up 15 Percent Vs. Year Ago

comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported that retail e-commerce spending for the entire November – December 2011 holiday season reached $37.2 billion, marking a 15-percent increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season. Ten individual shopping days this season surpassed $1 billion in spending, led by Cyber Monday – which ranked #1 for the second consecutive year – at $1.25 billion.

The Numbers Behind The First Positive Album-Sales Year Since 2004

Although U.S. sales were slightly less robust in the fourth quarter than they were in the preceding two quarters of this year, the market still managed to hold onto its first positive album sales growth year since 2004. Overall U.S. album sales rose 1.4% to 330.6 million units, up from 2010′s total of 326.2 million units.

Gaming Keeps Gaining Among Women

Women own the casual and social gaming arenas, and have gained on male gamers generally.

Mobile Campaigns To Be Hot In 2012 Presidential Race

Social networks played an important role in the last U.S. presidential election, but the explosive growth in smartphone usage   and the introduction of tablets since 2008 could make or break the candidates for president in 2012.

1.2 Billion Apps Were Downloaded Worldwide In Last Week Of 2011

Consumers around the world downloaded a record 1.2 billion apps from Christmas to December 31, according to app analytics company Flurry. U.S. consumers accounted for 509 million of those downloads, followed by China (99 million), U.K. (81 million), Canada (41 million), Germany and France (40 million) and South Korea (34 million). The U.S. accounts for such a large share of app downloads because of high smartphone penetration. Prior to the holidays, Flurry estimated the U.S. had 41 percent – or 109 million units – of the total active install base for iOS and Android devices of 246 million units.

Vinyl Record Sales Up For Sixth Year To 3.5 Million

The sound may not be crystal clear. They can be scratched and skip from time to time. It’s not a very mobile music form.

But they are growing in popularity.

Vinyl record sales have grown steadily over the past six years, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Auctionomics: Women Want To Sell Their Stuff

Now that the women of America have unwrapped their new iPhones or cashmere  sweaters, they’re already thinking about dumping them someplace like eBay: A  recent study finds that 75% of women think about resale value when shopping, up  10% from six months ago.

Integrating Social Media Into Business Process A Challenge

Integrating social media into overall business processes is a challenge for many companies. Marketers, often having led the way in social media usage, must work with other teams and senior executives to bring about change within the company in order to integrate social throughout the organization.

Facebook Reaches 300 Million Active Mobile App Users

Facebook via mobile apps has become a massive platform unto itself, according to the latest calculations from UK analyst Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis. Using Facebook figures and its own models, the company believes that more than 300 million people were accessing Facebook via their smartphone apps this month.

The iPad Tops Consideration Lists For SMBs Planning To Purchase Tablets Over The Next 12 Months

Nearly three quarters of U.S. small and medium businesses (SMB) with fewer than1000 employees have plans to purchase tablets over the next 12 months, with the iPad being the most considered tablet among those firms planning an upcoming purchase, according to The NPD Group’s third quarter SMB Technology Monitor.

Final Christmas Push Propels U.S. Online Holiday Spending To $35.3 Billion, Up 15 Percent Versus Last Year

comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $35.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (ending Dec. 25) witnessed $2.8 billion in spending, an increase of 16 percent versus the corresponding week last year.

What Cities Produced "The Best Music" In 2011

Does where music is made matter? A study by Patrick Adler, a doctoral student in urban planning at UCLA, appears to prove that it does. Adler used allmusic.com’s database and press coverage to “assign a locational base of operations” for every act on Pitchfork critic’s top 100 of 2011, then counted the number of hits or hit producing acts per city. If an  artist had 2 hits, they were counted twice. If there was a  collaboration involving artists from more than one city, it  divided between those cities. The results:

Marketers Look Beyond Social Media Experimentation

Marketers are becoming more mature when it comes to their social media marketing, and many in the US say they hope to move beyond the experimentation phase in the coming years.

Moms Prefer Digital Shopping Over In-Store

Describe almost any mother of small children and one word comes to mind: busy.

Two recent studies verify this truism by showing that women spend less time with media outlets such as TV and magazines—but more time online—after becoming a mom. An Eric Mower and Associates survey, for example, found that more than half of new mothers spend less time watching TV (59%) and reading magazines (55%), and that 59% also spent less time shopping in stores. The percentages are similar for moms as they have more children or their kids get older.

Hong Kong’s Digital Landscape Is Dynamic And Evolving

Internet access in Hong Kong has become near-ubiquitous, as 87 percent of consumers there have used the Internet in the past year, outpacing neighboring markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Internet usage in Hong Kong is particularly high among 12- to 44-year-olds with over nine-in-ten accessing the Internet on a monthly basis.

Half Of Frequent Cart Abandoners Will Purchase When Remarketed

48% of “serial abandoners,” defined as online shoppers who abandoned a purchase more than once in the previous 28 days, will buy when remarketed, making this group 2.6 times more likely to buy than one-time abandoners, according to [download page] a December 2011 e-book from SeeWhy. “Recent goal abandoners,” defined as shoppers who have made one or more purchases followed by an abandon in the past 28 days, have the highest recovery rate, at 57%.

Ethnic Groups Don’t See Themselves In Advertising, Digital Content

Brands that want to reach ethnic minorities online are not doing a very good job, according to some research. An April 2011 survey by Yahoo!, Mindshare and Added Valuefound that according to Hispanics, blacks and Asian-Americans, digital advertising does not engage them. When asked for three brands doing a good job reaching them, most said they couldn’t name even one.

The Social Media Data Stacks

If you don’t think social media marketing can influence your marketing efforts, consider these facts:

What Can Retailers Learn From Amazon, Groupon And eBay?

As the finish line for the 2011 holiday season comes into focus, promotional activity is heating up with big digital brands such as Amazon, Groupon and eBay trying to drive uptake of their services – which all have significant mobile components – via special offers.

Global Texting Rampant, Generates Billions In U.S. Revs

Around the world, people are increasingly using cell phones for more than talking, while social networking is popular mainly in wealthier nations, according to a new study on global technology usage. The report from the Pew Research Center found that text messaging in particular has become a ubiquitous mobile activity across both wealthy countries and the developing world, with a median of 75% of cell owners texting.

Vevo: The Numbers Behind Two Years Of Growth

When Vevo launched its ad-supported music video platform two years ago, streaming was sluggish for a few days. The kinks were quickly worked out, and Vevo has since become the best example of how advertising plays into the future of the music business.

UK's 2011 Singles Sales Reach Record-Breaking Numbers

The year is not yet over but U.K. single sales have already reached a record-breaking high.   A total of 164 million singles have been sold year to date, according to the Official Charts Company (OCC), surpassing last year’s 161.8 million sales total with two trading weeks left to run.

Finally, Online Shopping Isn't Just For The Affluent

Somewhere among grey Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the cat-and-mouse  rules of online retailing are shifting this holiday season. Stores pushed harder  on the time and intimacy boundaries of consumers (“Go ahead — skip Thanksgiving  dinner — come to the mall!”) And shoppers pushed right back, armed with enough  smartphones and online savvy to enable them to sniff out better deals across  multiple channels. (In fact, you can follow that confidence right into Best  Buy’s holiday ad campaign, which shows smug and snarky moms who are more than  happy to show up a definitely offline kind of Santa.)

MySpace Reboots Today With Focus On Music, Facebook Integration

Months after it was purchased by online ad firm Specific Media at a fire sale price, MySpace is finally getting a makeover.  The focus, as the new owners promised, is on music and includes full Facebook integration, a final admission that MySpace is no longer the social network it was created to be.

Marketers Look To Integrate Email, Social, Mobile

Social media and mobile are quickly establishing themselves as more than marketing channels simply worthy of a test budget. And, as marketers continue to understand how to leverage both social and mobile to meet their overall marketing objectives, they are looking to better integrate them into their overarching marketing strategy, tying them to other more established digital formats, such as email.

What Ever Happened To Ringtones?

When was the last time you downloaded a ringtone? 2008? For many of us, downloading our favorite pop song du jour feels as dated as choosing a buddy icon our AIM profile. However, somewhere, people still download ringtones. The mobile call alerts still make up one-third of the online music industry.

99M Tablets Expected To Ship Worldwide In 2012

Boosted by strong sales of the Kindle Fire, JP Morgan forecasts worldwide tablet shipments will climb 55.2% to 99.3 million next year and reach 132.6 million by 2013. The investment bank had previously estimated tablet shipments would reach between about 70 million and 80 million next year.

Free Shipping Day Punctuates Heavy Week Of Online Holiday Shopping As Four Individual Days Eclipse $1 Billion In Spending And Season-To-Date Exceeds $30 Billion

comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 46 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $30.9 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent work week (Dec. 12-16) saw four individual days surpass $1 billion in spending, led by Green Monday (Monday, December 12) with $1.13 billion and Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 16) with $1.07 billion. With the heaviest portion of the season behind us, Cyber Monday appears likely to rank as the heaviest online spending day of the year for the second consecutive season.

How Web Retailers Can Improve Mobile Shopping

It’s clear that mobile commerce presents a tremendous opportunity for retailers. Consumers are moving to the mobile channel in droves. For example, a recent study by IBM shows that mobile commerce accounted for more than 10 percent of online traffic on Cyber Monday. However, despite their record-setting gains this holiday season, retailers still face a daunting challenge: providing an experience that meets the expectations of their demanding mobile customers.

Holiday Forecast, Expects Sales To Rise 3.8 Percent To $469.1 Billion

With just ten days until Christmas, the National Retail Federation has revised its holiday forecast upward, expecting holiday sales to rise 3.8 percent this year to a record $469.1 billion. NRF’s initial forecast, announced on October 6, called for anticipated sales growth of 2.8 percent. While a 3.8 percent sales increase is considerably above the ten-year average sales increase of 2.6 percent, it is still lower than the 5.2 percent increase the retail industry saw last year.

Apple's Mac App Store Downloads Top 100 Million

Put E-Gifts In Virtual Stockings This Holiday

Digital gifts may be tough to wrap. But they can be more convenient for both givers and recipients.

An album from iTunes or a Kindle e-book from Amazon have become viable gift options for shoppers, especially on the eve of a holiday or for people living far away. Digital items can be purchased with a few clicks and delivered instantly.

Spotify Rising, Now At 10.2 Million Monthly Average Users

Spotify has added about 2.5 million global monthly average users (MAU) in the last month, according to figures available at AppData.com. On Tuesday Spotify’s MAU stood at 10.2 million. That represents a jump of roughly 32 percent from 7.7 million on November 14. AppData.com does not break out the number of paying versus free users.

The Rise Of Smartphones, Apps And The Mobile Web

Nielsen’s State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report provides a snapshot of the current mobile media landscape and audiences in the U.S. and highlights the potential power of mobile commerce in the near future.

Procrastination: 41% Plan On The 11th Hour

Looks like more Americans are dragging their heels on holiday shopping this  year, hoping for greater markdowns than usual. Some 41% of shoppers polled by  PriceGrabber say they plan to shop between Dec. 21 and 24, and 43% of those say  it is in order to find better deals. (Of course, 43% also said it was because  they’re too busy, 26% admit they are procrastinating, and 22% actually think  shopping is more fun that way.)

It's Official: iTunes Launches In Latin America

After much expectation, Apple launched its iTunes store in Brazil and 15 other Latin American Countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

Social Sign-On Could Be A Boon For Retailers

Online retailers, as well as other publisher sites that want to encourage visitors to register and sign in as a way to gain information about them, would do well to consider social sign-on, which allows internet users to carry a login from Facebook, Twitter, Google or a similar site elsewhere on the web without having to fill out forms and go through the hassle of a full registration process at each site they use.

Americans Spend More Time On Mobile Devices Than Print Media

Facebook, Google Apps Top Ranking Across Age Groups

Despite the generational divide often underscored by technology, new data from Nielsen shows that Android phone users of  different age groups have remarkably similar tastes when it comes to mobile  apps. In particular, the affinity for Facebook and various Google apps cuts  across users ages 18 to 44. A notable absence among the top 15 apps, however,  was Google’s Facebook rival, Google+.

Why Is Cyber Monday Becoming More Important To Holiday Season E-Commerce?

Each year it seems that discussion of holiday e-commerce shopping revolves around Cyber Monday, the most significant marketing event of the season. The first Monday after Thanksgiving earned its moniker in 2005 as retailers in general – and Shop.org specifically – brought to light the fact that online holiday shopping saw a huge spike in activity on this day. The ostensible explanation for this phenomenon was that as people made their way back into the office after the long holiday weekend, they continued their Black Friday shopping online, but from their work computers with high speed connections. In fact, comScore has observed over the years that approximately half of all online spending occurring on Cyber Monday occurs via work computers.

Online Sellers Prep For Green Monday

Online retail sales typically peak on Green Monday, or the second Monday in  December. But this year’s sales may have already hit their summit.

ComScore is predicting at least $1 billion in sales, which would push this  year’s Green Monday ahead of the past two years. In 2010, $954 million was spent  by U.S. consumers — representing a 12% increase vs. 2009, when $854 million was  spent, according to comScore.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/163883/online-sellers-prep-for-green-monday.html#ixzz1gKlpyXne

The Music Business Looks Forward: 5 Social Media Predictions For 2012

In the last year, the music industry shifted from cautiously experimenting with social media, to recognizing it as a necessary part of every marketing strategy, from the smallest bands to the biggest brands. It’s an exciting time. The tools and strategies we use daily shift at lightening speed. As a PR firm Shore Fire Media is focused on tracking this constant evolution.  In the spirit of this inquiry, we asked music industry insiders and social media experts what they see for the future of social media. From a focus on mobile, to social listening, to the demise social media as we know it, here are predictions that will help guide us through 2012.

Tablets And Smartphones Become Holiday Shopping Assistants

This holiday season, consumers are consulting mobile devices for help checking off items on their shopping lists more than ever before. Thanks in part to the growth of tablet device ownership among US households, consumers are using mobile devices for product research, online shopping and to help make decisions while in brick-and-mortar stores. According to a Google holiday shopping study conducted by Ipsos OTX, 77% of tablet owners plan to use them this holiday season for shopping.

BPI Forecasts U.K. Xmas CD Sales At 20 Million, 22% Of Annual Album Sales

U.K. trade body the BPI is forecasting sales of “up to 20 million CDs” in its predictions for business across the Christmas period and the month of December as a whole.

Figures from the organization show that, over the past five years, the December U.K. market has accounted for an average 22% of annual album sales. Data from market research company Kantar’s Worldpanel reveals that 51% of all CD album sales in the last quarter of 2010 were gift purchases. Further, 86% of all music bought in Q4 2010 was in the CD format.

Who Uses Tablets Most?

Asian-Americans are avid users of new devices and are among the first to buy tablets and ereaders. They join US Hispanics on the top rungs of the technology early-adoption ladder.

Yule Time Crimes Targeting Retailers Intensify

Organized crime and shoplifting are hitting retailers where it hurts the most this holiday season —the bottom line. So far this year, sticky fingers have cost U.S. retailers tens of billions of dollars.

Mine That Holiday Data For A Quick Sales Boost – Here’s How

The Women’s Wear Daily headline on Tuesday summed it up simply: “Cyber Monday Sees Record Shopping.” Undeterred by significant shopping just a day or two beforehand over Black Friday weekend, U.S. shoppers were clearly ready to continue snapping up deals that abounded online for Cyber Monday, rewarding many retailers with record-breaking days. Indeed, comScore tallied the day’s take at $1.25 billion (the “heaviest U.S. online spending day in history”, no less), and IBM Coremetrics reported that Cyber Monday online sales were up 33% over 2010.

Gift Cards Grow In Popularity This Holiday Season

Gift cards are growing in popularity. Eighty percent of consumers will give them this Christmas, the National Retail Federation predicts, and Americans this holiday season are expected to dole out almost $28 billion on the cards, up from $24.8 billion last year.

Holiday Window Displays Can Help Lure Shoppers, Study Says

And what’s in those windows can often make a difference in holiday sales success. A recent study by EyeTrackShop, a webcam eye-tracking company, tracked participants’ attention to holiday window displays and found that they were more attracted to windows by Gap than H&M or Uniqlo, and Bergdorf Goodman over Saks Fifth Avenue and Henri Bendel.

Mostly Mobile: How The Internet Is Consumed In India

As India becomes more connected, technology is disseminating in different patterns than it did in the West. Today, there are more mobile subscribers in the country than TV owners. Of the population of 1.2 billion, 100 million are online and 38 million are on social networks. But more than 858 million have mobile phones, and 59% of Internet users have only gone online through their mobile device.

How An All-Christmas-Music Format Doubles Radio Ratings

More and more radio channels have been switching their formats to all Christmas, all the time — a consistent winner for radio even during a brutal 2008-2009 revenue downturn, which ended last year when the U.S. radio industry took in $20.1 billion, up 8 percent from the previous year.

Mobile, iPad Email Use Spikes

Email continues to gain ground on mobile devices — especially on the iPad, according to a new report. Research from email certification and reputation firm Return Path shows that mobile email opens increased 34% from April to September 2011 compared with the prior six months.

25 Billion Pieces Of Content Get Shared On Facebook Monthly

Spotify Upgrade Is About Much More Than Just Apps

Last week, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek alluded to features beyond apps. Some started showing up in the beta.  Now Spotify has issued an official list of improvements that are part of the software upgrade rolling out to all users later this week.

Mobile Shopping Goes Mainstream: Majority Of U.S. Smartphone Owners Performed Shopping Activities On Their Phone In September

The results showed that 38 percent of smartphone owners have used their phone to make a purchase at least once in the course of their device ownership. The most popular products purchased on smartphones during the month of September included digital goods, clothing/accessories, tickets and daily deals.

8 Great iPhone Apps For Music Lovers

Gone are the days when you have to sift through every CD or continuously turn the dial on the radio to find the perfect song. Whether you are a music junkie or need help selecting music based on genre, finding your favorite music has never been easier.

234M Americans Use Mobile Devices

While far from dominant, Apple’s iPhone is now used by one in ten mobile subscribers.

The finding — just released by comScore, and representing the three-month average period ending October 2011 — is impressive considering the iPhone was only recently considered a niche, high-end product.

$6 Billion In ‘Cyber Week’ U.S. Online Spending Sets New Weekly Record As Three Individual Days Surpass $1 Billion Threshold

comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 32 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $18.7 billion has been spent online, marking a 15-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week saw three individual days eclipse $1 billion in spending, led by Cyber Monday, which became the heaviest online spending day on record at $1.25 billion. Tuesday, November 29 reached $1.12 billion, while Wednesday, November 30 reached $1.03 billion. These three billion dollar spending days currently rank as three of the four heaviest online spending days in history (with Cyber Monday 2010 being the other).

App Downloads Surge 29% After iPhone 4S Launch

M-Commerce To Hit $6.7B In 2011

Mobile commerce will nearly double to $6.7 billion this year — fueled by rising smartphone adoption and growing mobile Web use, according to a new eMarketer forecast. The market research firm estimates m-commerce sales will leap another 73% in 2012 to $11.6 billion.

iTunes Preparing For Broad Latin American Launch

Following its successful foray into Mexico, iTunes is preparing to launch in other Latin American countries by year’s end or by the first quarter at the latest, say sources familiar with the conversations.

Beyond The Great Firewall: How China Does Social Networking

China’s notorious Great Firewall — or as they call it, the Golden Shield — is known for blocking some high profile sites. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are all victims. But that has not kept the world’s most populous country from getting into social networking. Some 500 million Chinese citizens are online and a quarter of the world’s social network users live under the firewall.

Spotify Adds Apps To Service

The  music subscription service Spotify reports it is bringing apps to its desktop software, an add-on  model that may extend to its mobile strategy. The  music service will soon allow users to add to their player/library  software apps.

2012 Trends: Cloud-Based Music Streaming

Despite better-than-expected business in the first half of 2011, the recorded music industry remains plagued by a decade-long decline in CD sales—still its core product—and insufficient digital revenue to make up the difference.

iPhone, Android Owners Drive 83% Of App Downloads

2012 Trends: Checking In On Checking Out

With strong winds in their sails from the warm consumer embrace of smartphones and tablets—and the apps, content and media consumption they enable—mobile marketers are setting their sights on using these devices to influence transactions. This represents an evolution of the mindset of getting the consumer in the door. Broadly, this is a cultural shift from check-ins to checkouts.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday Great For Retailers; Record-Store Day Items Drive Music Sales

While music merchants say that they too, like retail in general, experienced a strong sales for the Black Friday weekend, some of them acknowledge that music wasn’t leading the charge.

“We had a great weekend,” says one chain executive. “Video games and systems blew out of the store, and devices were doing well and internet sales were great. But music didn’t do so hot. We were down single digits on a comparable-store-basis.” That would have been okay in the recent years, the exec noted, because no matter what they did, music sales were down. But that’s not the case this year, with album sales up 2.7% year-to-date.

How Job Seekers Are Using Mobile

The jobless rate is hovering above 9%, and job seekers have to be more savvy than ever to land a job. In fact, 77% of job-seekers are using mobile apps in their search. Why mobile? For one thing, people almost always have their phones on them, which means they can get job leads on the fly and respond faster than on their not-as-portable laptops. Not surprisingly, Android, which is dominating the smartphone market, is the most-used OS for these on-the-go job seekers.

Desktop, Mobile Jump On Searches For Holiday Deals

Consumers turning to both desktop and mobile search engines want to find specific holiday deals. Most type in “black friday,” “cyber monday” or “mobile coupons.” The latter term supporting the search for discounts via smartphones rose 90% this holiday season on google.com, compared with a year ago, Julie Krueger, Google’s retail industry director, told MediaPost.

2012 Trends: A Virtuous Circle Of Technology And Content Adoption

Surges in tablet, smartphone and ereader adoption have stoked demand for content consumed on these devices, including video, audio, social media, games, news, books and periodicals.

Retail Becomes Fastest-Growing Mobile Category

As smartphones become more mainstream, mobile is becoming more pervasive in all aspects of consumers’ lives. And online shopping is quickly becoming a popular activity.

A Strong 2011 Holiday Season Could Bring Music Business First Positive-Sales Year Since 2004

Coming into Black Friday, year-to-date U.S. album sales were up 3.2%, according to Nielsen SoundScan, leaving music merchandisers cautiously optimistic that this holiday selling season will be strong enough to deliver the industry’s first rise in sales since 2004.

Cyber Monday Forecast To Set $1.2 Billion Sales Record

There’s good news for online retailers this year: Black Friday Internet sales jumped 26 percent, while Cyber Monday spending is projected to reach a record $1.2 billion, according to data released Sunday by market research firm ComScore.

Year-To-Date: Consumers Spend Nearly $10B Shopping Online

For the holiday season-to-date, consumers have spent $9.7 billion online — marking a year-over-year growth rate of 14%,” according to new comScore data, said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni.

During the first 20 days of the season — which began on November 1 — daily online spending peaked on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at $688 million, comScore reports.

Why Is Cyber Monday Becoming More Important To Holiday Season E-Commerce?

Each year it seems that discussion of holiday e-commerce shopping revolves around Cyber Monday, the most significant marketing event of the season. The first Monday after Thanksgiving earned its moniker in 2005 as retailers in general – and Shop.org specifically – brought to light the fact that online holiday shopping saw a huge spike in activity on this day. The ostensible explanation for this phenomenon was that as people made their way back into the office after the long holiday weekend, they continued their Black Friday shopping online, but from their work computers with high speed connections. In fact, comScore has observed over the years that approximately half of all online spending occurring on Cyber Monday occurs via work computers.

Spotify Hits 2.5 Million Paid Subscribers

This morning Spotify announced that it had reached 2.5 million paying subscribers.  The company offered no breakdown of where those subscribers reside. But at average of between $5 and $10 USD, that’s a $18 – $20 million in revenue from subscriptions plus advertising income. The full text of the Spotify announcement:

Online Spending Up 14% So Far; Women Rule

For online shopping, the holiday season is off to a solid start: comScore reports that U.S. spending has reached $9.7 billion in the first 20 days of the holiday season, according to Reuters. That represents a 14% leap from the same period last year. And increasingly, women seem to emerging as a more powerful spending force.

Facebook Partners With Cell Phone Maker HTC To Develop Smartphone

Facebook is looking to enter the cell phone business.

The social networking site has partnered with Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC to build a smartphone that would run on its own version of Goodle’s Android, All Things D reported.

How Blogs Influence Purchases And Recommendations

Bloggers, from hobbyists to professionals, often write about brands, and their growing influence should make brand representatives continually evaluate the relationships they have with these bloggers.

4 Ways Brands Are Tapping The Power Of Social Games On Facebook

“Gamification” is one of those magical buzz words that is simultaneously grating and legitimately useful. Whatever you make of the jargon, gamification is a huge trend for marketers, who use game mechanics — such as rewards, leaderboards and challenges — to build brand loyalty, grow their community and boost sales.

Mobile Social Networking Audience Grew 44 Percent Over Past Year In EU5

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of mobile social media usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) from the comScore MobiLens service. The study showed that the audience for mobile social networking in the EU5 region grew 44 percent in the last year with 55.1 million mobile users in the EU5 accessing social networking sites or blogs via their mobile devices during September 2011.

From Bieberlicious To Bleak, Bracing For Black Friday

From launching Bieber-fever advertising to fending off media campaigns from overworked store associates, retailers are gearing up for what looks to be a bruising Black Friday.

Black Friday Reigns Supreme, But Cyber Monday Sees Higher YOY Buzz Growth

As U.S. retailers ramp up for post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping, consumers increasingly turn online to search for the best deals and make plans for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.  Since one of the top reasons for using social media is to receive deals and discounts, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, took a look at online buzz about Black Friday and Cyber Monday over the past two years.

Social Gaming Extends To Younger Users

eMarketer estimates that this year, 26.7% of US internet users, or 61.9 million Americans, play social games at least monthly. That number will rise to 73.6 million by 2013, and research suggests the audience for those games is changing in some ways.

Billboard Magazine Declares That Discounted Music Doesn't Count

In new rules issued this week,  Billboard Magazine declared that unit sales for albums priced below $3.49  will no longer be eligible for the Billboard charts and won’t be counted in Nielsen SoundScan sales data during their first four weeks of release. EPs and individual songs must now also sell for $.39 or more per track to be counted. The new rules may be in response to Amazon’s Lady Gaga 99 cent sale, but also serve to discourage artists and labels from using price as a marketing tool.

Black Friday: 5 Apps That Make Bargain Shopping Easier

Heading out to brave the crowds on Black Friday? Don’t go it alone. Pack along some willing friends and family members, and load up on these apps that should make your experience much more tolerable.

Digital Music Startups Outline Challenges, Lessons Learned @ Billboard's FutureSound

On the opening day (Nov. 17) of Billboard’s FutureSound conference in San Francisco, executives from RootMusic, Mobile Roadie, Grooveshark and Headliner.fm discussed some of the challenges and lessons learned in starting a new digital music company. See below for details on what was discussed at each of the afternoon sessions.

Congress May Pave Way For Small Investors To Crowdfund Music Startups

A bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives opens up the possibility of music startups raising $1 to $2 million annually via social media and crowdfunding platforms without having to meet costly registration requirements.

Speedy Santas: Half Of Us Are Already Shopping

Retailers’ efforts to woo early-bird holiday shoppers are paying off, according to the latest polling data from the National Retail Federation, with 51.4% of U.S. adults already out there making spirits bright. That’s up from the 48.9% who had begun shopping at this time last year.

Holiday Ecommerce Sales Are Looking Up

Consumers are expected to hold back on holiday spending this year because of rising food, gas and utility prices, as well as concerns about the economy. Several pre-holiday surveys confirmed shoppers’ intentions to spend either the same or less on purchases during the 2011 holiday vs. last year.

Business Matters: Digital Executives Excited, Optimistic About Google Music

It’s official: Google is in the digital music business. At an event in Los Angeles on Wednesday the company unveiled a new MP3 store that is integrated with its existing cloud storage service. The company showed off social features that allow purchased songs to be shared with friends, and it debuted a new platform for independent artists that allows them to sell music without a middleman.

The Rise Of Digital Omnivores

In case you missed it, we recently released a study showing the first holistic analysis of cross-platform digital media consumption in the U.S., entitled Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits. The study brings together insights from across the comScore mobile suite of products and provides a first look at survey-based behavioral data on tablet use.

Global Holiday Shopping: Books, Clothing And Tech To Crowd Santa’s Sleigh

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers around the world expect to spend the same amount or less on holiday gifts compared to last year, according to a recent Nielsen global survey of online respondents in 56 countries. The survey shows that nearly half (48%) of global respondents expect to spend about the same amount of money, one-quarter (25%) plan to spend less and 11 percent expect to spend more. Fifteen percent don’t know or do not purchase holiday gifts.

Virtual Goods Revenues Rise For Mobile Players

Virtual goods spending is on a steady growth trajectory according to eMarketer estimates, and research shows that around the world mobile will begin contributing significantly to this trend.

Study: 31% Of Consumers Plan To Buy Movies, Music This Holiday Season

Good news for home entertainment studios. Consumers plan to buy packaged-media movies and music in significant numbers this winter holiday season, according to Deloitte’s 26th annual holiday survey.

Affluent Consumers Plan To Spend $1000-Plus During The 2011 Holiday Season According To Forbes Insights Study

According to Forbes Insights, affluent consumers are planning to spend close to $1,850 during the 2011 holiday season — an increase of 2% over 2010 and 5% over 2009 — with $1,100 earmarked for gifts for family, friends and other loved ones. Forbes Insights’ latest update to its monthly index tracking the economic attitudes, purchasing intentions and behaviors of affluent Americans, examines how much they plan to spend for the holidays.

10 Social Ways To Find And Send Gifts Online

If you spend half as much time gift shopping as you spend on Facebook, my guess is your holiday shopping would already be finished. So, why not combine the process?

Study Analyzes Mobile Search, Buying Behavior In Retail

When it comes to finding information to compare brands and products while in the store, 67% of men and 54% of women said they would reach for their mobile phone before asking a salesperson for help. Sixty-six percent of men and 59% of women would check reviews, and 53% and 38%, respectively, would check prices at other locations, according to a survey analyzing mobile phone behavioral patterns in stores of consumers in retail stores.

Digital Music Revenues Worldwide: Ringtones Still Bring In $2B A Year

Amazingly, ringtones are still one of the key pillars of the music business despite having peaked around 2005. As Peter Kakka wrote on AllThingsD: “If you’re reading this, you probably haven’t paid for a ringtone since 2007, and you probably don’t know anyone who does. But there it is, generating two-point-one-billion dollars.”

Deep Pockets: 'Superphones' To Lead Mobile Growth

Until  now, we were happy just having our phones be “smart.” Now, they are  getting “super.” According to Strategy Analytics, the latest generation  of smartphones that sport extra large screens and faster processors  constitute a new high-growth sub-category dubbed “superphones.”

UK Abolishes Reviled Tax Loophole Undercutting CD, DVD Sales

A controversial sales tax loophole that enabled mail-order retailers based in the Channel Islands to sell reduced cost music product to U.K. consumers is to be abolished by the British Treasury.

Mobile Changes Mom’s Path To The Register

Babies are not the only business at BabyCenter, the largest online resource for expectant and new parents around the world. Moms are also high on the list, and BabyCenter is constantly studying their digital behaviors. Mike Fogarty focuses on driving revenue and growth in 22 global markets. He spoke with eMarketer about how motherhood affects moms’ use of their mobile phone.

8 Digital Trends Shaping The Future Of Media [VIDEO]

At the Mashable Media Summit last Friday, Pete Cashmore provided a broad overview of media’s trajectory. He covered the rapidly advancing mobile industry, the relationship between tablet technology and the current media climate, and social interaction around TV and music.

Social, Mobile Ramp Up Ad Dollars, Interactive On Rise

When it comes to ad spending, ad exchanges, social media and mobile are among the fastest-growing categories — and they will continue their upward trajectory next year and beyond, according to the annual Outlook report released by Razorfish Wednesday.

$36.3 Billion In Q3 2011 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending, Up 13 Percent Vs. Year Ago

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q3 2011 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $36.3 billion for the quarter, up 13 percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the eighth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

Forecast: Mobile Retail Marketing Spending To Reach $15B In 2012

Mobile Brings New Opportunities For Local Retailers

Ecommerce sales are growing fast, but the vast majority of consumer spending still takes place offline in local stores. A large portion of those sales are influenced by online research, most of which is conducted on the desktop. But increasingly, consumers are taking advantage of the sophisticated capabilities of smartphones to do more of this online research while in a store or on the go.

Music Is A Big Hit On Facebook

In the two months since f8 and Facebook‘s expansion of music in its Open Graph, fans have shared listening activity more than 1.5 billion times. As a result, some of Facebook’s biggest music developers have more than doubled their active users and new services saw 2 to 10 time increases. FaceBook provided these service by service stats:

High Mobile Usage In Russia, But Lagging Technology

Late in October, as tech geeks and blogs were focusing on Siri, there was an iPhone story that may have slid under the radar: the 4S includes support for GLONASS, the Russian flavor of GPS, which powers many of the location features on mobile devices. Many theorized this was a way for Apple to avoid a hefty import tax on the device in Russia, but that remains to be seen as the iPhone 4S isn’t even officially for sale in the country yet.

Move Over Nashville: New Yorkers Buy Most Country Albums

New York City is the number one market for country album sales, according to Nielsen. The Big Apple bested even Nashville when looking at the sheer number of albums sold. Nashville came in at number six, while the top three was rounded out by Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth. This year to date, 31.8 million physical and digital country albums have been sold nationwide.

Digital Music Sales On Track To Rise 7% In 2011

Digital music revenues are on track to rise about 7% globally to $6.3 billion according to a new study be respected research firm Gartner. But revenues from declining CD sales are not expected to make up for the rise in digital revenue led by iTunes and the growing momentum of digital streaming services like Spotify and Pandora.

Text, Imaged-Based Posts Work Best For Facebook Mobile Pages

There’s little question that mobile is a growing platform for Facebook. The social networking giant now says it has more than 350 million active monthly mobile users across 475 wireless operators worldwide. As such, mobile has also become an increasing focus for the company, which rolled out a major upgrade to its mobile site earlier this year and an iPad app in October.

Mobile Powering More Holiday Shopping 'Trips'

The space between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is closing, as more and more shoppers (300% more) are planning to use digital and online techniques to inform and/complete their purchase decisions.

September 2011: Top U.S. Online Destinations For Video

During September 2011, there were 164.4 million unique U.S. video viewers who streamed nearly 18 billion videos and spent almost 5 hours on average watching.

Access The RIAA Shipment Database To View, Compare, And Export Historical Year-End U.S. Shipment Statistics

Earlier in the week, NARM linked to a Digital Music News article titled, “30 Years Of Music Industry Change, In 30 Seconds Or Less…” The numbers outlined in this article are from the RIAA Shipment Database. Read more about how you too can access these numbers and  gain access to RIAA’s interactive database of year-end statistics. Users can view, compare, and export historical year-end U.S. shipment statistics, including expanded access to historical data going back to 1973.

Tablets Contribute 30% Of Non-Computer Traffic

The Silicon Alley Insider recently featured comScore Device Essentials in a Chart of the Day infographic on the iPads and tablet traffic. In September 2011, tablets in the U.S. contributed 30.4% of total Internet page views coming from mobile, tablets, and other non-computer devices – a sizeable increase of nearly 8 percentage points from May 2011. The iPad accounted for 96% of tablet traffic, maintaining its lead in the tablet market.

Deal With It! Discounts Drive Brand Love On Social Media

The top reason for following or liking a brand, company or celebrity on social networking sites is to receive discounts and special offers, according to a recent survey of global online consumers conducted by Nielsen.  North American consumers showed the strongest interest in using social media for deals (45%), followed by consumers in Asia-Pacific (34%) and Latin America (33%).

New Report Emphasizes Importance Of Copyright Industries To U.S. Economy

The U.S. copyright industries, including music, television, film, book, radio, and newspaper and magazine industries employed more than 10.6 million workers and contributed more than $1.6 trillion, to the U.S. economy in 2010, or 11.1% of GDP,  according to a new report commissioned by the National Music Publishers’ Association and the Recording Industry Assn. of American other major copyright trade organizations as part of the International Intellectual Property Alliance.

Mobile Gaming Rises Rapidly Among Kids And Teens

Traditionally, gaming has been for kids, and despite the demographic and psychographic shifts that mean mom (and even grandma) is now likely to play a social game, children have hardly given up the video game pastime.

Forecast: Users Will Redeem $43B In Mobile Coupons In 2016

Generation App: 62% Of Mobile Users 25-34 Own Smartphones

Nielsen’s third quarter survey of mobile users reveals that while only 43 percent of all US mobile phone subscribers own a smartphone, a mobile phone with a powerful operating system, the vast majority of those under the age of 44 now have smartphones.  In fact, 62 percent of mobile adults aged 25-34 report owning smartphones.  And among those 18-24 and 35-44 years old the smartphone penetration rate is hovering near 54 percent

In-Store Buyers Influenced By Online Search

Online-only retailers have it easy when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of search marketing campaigns since clickthrough rates and conversions are measurable. Determining the influence of online search on in-store sales is a different matter, but there appears to be a measurable relationship.

Top Ten Holiday Trends For 2011

It’s (officially) the most wonderful time of the year! November 1 marks the beginning of the holiday season, when retailers everywhere strain to get a piece of that $466 billion in U.S. sales. After releasing our holiday sales forecast in early October and distributing our first consumer survey mid-month, we took a look at some of the overarching trends based off survey findings, economic analysis and plenty of conversations with retailers.

How Much Money Will Consumers Spend This Holiday Season?

We all know consumers spend more during the holiday season than any other time during the year. But did you know 38% of people have already began their yearly shopping extravaganzas?

Online shopping now beats out shopping in stores (for the social media users who responded to the survey) and electronics are at the top of their shopping lists. Seventy-two percent get gift ideas from Facebook, the most popular social network for researching.

Dynamic New Model Needed To Optimize Ad Role In Social Media

According to new Booz & Company research, “Campaigns to Capabilities: Social Media and Marketing 2011,” as social media plays an expanding role in advertising and branding efforts, 94% of respondents regard Facebook as one of their top 3 social media platform priorities. 77% view Twitter as one of their top 3 social media platform priorities; 42% say YouTube is one of their top 3 social media platform priorities.

Mobile Advertising Goes Mainstream

US mobile ad spending will grow 47% in 2012, reaching $1.8 billion, as marketers seek to capitalize on rising smart device and mobile web adoption. As on the desktop, search and display (banners, rich media and video) are emerging as the dominant mobile ad formats.

7 Ways To Help Your Marketing Message Go Viral

Going viral. It’s the goal of every tweet, Facebook message, blog post, etc.  Anyone that tells you they know how to make your band/music/content go viral is full of crap.  But there are things you can do that make it more likely.  While not specifically about music, this infographic from Kissmetrics lays out 7 that will help.

One In Four Retailers Have Mobile App

Acquity Group just released its third annual study on how retailers are using mobile applications, reporting that 37% of the country’s biggest stores have a mobile site, up from 12% last year, and 4% in 2009. And one in four large retailers now have at least one mobile app. The percentage of companies with a site optimized just for iPhone eased from 11% in 2010 to 9% in 2011, as mobile browsers become more similar across different devices.

Mobile Phone Growth Slows, Consumers Wait For New Products

Mobile phone sales in the third quarter saw slowing growth as consumers delayed smartphone purchases and tightened spending overall. Phone shipments worldwide increased 12.8% to 394 million units in the quarter compared to 349 million in the year-earlier period, according to new data from research firm IDC.

30 Years Of Music Industry Change, In 30 Seconds Or Less...

If you liked our ten year recap, you’ll love this. Each pie shows the revenue contribution from various formats, 1980-2010, based on RIAA revenue figures.  If you want to see it again, just wait a few seconds for the animation to start over.

How Gen Y Really Wants To Interact With Brands

Long gone are the days when delivering your message was a simple as buying TV spots and placing newspaper ads. Now it’s a complex process to distribute resources among dozens and dozens of outlets. All the while, there’s the worry that if you actually do penetrate through the noise, you might wind up annoying your customer.

Agencies Report Clients Still Increasing Focus On Digital

There’s no longer any question that digital has a seat at the advertising table, although the dollars spent there don’t yet compare to the money spent on traditional media like television.

How The U.S. Consumes Real-Time Entertainment Online

For years, media industry observers have talked about convergence, with video entertainment someday moving completely online, morphing into an all-streaming entertainment cornucopia that’s only a few years away.

When you look at this infographic from Sandvine (a company that makes devices that assist broadband providers with throttling the connections of their users, so they should know about high bandwidth usage), you’ll see how the long-heralded convergence of broadband and entertainment is almost there. It’s not all-streaming yet, but close to it.

Getting To Know (and Like) The Social Mom

Nielsen’s recent Women of Tomorrow study highlighted not only the growing influence women have on purchasing decisions, but also provided insight into their behavior across social media. A key finding from this research illustrates that “social moms” (defined as females with at least one child who actively participate in social networking) are quite influential. A new study by NM Incite and Nielsen provides additional context on social mom’s content trends, shopping tendencies and overall social media engagement.

Consumers Humming Toward Holidays

New consumer insights from Deloitte indicate that while shoppers aren’t about to break out in a holiday shopping frenzy in the next few weeks, they’re not exactly downbeat, either

Marketers Seek To Better Measure Social Media Success

Companies and marketers realize that amassing fans and followers is not the be-all, end-all of social media marketing. Yet the challenge remains how to measure success beyond counting these metrics.

Tablets Used 90 Minutes Per Day On Average

Americans who own tablet devices such as the iPad or Galaxy Tab use them frequently, a new study finds.

According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center and The Economist Group, the 77% of tablet owners who use the device daily are on them an average of 90 minutes a day.

Smartphones And Tablets Drive Nearly 5 Percent Of Digital Traffic In EU5

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of the mobile and connected device landscape across five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). The data shows cross-platform digital media consumption on the rise in the region, buoyed by the growth in adoption of smartphones, tablets and other non-computer web-enabled devices, collectively termed “connected devices”. In August 2011, these devices drove 4.6 percent of total digital traffic in the EU5, fuelled primarily by the use of smartphones.

CEA Projects 'Digital Holiday Season' With Increased Spending On Electronics, Gifts Overall

Consumer spending on electronics gifts this holiday will reach an all-time high, according to new research released today from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)(R). CEA’s 18th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study shows that overall spending this holiday will increase as well. The study was released today at CEA’s Industry Forum in San Diego, a four-day conference designed to inform and connect leaders in the consumer electronics (CE) industry.

Consumers Prefer Mix Of Music Ownership & Free Streaming

eMarketer compares two reports on studies of consumer music preferences to reveal that not only do listeners prefer music ownership over subscription streaming but that they tend towards a mix of ownership and free listening.  Given that the most recent survey reporting stats on streaming music would have been conducted before Facebook’s F8 Conference, it remains to be seen what the Facebook effect will be though Spotify’s membership increased over 50% in the week following the conference announcements.

U.S. Mobile Social Media Audience Grows 37 Percent In The Past Year

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results of a study on mobile social media usage based on data from its comScore MobiLens service, which showed that 72.2 million Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, an increase of 37 percent in the past year. The study also provided new insights into how mobile users interact with social media, finding that more than half read a post from an organization, brand or event while on their mobile device.

How Spreading The ‘Local Love’ Can Help Small Retailers Capture Consumers’ Attention

Having a top-notch technical team and a dynamic  marketing department sure is nice, but, let’s be honest, those luxuries aren’t available to every business – especially small retailers. In this case, though, high-end resources don’t matter as much. Thousands of local businesses across the country are tapping into the huge benefits the online world offers using simple tactics to build support and demand in their own local communities.

Mobile Ad Effectiveness Helps Drive Investment

Whether or not the “year of mobile” ever comes—or has already passed—mobile ad spending is on the rise, largely due to the increasing smartphone and mobile web populations.

The Most Valuable Digital Consumers

These days, Social/Local/Mobile seems to be driving much of the conversation about online opportunities. But at the end of the day, there is only one constant common denominator across the Web: the consumer. An understanding of this consumer and how they are influenced by social, mobile and local experiences online is vital to big brands looking to reach them on the Web.  Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, illustrate some findings that highlight digital consumer  behaviors and consumption patterns that can help brand advertisers understand  their most valuable customers and how they’re engaging across social, local and  mobile.

Online And Offline Commerce On Cusp Of A Convergence

Spurred by the growth of mobile devices and social media, we’re on the cusp of a convergence between online and offline commerce.

That’s the message from several industry executives speaking at this week’s Web 2.0 Summit. As consumers use PCs, smartphones and tablets to research, compare prices and buy products, the line between brick-and-mortar and online stores is getting harder to delineate.

Retailers Offer Free Shipping, Necklaces To hoppers

Retailers are so desperate this holiday season that they’re willing to lose money to get you to spend yours.

Take online jeweler Stauer. It’s offering a $249 amethyst necklace for free — provided customers pay the $24.95 it costs to ship it. Stauer will lose money on the deal, but it hopes to reel in new customers who will buy  other jewelry.

Small Retailers Cross Their Fingers For Holiday Sales

After years of heavy discounting to entice cautious consumers, some small retailers say they worry another bad holiday sales season could push their businesses over the edge.

Retailers tend to generate the bulk of their annual revenue during the fourth quarter, and industry experts forecast another disappointing Christmas ahead. That’s especially troublesome for small merchants since their businesses rely on holiday sales even more than large ones, which are often better able to absorb steep markdowns.

Sound Off: Mobile Music On The Rise

Streaming on mobile devices is making inroads on traditional radio and CDs when it comes to music listening, according to a new NPD study. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the majority of their music listening takes place while driving. Even so, the research firm says adaptive- and on-demand-streaming radio is now gaining more traction, complementing pay-per-download music options like iTunes and AmazonMP3.

Cross-Platform Hotspots: Top U.S. Cities For TV, Web And Mobile

From bed to the bus, from Portland to Pittsburgh, consumers are embracing all the various video platforms available to them. According to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report for Q2 2011, roughly half (48%) of Americans now watch video online, compared to 10 percent for mobile and 97 percent for traditional TV. Even with already near-universal usage levels, traditional TV viewing saw an increase of 2 hours 43 minutes per month—with New Orleans taking the lead as the city that watches the most primetime TV.

With Rise Of Social, There’s A Game For Any Marketer

The rapid ascent of free-to-play games across social venues and mobile platforms has reshaped the landscape for in-game advertising. Marketers considering attaching brands to gaming content have a richer array of choices today than ever before.

Spotify Hits 2.4M U.S. Visitors & Here's Who They Are

Three months after launch, Spotify has amassed 2.4 million monthly U.S. visitors says ComScore. That’s a very strong start for a service that was initially invitation-only. Who are all of these new users?

Tablet Owners Most Active In M-Commerce

Increased tablet adoption could be the push that mobile commerce needs to get off the ground. Data from Ipsos indicates that tablet ownership leads to greater mobile purchasing, perhaps due to an improved shopping experience on the media-rich devices. According to Ipsos, tablet owners shop via mobile devices on a more frequent basis and spend more than smartphone owners.

Post-Napster Kids Overwhelmingly Buy Physical Goods...

But wait: wouldn’t kids be the most progressive media consumers, the ones most comfortable with digital intangibility and conditional ownership? Guess not: according to a study shared by NPD Group, kids between the ages of 2-14 in the US still overwhelmingly purchase physical goods.

Digital Music Sales To Triple In 4 Years To $20.1 Billion

The digital music industry is set to double from $7.4 billion to $20.1 billion in 2015, according to a new study. That’s a compound annual growth rate of 22.1%  over the period. Subscriptions will be the fastest growing segment,  growing at a compound annual rate of 60.8% to 2015.

What Social Media Users Think Of The Hottest Tech Stories

Get your fingers on the pulse of the social media community with this survey conducted by Lab42. It’ll get you caught up on the hot tech issues of the past couple of weeks.

For the data embedded in this infographic, market research firm Lab42 conducted a study online via social networks between Sept. 30 and Oct. 23, 2011 among 500 social media users, asking them questions about the iPhone 4S, Kindle Fire, Netflix, the radical changes in Facebook and more.

Are Music Listeners Ready To Move To The Cloud?

New options for media consumption on the web as well as mobile and smart devices are continually emerging, and Spotify’s launch in the US is just one of the latest changes to shake things up. With Apple’s iCloud debuting in iOS 5, what do consumers think of storing and streaming their music from the cloud—and the concept of renting vs. owning it?

What The Second Decade Of Digital Music Will Look Like

Global marketing and communications giant J. Walter Thompson works to keep major brands like Bayer, Ford, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, Shell and Unilever ahead of the curve.  In a new study, they concluded that in 2011 “we got a clearer glimpse of what the second decade of digital music will look like – and it’s quite different from the first in many ways.” The result is a broad and insightful report: “Things To Watch: Music Edition”

The Economics Of Social Gaming

The only thing cooler than a million dollars is, well, a billion dollars.

Fortunately for social game creators, that’s just how much the industry is set to rake in this year. Indeed, it’s big business, and it’s not just for Internet nerds. In fact, one out of every five Americans over the age of six has played an online social game at least once — that’s 56 million people, all told.

Population Of Kids Playing Video Games Rising

According to a new report from The NPD Group, the rate of kids who are playing video games is far outpacing the segment’s overall population growth, meaning the market is only getting bigger.

The study, “Kids and Gaming 2011,” says the gaming population of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 has grown nearly 13% since 2009, while the population growth has only increased 1.5%.

How Social Media Impacts Brand Marketing

Consumers are spending more time than ever using social media, as demonstrated in the Social Media Report recently published by Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company. Building on this report, research by NM Incite helps uncover what impacts social media may have for marketers trying to build their brands and connect with their audience more directly.

How The iPhone 4S Will Change Mobile Gaming

What do today’s more powerful specifications mean for the future of iOS gaming? The A5 devices can now accommodate games that rival the graphics and complexity found on consoles. Furthermore, many current games will now be able to support better graphics on the A5 chip; games such as Infinity Blade and Dead Space were updated to support the improved capabilities of the A5 when the iPad 2 was released. It’s likely other games will get similar updates with the release of the iPhone 4S.

NRF’s Holiday Headquarters Offers All That…And A Cart Full Of Gifts

What was once a budding idea to help centrally locate NRF’s holiday research is now a full-fledged website – and NRF’s Holiday Headquartersis now open for business!

This is the third year we’ve “opened” our Holiday Headquarters and we’ve added a few fresh twists this year, including charts and a professionally-designed Holiday Survival Kit.

The Future of Retailing – Flexible Formats

Consumers today are increasingly mobile and as technology advancements continue around the world, retailing will evolve to keep pace. And while online shopping has shown impressive growth momentum over the past few years in industries such as travel, publishing, electronics and even clothing, the pace of change has been much slower for consumer-packaged goods.

Are Subscription Music Services A Sustainable Business Model?

Subscription music services have been dominating the news recently with the U.S. launch of Spotify and the new IHeartRadio, plus free offerings from MOG and RDIO, and the recent purchase of Napster by Rhapsody. There is a sea change occurring in all content industries moving towards streaming and subscription rather than ownership, and this transition has been causing a lot of debate and disagreement about the potential and the fairness of this new model of consumption.

Weak Economy Can’t Spook Halloween Shoppers

While sales forecasts for the upcoming holiday season—typically defined as November and December—have been less than exuberant, Halloween may prove to be a bright spot. Americans are embracing the ghoulish holiday with gusto.

40% Of Tablet and Smartphone Owners Use Them While Watching TV

American consumers are increasingly connected and our recent survey shows they are increasingly multitasking when it comes to multimedia.

Roughly 40 percent of tablet and smartphone owners in the U.S. used their devices daily while watching TV, while only 14 percent of eReader owners said they watched TV while using their device every day.

Nearly One-Third Of Record Store Sales Come From 'Lifestyle' Products

Indie retailers got the difficult memo years ago: if they wanted to survive, they had to diversify beyond music. Way beyond music. Newbury Comics is a great example, but record stores across-the-board now sell dozens of ‘lifestyle’ categories that have nothing to do with the good old recording.

Zynga’s Project Z: A Facebook-Powered Social Network For Games

Social gaming juggernaut Zynga has announced “Project Z,” a platform for playing social games and chatting with friends powered by Facebook Connect.

Social Media Presence More Important Than Social Media Ads

Social media marketers feel that having a presence on social sites is more important than advertising there, but there are still challenges related to keeping a community running online.

Forecast: Annual Mobile App Revenues To Reach $11.9B In 2015

European Engagement On Entertainment Sites Grows 10 Percent In The Past Year

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 372.1 million unique visitors went online in August 2011 for an average of 25.4 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the United Kingdom showed the highest engagement with users spending an average of nearly 35 hours online in the past month, up 1.5 hours from the previous month.

Smartphones And Tablets Drive Nearly 7 Percent Of Total U.S. Digital Traffic

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the report Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits. The report analyzes how cross-platform consumption has created a vastly different landscape as consumers utilize a growing number of devices to consume digital content. The report also analyzes the impact these shifting consumption habits have on online visitation and engagement across the Internet.

What Do Facebook Users Expect From Brands?

Companies are often on the hunt for more “likes” for their Facebook pages, hoping to get more brand advocates and social media fans. However only 42% of US Facebook users think marketers should interpret a “like” in that way.

What Role Will Mobile Play This Holiday Season?

For the past few years, retailers have been fine-tuning their mobile offerings in advance of the holiday season. Keeping up with consumer demand has meant providing  pricing information, product specifications and customer reviews to mobile users—all leading reasons why last year’s holiday shoppers turned to mobile, according to a survey conducted by ForeSee Results at the end of 2010. Only 17% intended to make a purchase.

2011 U.S. Album Sales Still Strong After Three Quarters

As the year heads into its home stretch, things are looking up for the U.S. music industry – sales are on track to increase over the previous year, something that hasn’t happened since 2004.

Retail Industry Trade Group Sees Holiday Sales Up 2.8%

Ho-ho-hum. That may sum up the sentiment this holiday season, as retailers — and
consumers — proceed with caution, according to a forecast released Thursday by
the retail industry trade group the National Retail Federation.

Consumers Warm To Location-Based Coupons

If you can help someone save money, they may not mind being pushed a contextually relevant coupon on their smartphone. In fact, many seem ready to share their location with a retailer in order to get the savings.

According to a survey of mobile users by Prosper Mobile Insights, 67% of a 348-person sample somewhat/strongly agree that location-based coupons on a mobile device are “convenient and useful.” 42.2% say they have already used a mobile coupon of some kind.

August 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 43.7 percent market share.

The Demographics Of Social Gamers, At Home And On The Go

About four in 10 US internet users play social games, according to May 2011 research from Kabam, a publisher of massively multiplayer social games. And for at least some of those gamers, spending on gaming content is on the upswing.

How Magazines Are Adapting To The Mobile Revolution

Editors and executives from several leading magazine publishers took the stage at the Magazine Publishers of America’s Magazine Media Conference in New York City Tuesday. Discussion centered around early lessons from tablet publishing and the challenges of extending their content to a proliferating number of tablet sizes and platforms as they move forward.

Apple Stats, 16 Billion iTunes Songs Downloaded, 300 Million iPods Sold And More

On top of Apple’s announcement today of the iPhone 4S, Tim Cook has come out swinging with a bunch of Apple-related numbers to impress the world with. Starting with, there have been 16 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes store, and also 300 million iPods sold. To give you some perspective, Sony took 30 years to sell just 220,000 Walkman cassette players.

Digital Experiences Are Redefining Brands

Has your company augmented its brand strategy or brand positioning  within the last three years? If not, you may want to drop everything and  add this as a priority on your marketing calendar for early 2012. Now  is the time to take a long hard look at how the dramatic evolution in  digital consumer experiences and expectations has expanded the scope of  the very fundamental concept of what your brand means to consumers.

Social Network Ad Revenues To Reach $10 Billion Worldwide In 2013

Worldwide social network ad revenues will reach $5.54 billion this year, eMarketer estimates, with just under half that amount, $2.74 billion, coming from the US market.

Smartphones, Mobile Internet Set Stage For Increased Mobile Ad Spend

By the end of this year, eMarketer estimates, 38% of US mobile users will have a smartphone and 41% will use the mobile internet at least once each month. These developments mean an increase in the opportunity for mobile advertising—and an increase in spending.

EReaders Read More

The results of The Harris Poll in July, 2011 show 15% of Americans uses an e-Reader device, up from 8% a year ago. Also, among those who do not have an e-Reader, 15% say they are likely to get an e-Reader device in the next six months.

U.K. Digital Album Sales Climb Nearly 25%, But Overall Music Market Drops

The continued growth of digital album sales was the one positive note in some otherwise depressing quarter three figures, released today by U.K. labels trade body the BPI.

According to BPI data, digital album sales rose 24.2% year-on-year to 6.1 million units in Q3. The format now accounts for 28.2% of all U.K. album sales, up from 20.1% in the third quarter of 2010. That gain was not enough, however, to offset a 20.5% fall in physical sales, with 15.6 million CD albums being sold in the third quarter of 2011, down from 19.6 million in the corresponding period the previous year.

Mobile Phones Dominate In South Africa

Africa is in the midst of a technological revolution, and nothing illustrates that fact than the proliferation of mobile phones. Consider this: more Africans have access to mobile phones than to clean drinking water. In South Africa, the continent’s strongest economy, mobile phone use has gone from 17 percent of adults in 2000 to 76 percent in 2010. Today, more South Africans – 29 million – use mobile phones than radio (28 million), TV (27 million) or personal computers (6 million). Only 5 million South Africans use landline phones.

Music Startups Have Raised $440 Million Since January...

That is.. at least $437.8 million, based on our rather conservative estimates and September updates. Which leaves October, November, and December ripe for even more gambling. And yes: this could easily go to half-a-bil by year-end.

Spotify Users Jump 3.4 Million To 5.3 Million In 1 Week Thanks To Facebook

Spotify, which launched in America after a few modifications on July 14, saw monthly usage increase over 50 percent following the  September 22 Facebook F8 conference, where Spotify CEO and co-founder  Daniel Ek took the stage to talk about Spotify’s new integration with  Facebook.

Top 20 Games To Watch – Gamers Make Their Holiday Wish Lists

Which video game titles top gamers’ wish lists this year? Nielsen’s Top 20 Games to Watch reveals the most anticipated games of the 2011 holiday season, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the most coveted among active U.S. gamers. The list was developed by examining a variety of consumer measures from Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking survey, including the top five titles active gamers are considering for purchase.

Google+ Now Has 50 Million Users (After Just 88 Days)...

That’s the latest tally from ‘unofficial Google+ statistician’ Paul Allen, whose figures are now being closely watched.  No, not that Paul Allen (Microsoft, American Psycho): this is the cofounder of ancestry.com who uses rare surnames to forge Google+ estimates, the latest of which now crosses a healthy 50 million.

Why 2011 Is the Year Digital Music Broke, by the Numbers

2011 could end being the year digital music broke. Yes, the iTunes Music Store launched back in 2003. But 2011 has been a truly incredible year for digital music. Perhaps most important is the big improvement in download sales. This year’s increase in digital downloads could result in around $300 million of incremental consumer spending by the end of the year, based on Billboard estimates using Nielsen SoundScan data.

YouTube Planet: Who’s Watching Videos Online?

Videos are just about the biggest thing on the Internet right now, according to a study from Wistia, a video-hosting company.

The infographic shows that 71% of Internet users visit video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo. This number has shot up from just 33% in 2006. The graphic also shows interesting demographic stats like the fact that minorities and people with kids are more likely to visit video sites.

Tablets Can Do More To Encourage Digital Music Purchases

One million additional people have purchased content at iTunes this year, according to a new report from The NPD Group. Unfortunately for music companies, the percent of iTunes content buyers who purchased music has declined to 75 percent from 82 percent as more people use the iPad.

Parents Key Demo For Social Media Gaming

When it comes to social media, parents are much more likely to use social media for entertainment and gaming activities than non-parents.

A Social Media Report from Nielsen — with new research by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company — says parents are 26% more likely than non-parents to visit social networks to play games, 23% more likely to use them as a creative outlet and 20% more likely to use them for general entertainment.

Why Mobile Is Easier To Implement Than You Think

In the latest edition of The State of Retailing Online from Shop.org and Forrester Research, nearly half of retailers surveyed reported that they either have an optimized mobile site or smartphone app, with 16% planning to increase their investment in mobile technology. Thus if retailers are not providing mobile conveniences to their customer they are clearly in danger of losing out to competitors.

French Music Sales Drop 5% First Half Of 2011; Digital Way Up, Accounts For Nearly A Quarter Of All Sales

The French recorded music market dropped 5.7% for the first half of 2011 to €225.9 million (about $307 million) labels body SNEP (which stands for Syndicat National de l’Édition Phonographique) revealed at a Paris press conference last week.

Gen Y Embraces Smaller Screens For TV and Online Video Viewing

Although over-the-top video usage continues to surge across age groups, younger consumers are leading the charge in online video streaming and mobile video viewing. Surpassing their older counterparts in over-the-top activity, members of Generation Y in particular are displaying an aptitude for alternative methods for viewing television and movies.

4.7 Million LinkedIn Users Are Employed by Small Businesses

There are more paths to a good job than the usual four years of college and an internship at a big firm. As the infographic below shows, a fair number of people on LinkedIn are veterans of the military services or graduates of community colleges.

In U.S. Market, New Smartphone Buyers Increasingly Embracing Android

According to an August survey, 43 percent of all smartphone owners have an Android device. But if you ask only those who got a new smartphone in the past three months what kind of phone they chose, more than half (56%) will tell you they picked an Android device. The preferences of these so-called “recent acquirers” are important as they are often a leading indicator of where the market is going.

Google+ Has 43 Million Users, Up 30% Since Opening Publicly

Facebook may have grabbed most of the headlines last week — but at the same time, behind the scenes, young and scrappy rival social network Google+was grabbing a record number of new users.

According to a post by Paul Allen, Ancestry.com co-founder and unofficial Google+ statistician, Google+ is up to an estimated 43.4 million users — and roughly a third of them have been added in the few days since Google+ opened itself to the public.

Study: Make Way For Winter Holiday Markdowns

While retail executives are looking for modest growth this holiday season, they’re also bracing themselves for more last-minute markdowns, as consumers fret about the economy.

In its new Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, BDO says the 100 retail CFOs it polled are forecasting a 3% gain in sales for 2011, the most upbeat prediction since 2007. And they project a 3.5% increase in same store sales for the second half of the year, nearly doubling the pessimistic projections of 1.9% they were making in the same period last year.

How The World Uses Social Networks

Amidst the Facebook-centric society in which we now seem to live, it’s important to remember that groups of people around the world use social networks differently. We’ve taken a look at the social media breakdown in 10 countries — how they’re engaging with social networks, blogs and Internet culture.

Based on data provided by Nielsen, Facebook is clearly the favored social network. However, you might be surprised to see how runners-up like Twitter and LinkedIn rank on a global scale.

Publishers Slow To Take Advantage Of Mobile Sites

More than two in five mobile users will go online from their phones each month, eMarketer estimates, but many websites have been slow to make their content available in mobile-optimized formats.

Study Shows Social Gamers Spend Less Time And Money On Console Games

Social game players are spending less time and money on traditional console games, according to a survey sponsored by social game firm Kabam and conducted by Information Solutions Group.

Email And Free Shipping Woos Online Shoppers

According to a new release from Kantar Media Compete, successful retailers are using free shipping, sales and email promotions to attract increasingly budget-conscious consumers. The study found that nearly one in three consumers receive more than 20 emails from retailers in a week. And, 89% of respondents at least occasionally click through to a retail site from an email or visit a retail site immediately after reading an email.

August 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings

August marks the first month of official rankings for comScore YouTube Partner Reporting within the Video Metrix offering, for a never-before-seen comparison of viewership across thousands of YouTube partners and their channels. This offering provides a comprehensive and granular view of the unique audiences within different YouTube partner channels, enabling advertisers to more-easily create and optimize campaigns across specific channels to reach desired target audiences.

1 Day Before Facebook Music Launch, Here's How Big Impact It Can Have

The day before Facebook Music launches at F8 (Hypebot will have special coverage), there has been an overwhelming amount of speculation about just how big an impact it will have on music and the music industry.  Sticking just to their own published numbers, the reach and the potential impact of Facebook Music are enormous

Australian Live Music Industry Worth More Than $1.2 Billion

Australians love a drink and a show. In fact, the live music culture has become so ingrained in Australian society it’s worth more than a billion dollars to the country’s economy, a new study reveals.

Collecting society APRA on Monday issued the report, entitled “The economic contribution of the venue-based live music industry in Australia,” which covered the polled live venues across the financial year 2009-10.

How Many Apps Are Too Many?

The tablet app marketplace is expanding quickly—the Apple App Store alone has more than 90,000 apps for the iPad. Although many marketers are rushing to get their tablet apps to market, usage data indicates that consumers regularly use a limited number of apps.

How Online Services Are Changing The Way Bands Consume Music

It seems that just about every month or so, a new online music service or website launches, impacting the way we consume music. Whether it’s a game-changing streaming service like Spotify or a social music experience like Turntable.fm, our listening patterns are slowly evolving alongside our continued use of these products.

The same goes for musicians, many of whom actively use particular services and websites as part of their own music consumption. As individuals who seek to disseminate their own music, artists occupy a unique position by sharing their own songs as well as listening to others’ songs. Recent services, including Spotify, MOG, Pandora, Grooveshark and countless others, have a strong impact on the artists, albums and songs they consume.

The Games People Play

We’ve long known that casual gaming is on the rise. Busy professionals, parents and retirees may not be inclined to pick up an Xbox controller, but they’re certainly flinging Angry Birds on the train and growing virtual crops by the bushel.

The ubiquity of mobile and the feats of modern web browsers are certainly at the root of these new pastimes. The result? The demographic once known as “gamers” has become more complex.

The infographic below, courtesy of One More Level, breaks down what’s happening in the casual gaming space

Active Mobile Users Would Switch Stores For 20% Price Reduction

According to a new study by L.E.K. Consulting, more than half of U.S. consumers will be using mobile devices regularly for shopping within the next five years. Two thirds of smart phone owners today have used their devices to make purchases and more than 80% have used them to assist in purchasing decisions through product research at least once in the past year.

NRF launches Year-Long Campaign To Promote The Value Of Retail

Retailers talk a lot about value – value in product, value in customer service and value in brand. But there’s one sphere of retail value that has been somewhat overlooked. It’s the value of retail to the U.S. economy.

To create a better understanding of how retail propels our economy, NRF launched a year-long campaign today to educate lawmakers, consumers and the general public about the jobs, innovation and value retail brings to America. As part of this campaign, NRF commissioned a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers which found:

The Music Industry Is Bigger Than You Think

Whenever someone mentions the phrase “the music industry” we immediately think of record labels and music sales, be they via a digital file, CD, vinyl record, cassette or some other method where we listen to songs. The business is a lot bigger than that, especially if we look at all the different categories.

Facebook Dominant Social Network For SMBs

When it comes to online marketing, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have their work cut out for them. Time- and money-strapped, SMB marketers often receive light budgets and minimal staff to help them promote their business and generate leads across a variety of formats ranging from social media to search marketing.

GameStop Building Android-Powered Mobile Gaming Tablet

Bump Hits 50 Million Downloads; What’s Being Shared?

Bump, the app that makes it simple to exchange information between mobile devices, has surpassed 10 million active users and 50 million downloads.

The company’s technology allows two users to “bump” their phones and exchange contact information. With the iOS and Android apps, users can also friend or follow each other on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. And late last year, the company introduced a way to share music by bumping.

Adjusted Socioeconomically, Hispanics And Whites Neck And Neck In Digital Use

According to a study from the Pew Research Center, reported in Marketing Charts, 65% of Latino and 66% of African American adults went online in 2010, roughly 14% less than the 77% of white adults who did so. Additionally, only 45% of Latinos have broadband access at home, 13% less than the 52% of blacks and 31% less than the 65% of whites with home broadband access.

More Video Engagement, Not View Counts = Higher Sales

midem has released an exclusive white paper from Nielsen that looks at the reach of official music videos as well as the correlation between both views and engagement in relationship to digital download sales.  The executive takeaway is that increased views do not always correlate with increased sales but higher engagement does correlate with higher sales.

92% Of Music Fans Still Prefer Ownership

Yes, still: According to a study just concluded by eMusic, music fans overwhelmingly prefer ownership over streaming, by a drastic margin. That is, 92% prefer ownership of music over any other method, with unlimited playback and security of collections cited as top reasons.  Here’s a top-level screenshot from the report, specifically for dedicated music fans

Millennials More Comfortable With M-Commerce

As m-commerce becomes more widely adopted, distinct demographic characteristics are emerging. More smartphone and tablet owners are researching products than purchasing them—80.8% compared to 41.4%, according to BIGresearch—but attitudes vary quite a bit among different age groups.

How Tablets Are Changing The Way We Search

A text-based, context-less search experience, the type of search experience consumers have come to expect on the web, is becoming passé as touchscreens replace keyboards and tablets re-imagine what’s possible.

6 Compelling Social Media Stats Marketers Should Know

Shoppers Via Twitter Spend More, Online Behavior Impacts Retail

Shoppers who land on retail sites through Facebook or Twitter are less likely to make purchases. Their conversion rates average 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Per average order, however, they spend more than those who come through Google. In fact, shoppers who originated from Twitter spend on average $121.33 — the highest average order value (AOV) of all, according to a recent study.

Ad Expenditures Up 3.2% From Last Year For First Half of 2011

With the first half of 2011 in the books and the numbers crunched, Kantar Media Reports are declaring a 3.2 percent increase in ad expenditures growing 3.2 percent over the same period in 2010 to a total of $71.5 billion.

Mobile Ads Six Times As Effective As Standard Banners

The telecom industry is one of the biggest spenders on online advertising. Between 2010 and 2011, telecom ad spending climbed by 7% to $3.62 billion and eMarketer estimates the industry will spend close to $4.6 billion on online ads by 2015. New research suggests the industry has unlocked some key findings in order to achieve high user engagement with its display ads

Top Smartphone Platforms For Mobile Gamers

In the three month average period ending July 2011, 65.1 million mobile subscribers in the U.S. reported playing a mobile game at least once in the previous month, accounting for 27.8 percent of the total U.S. mobile audience.

Among these mobile gamers, 67.7 percent were using smartphones. 30.3 percent reported using a Google Android device, followed by 21.1 percent who reported using an Apple iPhone. However, mobile gaming saw higher penetration among Apple iPhone users, as it reached 61.7 percent of all iPhone users, compared to only 57.4 percent among Android users.

Mobile App Downloads To Grow 144% This Year

Social Media Report: Spending Time, Money And Going Mobile

Social media not only connects consumers with each other, but also with just about every place they go and everything they watch and buy. Nielsen’s new Social Media Report looks at trends and consumption patterns across social media platforms in the U.S. and other major markets, exploring the rising influence of social media on consumer behavior.

German Digital Music Market Up Nearly 20% In First Half Of 2011

Streaming services are experiencing the greatest sales growth in Germany’s current digital market while the overall digital market expanded by 19.3 percent from the beginning of January to the end of June 2011, according to the German Federal Music Industry Association (BVMI) in Berlin.  Digital business now accounts for 17.2 percent of total music sales with 2011′s revenues of 111.8 million Euro ($152.8 million) up from 2010 revenue of 93.7 million Euro ($128.1 million).

Social Site Elders Click Through More

SocialCode, reporting on a new Facebook advertising research study, examining over four million data points from a wide variety of industries, says that for ads with a ‘Like’ button, older Facebook users have a higher CTR while younger Facebook users will tend to click ‘Like’ directly within the Facebook ad.

Cautious Optimism For Holiday Season Spending

Another holiday season is approaching, meaning another opportunity for retailers to increase sales, boost new customer acquisition and fatten their revenue totals for the year. Based on ecommerce spending trends so far this year, online and multichannel merchants are optimistic, always depending on the slippery road of economic recovery.

“You’ve Got To See It!”: What Social Media Marketers Can Learn From Broadway Success

My friend Arny Granat is a successful producer who co-founded Jam Productions in 1972 and is also a partner in Jam Theatricals, where he’s been the recipient of numerous Tony awards. Over his 40 year career, Arny has produced thousands of shows and seen a lot of market research. At a recent dinner, we were discussing how one can best predict if a show will be a success or not. I listened intently as Arny said there is no special formula but there are five key words that, if spoken by anyone who has seen a show, can help make that assessment:

iPhone Tops U.S. Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Survey

Apple leads U.S. smartphone manufacturers in customer satisfaction, according to a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates.

It’s the sixth time in a row the Cupertino giant has topped this survey. Apple scored 838 points with great marks in all areas, particularly ease of operation and features.

Using Social Media To Ask The Right Questions

Decades of improved supply chain efficiency and management have produced undisputed gains for companies across the globe. Supply chain management is now the rule, not the differentiator. In today’s demand economy, leveraging untapped pools of consumer demand is crucial for competitive advantage. “Plus, the supply chain leaves out one important part: the customer.” said Brad Little from NM Incite at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. “In today’s demand economy companies need to get closer to the customer,” he stressed

Talking with…Charming Shoppes Direct President Bill Bass

F-commerce (or Facebook commerce) may not be the “be all, end all” in digital retail – at least that’s what the latest findings from Forrester show. And according to at least one retail executive, they could be right. We recently reached out to Charming Direct President Bill Bass to pick his brain on social media, cross-channel strategies and tips for driving in-store traffic, and his responses offer a refreshing take on each. In the latest addition to our Talking with… series, read on as Bass shares his insight into transforming shoppers into customers, advice for weighing the newest technology hype, and names which daily morning pub is “the most useful thing [he] reads on e-commerce.”

Mobile Video Uploads Hit Record High

Traditional video cameras have been gathering dust due to the rapid growth of video camera usage on mobile devices. According to Photobucket, a web-based photo- and video-sharing service, site users are not only uploading more video content than ever before, but a staggering amount of uploads are also originating from mobile devices.

How And Why Consumers Choose A Smartphone

It’s no secret that smartphone usage and adoptionis exploding, not only in the United States, but across the world.

Mobile phones continue to be one of the biggest drivers for innovation in technology. Moreover, technology like NFC and mobile apps are fundamentally changing the way content is distributed, consumed and created.

In fact, the market has finally evolved beyond the point of whether or not a consumer will buy a smartphone. Instead, the question becomes, why do consumers choose one phone over another and how are they making those decisions? Research firm Mintel released a report that takes a high-level look at the various factors that influence smartphone adoption and consumer purchases.

Retail Email Does More To Direct Subscribers To Social Sites

Internet users may feel inspired to share a timely news article, funny video or even a holiday shopping wish list with friends and family, but retailers’ emails are generally not the most popular type of content to spread virally. Email marketers are realizing this and shifting focus from including forward-to-a-friend links in messages to leading consumers straight to their Facebook pages.

Amazon.com Planning E-commerce Site Relaunch

Amazon.com will launch a revamped e-commerce site this fall. The upgraded site will feature enhanced product
search and tablet navigation, according to numerous media reports.

11 Excellent Email Marketing Infographics

Millennials High On Digital And Friends

According to the “American Millennials” study from Barkley, with Service Management Group and The Boston Consulting Group, Millennials, compared to other generations, reported greater awareness of newer, youth-oriented cause marketing campaigns and greater exposure to campaigns through social media, while Non-Millennials rely on newspaper and direct mail.

Half Of Shoppers Spend 75% Of Time Conducting Online Research

Tumblr Defies Its Name As User Growth Accelerates

With so much attention given to social networking goliath Facebook, along with strong secondary players in the market like Twitter and Linkedin (and now Google+), it’s no wonder that scrappy upstart Tumblr often gets overlooked. But recent comScore data suggest that maybe it’s about time to start paying closer attention. Tumblr, a multimedia-focused microblogging platform, has emerged as one of the fastest growing consumer-oriented Internet sites over the past year, with its audience surging from 4.2 million visitors in July 2010 to 13.4 million visitors in July 2011 (up 218%!).

SMBs Aim At Digital Marketing

According to a new U.S. SMB Spending Forecast by BIA/Kelsey, small and medium-sized businesses will continue the recent trend of shifting their marketing budgets to digital advertising, performance-based platforms and customer retention business solutions over the next five years.

Why Post-PC Doesn't Mean Mobile

Steve Jobs coined the term “post-PC” in reference to a new era of computing that takes the PC off its pedestal and makes it just another computing device, putting it on equal footing with smartphones, tablets, e-book readers, gaming consoles, and interactive TVs. Over the next year, marketers looking to get ahead of the curve will need to explore new ways to integrate unique smartphone and tablet executions into their campaigns. Courtesy of my company’s Trends team, let’s take a deeper look at how post-PC affects marketing.

Online Video Evolves

According to a recently released Yahoo! Study with Interpret (following up on a similar 2009 study) Online Video continues to grow significantly, specifically full-length movies and TV shows. In a given day 57% watched an online video, a 33% increase from 2009. However, short clips still represent the majority of videos watched.

How Social Media Users Engage With Marketers On Twitter

Most users are on Twitter to communicate with friends, get news or be entertained. But brands are making an impact.

LinkedIn Explores What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur

Where does the ideal startup founder come from? Whom is he or she connected to?

LinkedIn was curious, so the business social network decided to find out. It mined the data of its more than 115 million users to understand the background of entrepreneurs. The result is an infographic that dives into the educational and corporate characteristics of the typical startup founder.

Email Metrics: Wee Hour Postings Pay Off

According to MailerMailer’s latest Email Marketing Metrics Report, despite the booming success of social media marketing, email remains the most reliable and effective tool for marketers today, earning $44.00 return on investment. Many expected that social media would replace email marketing altogether. Instead of replacing email, however, social media has become an ally, joining forces with email marketing to provide consumers with yet another way to engage with the companies.

Online Retailers Fail To Execute Good Customer Experience

Retail has always been an industry with a high level of customer interaction; providing a satisfying shopping experience is integral to sales. And it is no different for ecommerce, particularly as consumers remain cautious and need incentives to spend.

July 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending July 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.5 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 41.8 percent market share.

3 Tips For Better Social Music Video Marketing

An ongoing series of posts at REELSEO explains how to move beyond an obsession with clicks and impressions to focus on building relationships between one’s brand (or band) and video viewers.  Given the hype surrounding music video impressions, numbers that don’t indicate real views and are often gamed, the series is definitely worth reading with an eye towards Social Music Video Marketing

Smartphone Users Most Engaged With Ads While Shopping

With smartphones able to perform a variety of tasks, from communicating to information-seeking to shopping and beyond, consumers are spending more time with them than ever. And marketers have more chances than ever to reach them via mobile.

Radio Listeners And Revenues Grow

Compared to the Arbitron estimates from one year ago, network radio increased its weekly reach among persons aged 12 and older by more than 1.9 million listeners, according to theRadar 109 Cume audience estimates.

Only 50% Of U.S. Adults Use Social Media

Social media is not ubiquitous. In fact, says a Pew Internet survey released on Friday, just half of U.S. adults are logged on to sites like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Social Networking Now Accounts For Largest Share Of Online Minutes In Mexico

The report showed that Google Sites led as the most-visited Internet property in the market reaching more than 90 percent of all online users, followed by Microsoft Sites and Facebook.com. The study also found that Social Networking now ranks as the most popular online category by total minutes, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all time spent online during July

Retailers Making Emotional Connections To Consumers

New data released by Motista suggests that retailers should look beyond the traditional set of holiday emotions and themes of the season, such as family and giving, to understand what’s really motivating consumers to spend more. The study also reveals different ways in which consumers interact and connect with retailers… useful, says the report, as retailers plan their holiday marketing campaigns.

Online Gaming Audience Defies Stereotypes

The online gaming space is an exciting place for both gamers and brand marketers. In particular, the growing appeal of casual and social games is encouraging users to play them across multiple platforms, from PCs and consoles to smartphones and tablets. And that appeal is growing beyond the typical gamer demographics.

Interactive Marketing To Garner $77B By 2016

By 2016, advertisers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing — or as much as they do on TV today, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

QR Codes Best in Magazines, Newspapers & Packaging

A new comScore study on mobile QR (Quick Response) code scanning readable by smartphones, found that 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. A mobile user that scanned a QR code was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1%).

How Valuable Are Social Media Sponsorships?

Paying for mentions in social media, or social media sponsorships, has become a more popular marketing tactic. By late 2009, it had attracted the attention of the US Federal Trade Commission, which released regulations requiring bloggers and certain other online publishers to disclose when they receive cash, free products or other compensation for a product or brand mention. But marketers are still interested in this form of outreach.

Ladies Love E-Readers; Guys Prefer Tablets

According to Nielsen’s second-quarter survey, 61 percent of e-reader owners are women, up from 46 percent in the third quarter of last year. Meanwhile, men make up 57 percent of tablet owners, which is down from 61 percent in the third quarter. Smartphones are used equally by women and men.

App Popularity: Gaming Or News?

Gaming or news apps — which are more engaging? It all depends on a user’s mood, according to a new report from analytics firm Localytics.

Branded Entertainment Needs To Be Measured

According to a new survey from the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), nearly 63% of client-side marketers plan to participate in branded entertainment projects in 2012, making branded entertainment a common marketing strategy for many companies.

Solid Ecommerce Spending Recovery Suggests Strong Holiday Season

As retailers gear up for the holiday shopping season, many hope that the recent stock market turbulence will not prevent the strong end-of-year performance of years past. Retailers have come to count on the sales spike that traditionally occurs during Q4. The US Department of Commerce found that in 2010 retail ecommerce sales jumped from $39.2 billion to $53.2 billion between the third and fourth quarters

Tablet Commerce: A New Marketing Target

According to a new report by Forrester Research, in partnership with Bizrate Insights, the number of Americans owning tablet devices is forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 51% between 2010 and 2015, while tablet commerce is expected to grow rapidly over the same period. 9% of surveyed online shoppers say they own a tablet device; among them, 78% own a smartphone as well, while 22% of tablet owners (2% of online shoppers) own a tablet only.

The Revival Of Vinyl: Back To Black

ONE common trend in many Western countries, regardless of the health of their recorded-music markets, is clear: vinyl is back. Sales of LPs were up in both Britain and Germany last year. In America, vinyl sales are running 39% above last year’s level.

Two In Five Mobile Owners Use Internet On The Go

The US mobile web population will be up almost 25% this year as 97.3 million mobile owners log on to the internet from their device at least monthly, eMarketer estimates.

Free Games Boost Gaming Industry Revenue

An increase in the number of people playing free games is providing the gaming
industry with an additional source of revenue as gamers shell out millions for
virtual goods and add-ons.

Mobile Apps Beat The Mobile Web Among US Android Smartphone Users

When consumers use their mobile phones to check the news, weather, email, or their social networks, they often have a choice between the mobile web version or a specially-created mobile app. But which do they prefer? Mobile apps – at least in terms of time spent.

Gen Xers Are Online Media Kings

Generation X—the first generation to grow up with PCs—are plugged in and media-savvy. For marketers, that means that while these 34- to 45-year-old consumers are heavy users of digital tools, they also watch more TV than any other age segment.

Who Is Watching Video On Their Mobile

For the three month average period ending June 2011, more than 16 million mobile users in the U.S. watched TV or video on their mobile phones. Males made up a significantly larger percentage of the mobile TV/video viewing audience (61.8%) compared to females (38.2%). Users age 24-34 accounted for the largest share of viewers by age representing 31.8% of the total mobile TV/video audience, while those age 18-24 accounted for 21.9% of viewers and the 35-44 year old segment represented 20.6%.

Initiative To Marketers: Wake Up, Optimize Brand Content Online

The Internet has become so embedded in the consumer purchase consideration process that more than 40% of customers now say they will not buy a brand if they can’t find the right information about it online.

What Changing Social Media Usage Means For Marketers

The number of Facebook users in the US will increase 13.4% this year, eMarketer estimates, after 38.6% growth in 2010 and a whopping 90.3% rise the year before. The rate of adult Twitter user adoption has similarly begun to plateau, dropping from 293.1% growth in 2009 to 26.3% this year and still slowing. In many developing countries, these and other networks are seeing their audience growth taper off as most new users come from other countries such as the BRIC nations and Indonesia.

Tablets, Smartphones Changing Media Consumption

Tablets and iPhones are fundamentally changing the way people get their entertainment, and they may eventually make those DVD players, GPS and other single-use electronic devices obsolete.

QR Code & Mobile Ad Research Challenges Music Marketing Assumptions

Three different recent reports, two on QR codes and one on mobile ads, have revealed that the assumptions of many, have been offbase in believing that QR codes on the street and timing approaches are the way to go in mobile marketing. That doesn’t mean to throw in the towel on such approaches, but it does challenge many assumptions.

How Social Media Marketers Can Make the Most Of Monitoring Tools

There is more than one way to monitor and measure social media outreach and online campaigns, and companies must find the right setup for them. Looking at how marketers are using monitoring tools and what benefits come from certain options can give companies insight into what works.

Focus On Fit Helps Brands Win In Online Gaming Space

Digital games are serious business these days, as brand managers look for new and interesting ways to interact with consumers. For Chris Miller, executive vice president and group management director of digital at Draftfcb Chicago, games require a lot of thought and planning to make the right connections with online gamers. eMarketer’s Lauren Fisher spoke with Miller about how he and his agency use games to reinforce a brand’s message while entertaining online gamers.

Social Media Marketing By The Numbers

The numbers just tell part of the story, but as they say, you can’t argue with the numbers. You can only take issue with how “great” they are. A study from The Awareness Social Marketing Hub shows the breakdown of the “numbers” of the leading social media sites and campaigns.

20% Of Internet Users Visited Amazon In June

Amazon led online retailers with 282.2 million visitors that month out of a total Internet audience of 1.4 billion, comScore estimates. That’s a 27% jump from June 2010, when Amazon got 221.8 million visitors — which was 17.7% of all Internet users. In the new report, Amazon was followed by eBay with 223.5 million, or 16.2% of all Internet users. China’s Alibaba.com got 156.8 million (11.8%).

Mobile Users Favor Consumable Gaming Apps

According to new data from app advertising and analytics firm Flurry, more than two-thirds of all items purchased in Apple iOS- and Android-based freemium games are “consumable” — i.e., goods users deplete. That’s opposed to “durable” goods, which provide a permanent game-play benefit.

The Latino Sound Of Digital Music

Spotify, the Swedish online music-on-demand service, has teamed up with Warner Music Group to launch the site in the U.S. With over 10 million European subscribers and followers, including celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg and Demi Moore, Spotify could definitely benefit from targeting Latinos in order to develop its U.S. presence.

Importance Of Brand Discussions On Social Media

According to “S-Net, The Impact of Social Media,” a social network study from ROI Research sponsored by Performics, 52% of respondents strongly or somewhat agree that voicing opinions on social networking sites can influence business decisions of companies/brands. The study reveals the inherent differences in why and how people use social networks among various categories.

Virtual Goods Purchases Rise For Certain Gamers

Most people associate virtual goods with social games such as FarmVille and CityVille. After all, it was game developer Zynga’s uncanny ability to sell virtual items within those and other titles that helped grow social gaming into a billion-dollar industry.

14 Million Americans Scanned QR Codes On Their Mobile Phones In June 2011

Fourteen million U.S. mobile subscribers scanned mobile QR codes and barcodes in June 2011, representing 6.2 percent of the overall U.S. mobile audience, according to new data published by digital research firm comScore. Consumers were most likely to scan codes found in newspapers or magazines (49.4 percent of scans) and on product packages (35.3 percent), comScore reported. The firm added that users are most likely to initiate scans while at home (58.0 percent) or while in a retail store (39.4 percent).

42% Of Users Depend On Mobile Service To Fight Off Boredom

Mobile devices have emerged as such a critical component of users’ everyday lives that their absence can trigger problems, according to a new nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. In the 30 days leading up to the Pew study, 51 percent of respondents used their phone to quickly retrieve information, and 27 percent said they experienced a situation made troublesome because their mobile device was not at hand. In addition, 40 percent of respondents said they found themselves in emergency situations where mobile access proved helpful.

Two Simple Tips For Making The Most Of Mobile

At this year’s NRFtech in Lake Tahoe, there will be no shortage of discussions on advancements in retail technology. While many executives see the potential for mobile technology, it’s never easy to determine how to prioritize or figure out exactly where to find the low-hanging fruit. Ahead of this year’s event, we asked Duncan Taylor, Director of Product Management and Store Solutions for Epicor, to share his thoughts on the future of retail IT. During the wide-ranging Q&A, Taylor highlighted everything from mobile POS (and changing consumer sentiment) to the capabilities of the cloud and a case study of how an investment in technology by one small retailer led to a transaction increase of 1400 percent (no, that’s not a typo).

UK Vinyl Record Sales Jump 55% So Far This Year, U.S. Vinyl Sales Up 37%

Sales of vinyl records totalled 168,296 units for the first half of 2011, according to new data released today by Retail Gazette. That’s a 55% rise compared to the first six months of 2010. Radiohead’s King of Limbs was the most popular vinyl album release in the last six months of 2011 for the format shifting 20,771 copies.

Retail, CPG Pour Most New Dollars Into Online Ads

The US online ad market is on a sharp trajectory this year, eMarketer estimates, with spending set to increase 20.2% to $31.3 billion. And based on an updated industry breakdown, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) will account for the largest shares of new spending.

What Can Social Media Tell Us About American Society?

America is obsessed with its social media tools — more than half of all Americans have a social networking profile. But what does social media tell us about American society? Is our use of social tools a reflection of our interests and behaviors?

Smartphone App Locates Items On The Shelf

Aisle411’s smartphone application connects customers with a retailer’s inventory in real-time, enabling them to plan, map, and customize a personalized in-store shopping experience. The St. Louis-based startup allows consumers to type or speak an item they are searching for into the app to receive a map of the item’s location as it exists on the shelves of a specific store, or the location of the item in a store nearby. In addition to inventory mapping, Aisle411 in- store features include shopping list management, UPC-generated online reviews, social media and user-directed couponing.

Digital Signage Up 40% By 2013- Retail To Lead The Way

A new report from IMS Research forecasts dramatic growth in digital signage over
the next few years thanks to growing acceptance of the medium as a valuable ad
delivery mechanism.

Study Reveals Shift Toward Shopper Marketing, Agencies Adapting

How To include Google+ In Your Social Media Strategy

It’s something of an understatement to say social media is a moving target – especially for business owners.  Just when you feel like you have a handle on your strategy for one social medium, another platform surfaces and forces you to re-evaluate.  The latest entrant is Google+, Google’s fast-growing challenge to Facebook and Twitter.

Mobile Users' Interests Trump Location For Ads

When it comes to the type of offers mobile users prefer to receive, the vast majority favor ads based on their tastes and interests rather than those targeted by location or other factors, according to a new study. The finding comes from a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by Luth Research on behalf of London-based mobile marketing firm Upstream.

ARTS Executive Director Discusses Near Field Communications In The Retail Industry

The National Retail Federation’s Assocation for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) has always been on the forefront when it comes to advancing the latest retail technology, including introducing standard RFPs for retailers and creating a first-of-its kind Mobile Retail Blueprint, which offers best practices and learning opportunities for retailers around the world entering the mobile space.

Affluents Adopting Technology Infused Lifestyles

“Affluent Consumers in a Digital World,” a study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau finds the wealthiest American consumers, those in homes with at least $100,000 annual incomes, embracing digital media and its ads.

Generations Divide Over Mobile Devices

eMarketer estimates that more than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, up from 77.8 million in 2010. While US consumers as a whole may be increasing their mobile internet activities, the devices with which they prefer to do so tend to vary by generation.

The Rise Of The Mobile Workforce

The era of the 9-to-5 job is over. Even just a few years ago, you were expected to commute to work, put in your hours and drive back home. Once you left work, it was done until you came back into the office the next way.

Thanks to laptops, smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi, that has all changed. As long as you have an Internet connection, you can file reports, hold meetings, edit proposals and complete practically all of your work tasks remotely. As a result, telecommuting is on the rise, and more and more work is completed via our mobile devices

Listening And Engaging On Social Media Yield Positive Results

Social media and digital marketing have allowed marketers to listen to more of what customers are saying about their brands and those of their competitors. As a result, listening and engaging online with consumers are now parts of many marketers’ online strategies, and there are many ways to measure these initiatives to track success.

Survey Finds 43 Percent Of Marketers Not Increasing Mobile Advertising Spending Cite Low ROI From Mobile Campaigns As Biggest Deterrent

A new study conducted by The Relevancy Group in June 2011 and commissioned by Pontiflex, the industry’s leading mobile and online signup ad platform, finds that lack of ROI from mobile advertising is the biggest deterrent for marketers when it comes to increasing mobile ad spending in 2011. Specifically, 43 percent of marketers who aren’t planning to increase their mobile ad spending this year cite low ROI from mobile advertising as the number one reason that they won’t increase spending. The survey also found that 93 percent of marketers said they would increase mobile ad spending if they realized a higher return on their investment.

More Gamers Are Spending Real Money On Virtual Goods, And Women Are Spending More Than Men

One out of every three online gamers is spending real money on virtual goods, according to a new study by Visa’s PlaySpan and VG Market Study.

Web Analytics Boost E-Commerce Sites

Multichannel retailers are measuring Web analytics to improve conversion rates among e-commerce shoppers, in addition to pursuing emerging opportunities in mobile and social commerce.

Are Small Businesses Apathetic About Social Media?

Uptake of social media marketing among small and medium-sized businesses has become widespread. Research has suggested it’s a cost-effective, easy-to-use marketing channel that can boost customer acquisition as well as fulfill other marketing goals. But most small businesses still don’t see social media as a necessity.

Video Game Consoles Top Internet-Connected TV Device

Online video is enjoying explosive growth. eMarketer projects the US online video audience will reach 158.1 million users this year and US online video ad spending will jump 52.1% to $2.2 billion. As more video content becomes available online and more devices facilitate access to that content, users are broadening their viewing habits to incorporate multiple platforms—diversifying the video advertising landscape.

How Professionals Use LinkedIn

A month after its debut as a public company and eight years after its launch, LinkedIn in June 2011 passed Myspace to become the No. 2 social networking site in terms of visitors, according to comScore.

Marketers can gain perspective on how best to reach LinkedIn’s profession-focused networkers by analyzing how they use the site and where they interact. In July 2011, market research firm Lab42 surveyed LinkedIn users and found that the audience is highly engaged: 32% check the site several times a week and 35% check it daily.

Social Channels Deliver Better ROI

Social channels deliver deeper consumer interactions and provide marketers with better ROI than traditional media channels, according to a study conducted by social marketing firm Crowdtap and marketing consultant Joanna Seddon.

Seeing Ad First Increases Action Odds Sevenfold

A new study by Casale Media, based on their analysis of nearly two billion ad impressions generated during the 1Q 2011, shows that online ads appearing “above the fold” are nearly seven times more effective at generating a click through than those appearing “below the fold,” and that the more times someone sees an ad the more likely they are to click through and take action.

Older People Not Using Smartphones Or Digital Media

Older Internet consumers are very low users of smartphones and online media, states a report from McKinsey. The report indicates that “Digital-media junkies” (avg age 28) are three times more likely to be early adopters of new technologies than “Traditionalists” (avg age 48).

Social Media WOM Propels Purchasing Decisions

Regardless of what channels deliver the information, nearly 50% of consumers 18-54 say they are very likely to purchase items based on word of mouth.

Execs Predict Rev Growth In 2012, Digital Is Key Driver

A new “business climate” survey of communications executives from consultant KPMG reports that there is less optimism about the economy and employment in the sector going forward.

On the plus side, most of those surveyed — nearly three-fourths — predicted some revenue growth for their firms in the next year. And 44% said that digital-related products and services would be the key drivers to overall revenue growth.

Retailers Try To Monetize Social Media Outreach

Retailers are using social media sites in a variety of ways, but many are still working to determine how this outreach affects their bottom line.

How Location Data Can Empower Retailers

Location data can be powerful tools for retail businesses looking to tailor their stories to a particular customer segment, as well as for manufacturers trying to decide which retailers will be most able to move their products.

STORES Hot 100 Retailers Listing Demonstrates It’s All About The Customer

Unlike the Top 100, which looks at the leading industry performers based on annual retail sales, the Hot 100 ranks the fastest growing retail companies. It’s a fluid list, with the potential to change year after year — and for the most part it has. Since we launched the Hot 100 back in 2006 (based on 2005 financial data), different players have settled in the top spots on the list; there’s a certain amount of cache that now comes with being able to say that your company landed in the top 10.

Digital OOH Reaches 61% of U.S. Adults Monthly

DO reaches 61% of U.S. adults every month, according to the latest data from the Fall 2010 “Survey of the American Consumer” performed by GfK MRI. Some 138.5 million U.S. adults recalled having seen digital place-based out-of-home advertising in the last month, with grocery stores the most common venue: 31.8% of U.S. adults said they saw DO here.

Google+ Hits 25 Million Visitors

The social network, introduced on June 28, hit the 25 million visitors mark on July 24, says Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore. That means there have been 25 million unique visitors to the Google+ website, not counting mobile users. In July there were roughly 20 million Google+ users.

Big Machine Says Anti-Piracy Is Just As Important As Marketing

One is all about control, stamping things out, and shutting things down. The other thrives on organic growth, emotional connections, and word-of-mouth.  Yet Big Machine Records puts anti-piracy on the same level as marketing in its releases, as evidenced by a recent campaign for Taylor Swift’s Speak Now.

Apple launches iCloud for developers, complete with web apps

The newest feature is iCloud, Apple’s cloud-based storage service that replaces its MobileMe service. The cloud storage will be rolled out in full when iOS 5 hits. Apple fans will be able to make use of iCloud for various functions, including storage of files online rather than on their hard drives. In the meantime, only users with developer accounts can access iCloud.com.

Consumers Say Free/Low Cost Is Most Important When Choosing Mobile Video Apps

When it comes to mobile video apps like YouTube, Hulu or Netflix, consumers say the best things in life are free. According to a new study released by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and Nielsen, 63 percent of survey respondents said that “free or low subscription rates” is the most important attribute for a video app.

To Spread Your Brand On Facebook, Don't Target Your Fans--Target Their Friends

Facebook and ComScore have teamed up for a new service, Social Essentials. It offers unprecedented insights into the influence of brands on social media, complete with detailed credit card behavior, and findings suggest it’s not really your brand’s fans you need to worry about–it’s their friends.

The Future of Social Customer Relationship Management

Currently there’s a lot of buzz around social customer relationship management (CRM). Social media platforms and technologies like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare are transforming how companies market their products and engage audiences. But when you’re also concerned about delivering results to your clients, you’ll do well to study the evolution from traditional CRM to sCRM.

Marketers plan to extend social media ad investments

Social network marketing is now de rigueur for most brands. eMarketer estimates that 80% of companies with at least 100 employees conduct marketing activities on social networks this year. Fewer are advertising on social networks, but the number is growing.

Mobile Users Expand Their Search Habits

More than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, eMarketer estimates, and research shows that the increase in on-the-go web usage goes hand in hand with more search activity for local content.

Let's Talk About Google+ For Artists

Global Digital Music Revenues To Almost Triple By 2015

The State of the Tablet and Ereader Market

For relatively recent innovations, commercial tablets and ereaders have taken the market by storm.In the tablet category, the iPad certainly set the pace for what’s shaping up to be a hot sector. However, several of this tablet’s competitors are giving Apple a run for its money in terms of features, network options and accessibility. Here’s the skinny on how big that market actually is, who’s buying what, how apps and 4G connectivity figure into their success and much more, courtesy of research firm Mintel, which released a study on the tablet industry.

Coca-Cola Partners with Music Dealers to Help Promote Undiscovered Artists

Coca-Cola’s best known contribution to music may be “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” (In Perfect Harmony),” but it now wants to be known for helping consumers find new music. As exclusively announced in this week’s Billboard magazine, the company has partnered with music licensing website Music Dealers to discover and license new talent from artists around the world. Already underway is a promotion with Taio Cruz in which three Music Dealers artists will be chosen by Cruz to remix for his song, “Higher.”

HOW TO: Utilize Social Data More Effectively

Last year, American consumers posted more than a billion opinions about products and services online, according to data collected by my company. With peer influence playing such a prominent role in consumers’ purchase decisions, it’s no surprise many interactive marketers are tapping into that influence via viral marketing programs and influencer outreach.

Visual Music Marketing On Instagram

Instagram, the photo sharing app for the iPhone, has taken off with millions of users and a heck of a lot of photos. Recent experiments by Moby, The Deftones and The Vaccines have revealed Instagram’s potential for marketing as an outcome of photo sharing with communities of fans. And now Justin Bieber’s mere presence has caused an influx of new participants.

Virtual Goods and Currency: Real Dollars Add Up

Virtual goods economies are flourishing in social network games, virtual worlds and other online communities. This growth has opened opportunities for marketers to promote brands by leveraging players’ willingness to spend real money on virtual items.

Media Planners Embrace Digital Out-of-Home

eMarketer forecasts a fairly rosy outlook for outdoor advertising spending in the US, which is predicted to rise from $6.1 billion in 2010 to $6.4 billion this year and $7.6 billion by 2015. Growth in this area is supported by the continued relevance of outdoor to the daily lives of consumers as well as the growing share of spending devoted to newer forms of outdoor ads that are themselves digital media.

Mobile Email Most Likely to Drive Purchase

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important to consumers for conducting shopping activities, and mobile advertising is driving some to purchase—though often not via the phones themselves.

10 Tips To Advance Your Music Business Career

No matter where you are in your career, it’s important to look back at the basics. It allows you to think like a beginner again; back to when you could visualize the most possibilities. The following ten tips, taken from a NARIP event in San Francisco, will help move forward your career in the music business – however far along you may be.

HOW TO: Successfully Run A Social Media Contest

Online contests can be a great way to build a fan base, gather data and engage an audience. Whether you have run a contest previously or not, there are four things to keep in mind as you prepare for, and execute, your campaign.

Google+ Off To A Fast Start With 20 Million Visitors In 21 Days

To get a better understanding of how Google+ is performing to date and who is using it, comScore pulled together some figures based on the first 21 days of its public existence. Importantly, these data are based on unique visitors (which is different than “users” in that people who never sign up may visit Google+ pages) from home and work computers (which excludes usage via mobile devices).

Options For Online Video Ad Viewers Lead To Greater Engagement

Online video viewers have come to expect in-video advertisements as the common currency for free viewing. Findings suggest video advertisers willing to give viewers a choice when it comes to video ad viewing are likely to be rewarded with better ad engagement.

Print Pervasive And Persuasive, But Digital Overtaking

According to new research from Nielsen, 60% of shoppers from the survey say they look at printed paper material either mailed to the home or in newspapers at least once per week. With 82% of Americans online, 93% owning mobile phones and 155 million using Facebook, access to digital technologies is pervasive, yet retailers still spend an estimated 60-70% of their marketing budget on printed ad circulars.

Google+: The Numbers Driving Its Growth

New data from Experian Hitwise shows that Google+ is growing fast, thanks to a young demographic and lots of traffic from other Google properties. The web analytics firm has released its first set of data regarding Google’s new social network. Although the data only extends to July 16, it provides a detailed picture into the numbers that are driving Google+’s growth.

June 2011: Top U.S. Online Destinations For Video

Typical for the summertime when school is out, the TV season has ended and people are vacationing, the number of online video viewers in the U.S. was down slightly in June to 142.6 million unique video viewers.

Digital Budgets Shift From Print But Still Lag Behind Usage

As online ad spending continues to increase as a share of total US ad outlays, many marketers are pulling new digital dollars from traditional media budgets. Even so, the amount of time spent with digital media is disproportionate to spending.

5 Ways To Take Advantage Of The iPad For Business

Sure, the iPad is a great device for viewing videos and photos, playing games and surfing the web, but it can also be an excellent, super-portable addition to the workplace. Working on the iPad extends beyond connecting to a remote desktop, sending emails or drafting text documents. These are five of Mashable’s favorite ways to use the iPad for business.

iPhone, iPad Growth Show No Signs Of Stopping

Competition from Google hasn’t stopped Apple’s iPhone and iPad from selling at impressive rates, according to the earnings report. Just as important, Apple executives painted a picture of a thriving app marketplace where developers are making a significant amount of money. Steve Jobs called it “our best quarter ever.”

Gamify Your Marketing

The scale of the audience accessible through gaming is simply staggering. In terms of potential reach, it rivals television as a medium. Yet, according to Forrester, 84% of marketers have no plans to use games in their marketing efforts. Is this a giant missed opportunity just waiting to be seized? Or is the notion of “gamification” just one more chance for marketers to fall prey to Shiny Object Syndrome? As with most shiny objects, the answer is “it depends.” Let’s examine the opportunities marketers have to gamify experiences.

Consumers Split On Social Sign-on For Retail

Many consumers have begun using their social network profiles as a way to log in to other websites, but relatively few are taking advantage of this convenience with retailer sites. Retailers can use profile information to personalize their services, but how comfortable are consumers with such features?

In-stream Online Video Boosts Brand Recall

Online video is a dynamic, engaging ad format that demands user attention. More noticeable video ad units, like expandables and pop-ups, might seem to make the biggest impact on brand recall, but data suggests in-stream units like pre-, mid- and post-roll video ads are the display ads best suited for increased brand recognition.

What Radio Consumers Are Reading

RBR-TVBR, in conjunction with the database at BIGresearch, explores the confluence of radio listeners with other media to determine what the fans of a particular style of radio program like to read (print or electronic). Knowing the habits of the consumer that has loyalty to a particular format opens the door for cross marketing and advertising, says the report.

YouTube Still Streamers Paradise

According to Nielsen, video streaming is on the rise again in May as Americans streamed more than 15 billion videos, up 2% from last month’s all-time high of 14.7 billion streams. The number of online video viewers also increased from April, up nearly 3% to 145 million unique viewers.

Do Daily Deals Encourage Repeat Business?

Daily deals get people in the door, but not all businesses are convinced of their value as a customer acquisition tool. Depending on category and service used, deals can have varying results for profitability and loyalty.

Children Of Gen Xers Are Key Brand Influencers

When shopping and choosing brands, Gen X consumers are heavily influenced by their families, giving children a major say in purchase decisions. Coupons are also a motivating factor.

Consumers Embrace Social Media For Brand Feedback

Consumers are increasingly turning to social media channels to discuss products, services and brands with their peers. While the feedback ranges in levels of satisfaction, certain industries are faring better than others.

Digital Entertainment Spend Will Exceed $50B By 2014

According to Futuresource, by 2014 consumer spend on digital content across video (including paid for online and pay TV VoD), gaming and music will reach nearly $52B, accounting for 46% of total global spend across packaged and digital media. This compared with the 24% share in 2010, demonstrates that this $113B industry is going digital.

Research Shows Additional $1.85 Billion Spent On Video Game Content For First Quarter 2011

According to the Q1 2011 Games Industry: Total Consumer Spend report from The NPD Group, in addition to the $2.03B spent in the U.S. by consumers on new physical video and PC game software in the first quarter of 2011, the total consumer spend on content via other monetization methods, including used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, is estimated at $1.85B. The total amount spent by consumers on hardware, content and accessories is estimated at $5.9B, an increase of 1.5% versus Q1 2010.

Smartphone Is The Alter Ego

The International Data Corporation says that the worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow by 49.2% in 2011. This is more than four times faster than the expected growth of the overall mobile phone market, suggesting that current feature phone owners are rapidly switching to smartphones, while non-cell phone owners are jumping directly to smartphones with their first cell phone purchase.

10 Tips for Better B2B Community Management

Maria Ogneva is the Head of Community at Yammer, where she is in charge of social media, community programs, internal education and engagement. You can follow her on Twitter, her blog, and via Yammer’s Twitter account and company blog.

The communities most of us are familiar with tend to be customer or fan-facing. However, business-to-business (B2B) communities are also an important part of the social media experience.

Social media has changed the way we relate to each other, and even when you talk to business users, you are interacting with people inside those companies first and foremost. To ensure success in managing your community of business users, here are 10 best practices.
1. Know When to Create Your Own Community

It doesn’t always make sense to create your own community. Depending on your intentions, you may opt to join an already existing community. If you plan to lead conversations focused on serving your industry in general, just join that community and take a prominent role there. If, however, your community is more narrowly focused around your product, you will probably want to create a unique destination.
2. Think Through the Purpose

If you opt to create one, remember that each community should have a purpose and a vision — otherwise, chaos will ensue. Are you creating a user community or a broader best practices forum for your industry? Do you want to foster a better dialogue between customers or inform the product road map and gather feedback? Or both?

How will community members interact, contribute or learn by being a part of your conversation? Will it revolve around vertical applications of your product? If so, you may want to think about having several vertical-based communities.
3. Establish Membership Guidelines

Think about whom you want to invite and how people should join. If you’re aiming to create an industry-wide best practices exchange, you may opt to have a completely open community. If your community is more of a value-add for VIP clients, with personalized help from their account managers, you should opt for a private, invite-only community. You should also figure out if your membership will be open to employees of your company, and if so, which ones. Your community’s purpose should drive these guidelines.
4. Understand Your Members

It’s imperative that you understand what business users and their employees need from your product. When your community serves business users, its job is to help those people get their jobs done. Think about how you can make them look like rockstars in front of their peers and managers.
5. Outline Roles

Depending on your type of community membership, you’ll need to structure participants’ roles. This is especially necessary for a newly launched or relaunched community. In a large community, a subset of superusers can become moderators or take on an advisory role. This status promotion should be aspirational. Make it clear how someone can achieve that status, and empower the community to “self-police.”

If you have a more intimate community where both employees and top customers participate, place employees in consultative roles, but beware of clashing objectives.
6. Establish a Vision and Charter

The clearer you are from the beginning, the better off the community will be. Establish a charter and a set of goals driven by your community’s purpose. Let members know which behaviors are frowned upon, and which will not be tolerated. Share all of this with the community as well as internally with your company.
7. Success Metrics

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Now that you’ve stated your purpose, membership and roles guidelines, decide how you will measure success. You should track community health metrics, such as growth, engagement and the percentage of active users. Additionally, make sure you align your success metrics to overarching business objectives. If a better customer experience is the primary goal, you should measure the impact of your community on satisfaction scores and customer sentiment. If education via best practices is a goal, you should see fewer support tickets and higher usage and renewal rates.
8. Have a Community Manager

Each active community should have a designated community manager. Although you should empower your community to self-sustain, active community management establishes accountability.
9. Establish Internal Processes

You should work cross-functionally to ensure that the community doesn’t operate in a vacuum. You will probably have amazing insights and feedback coming from inside the community. Ensure you are sharing insightswith the right teams internally to facilitate dialogue.
10. Enable Sharing

People love to share their successes, whether for bragging rights, to be viewed as an expert, or to help others. On the other hand, listening to others’ successes helps people visualize success. This is especially key for business users who are often tasked with proving ROI and who need to point to demonstrable examples of someone else’s success. In your community, encourage members to share their successes publicly and point these stories in the direction of other community members who are grappling with a similar problem.

Of course, there are basics of solid community management that apply across both consumer and business communities. You should be building up community advocacy, facilitating (not forcing) the conversation and monitoring engagement. Ask yourself if your community helps people do their jobs. If the answer is no, course-correct, and you will be on your way to success.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, studiovision, max_carpenter

Video Game Spending Rises in Q1 With New Revenue Streams

By Georg Szalai, THR

NEW YORK – First-quarter U.S. spending on new physical video and PC game software amounted to $2.03 billion, but digital downloads, used and rented games, mobile games, social network games and game subscriptions added $1.85 billion to that figure, research firm NPD Group said Monday.

When including such newer revenue streams, it estimated that the total amount spent by consumers on gaming hardware, as well as content and accessories in the quarter came to $5.9 billion, up 1.5 percent from the year-ago period.

It had previously said that new physical sales of video game hardware, software and accessories, its traditional research focus, were down 1 percent in the first quarter.

The new and expanded data is part of NPD’s attempt to give a fuller picture of video game sales trends.

It is included in the firm’s “Games Industry: Total Consumer Spend report,” which is based on data gathered through point-of-sale and consumer research tracking.

“While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including mobile apps and downloadable content,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in highlighting what she said was an “expanded, more comprehensive measure of a dynamic and rapidly evolving games industry.”

How Are People Really Using LinkedIn?

Professional networking service LinkedIn blasted through the 100-million-user mark in March, making it even more powerful for finding a job, keeping up with colleagues and promoting your resume. As the size of its network grows, LinkedIn is steadily getting more useful. But how are people really using the fast-growing service? Researchers at Lab 42 asked 500 LinkedIn users that question and many more, and came up with a variety of answers in this infographic.

Mobile Social Media Usage Affects Shopping Habits

Consumers see social media as part of their everyday lives, and are accessing it via mobile devices. Their habit of also using social media to learn more about products and services before and while shopping has implications for marketers.

Tablets Show Content Monetization Potential

As tablets find their way into the hands of a growing audience, the devices have begun to show their potential for monetizing content. Survey data shows that users are willing to engage with tablet ads and will pay for content if the model is right.

Social SEO – Facebook & Twitter Best Practices

Social media and search share a two way street of influence. Social media assets have reached enough critical mass to rank on the first page of search results, as well as directly contribute to the SEO ranking of your website pages. Although many companies are taking advantage of this established medium, many others have not and are missing a size-able opportunity. By implementing some of the best practices mentioned here, you can ensure that your social media and search teams are working together and that your organization isn’t being left behind.

More Is Better, For Some

According to a study by Kantar Video and Synaptic Digital, men and women respond differently to types of information needed to help form purchase decisions. The study’s brand lift numbers show that women seem to have the ability, or the inclination, to piece together messages from a variety of media formats that informs their decision. Conversely, men are most influenced by editorial coverage and were only marginally influenced by other formats.

Shoppers Willing To Connect With Retailers On Facebook

“F-commerce” is not yet widely adopted by shoppers nor offered by retailers—buying through Facebook is still far from mainstream—but once companies understand how and why consumers are using their Facebook pages, they can foster valuable relationships.

Local Radio And TV Are Significant Contributors To The Gross National Product

Local television and radio broadcasting contributes 7% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, or $1.17 trillion annually, as well as 2.52 million jobs attributable to the industry every year, according to an NAB-commissioned study conducted by Woods & Poole Economics, with support from BIA/Kelsey.

Browse All About It! The Evolution Of The Circular

With 82% of Americans online, 93% owning mobile phones and 155M using Facebook, access to digital technologies is officially pervasive, yet retailers still spend an estimated 60–70% of their marketing budget on printed ad circulars. Here Nielsen shares new research about the benefits of both print versus digital circulars and outlines the steps required to optimize both.

Play Before Work: Games Most Popular Mobile App Category In US

Games continue to be the most popular app category, and according to Nielsen research, 93% of app downloaders — those who have downloaded an app within the past 30 days – are willing to pay for the games they play. In contrast, only 76% of downloaders are willing to pay for news apps.

Maintaining Engagement On Large Facebook Pages

Some research has found that as brands accumulate more “likes” on their Facebook page, their fans become less engaged on average. But not all large Facebook pages suffer the same fate.

Tablet Audience Leans Young, Wealthy

Millions of Americans began purchasing tablet devices shortly after the 2010 introduction of Apple’s iPad, and research taken a year later indicates that Millennials, Hispanics and higher-income consumers are most likely to own the devices. For dedicated ereaders, the picture is somewhat different.

Cord-Cutting: Trend vs. Myth

A new eMarketer report explores the habits of the TV video viewing audience and how they watch via traditional sets vs. online. Over-the-top viewing solutions have changed media habits, but have they encouraged genuine cord-cutting?

Why Do People Follow Brands?

On Twitter, Facebook, and dozens of other social sites, normal consumers often choose to keep tabs on the brands they love. Check out this infographic from Get Satisfaction and design shop Column Five for more details on why and how ordinary folks follow brands online.

Customer Lifecycle Email Campaigns See Better Engagement

Consumers often cite email as the preferred contact method for keeping in touch with companies and retailers. Companies worldwide are acquiescing to consumer preferences through the use of lifecycle email marketing programs designed to help marketers strengthen consumer relationships and boost email campaign performance metrics like subscriber engagement, open rates and revenue.

National Advertisers Attracted To Local Trends

Daily deal sites like Groupon and local check-in services like foursquare typically appeal more to small local businesses as marketing partners. But large agencies are finding their national clients are interested in their own local advertising opportunities as local online and mobile ad revenues shoot upward.

Social Networkers Under A Microscope

According to a survey from The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, designed to examine the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter, Facebook dominates the SNS space with 92% of SNS users using Facebook, 29% use MySpace, 18% used LinkedIn and 13% use Twitter.

7 Innovative Ways The iPad Is Used In Retail

In a commercial environment dominated by online and mobile shopping, it’s only fitting that the iPad is leading a brick and mortar renaissance to recreate in-store excitement. Across the industry, everyone from retailers to restaurateurs have devised new ways to create brand loyalty, generate sales and enrich customer experiences. While iPad retail integration is still in its formative stages, here are seven businesses at the forefront of the iPad retail wave that have leveraged the device in unique, innovative ways.

Social Media Brings New Engagement to TV

An eMarketer report investigates how the TV industry is using social media to boost viewership and engagement with programming.

Nomadic Broadband Video Usage Expected to Reach 154 Million Users And Close In On In-Home Usage By 2015

By 2015, nomadic broadband video users will reach 154M nearing in-home users according to a new report, Broadband Video: On Demand, On the Go, and On the Rise. The report is the first Inflection Report from Connected Intelligence, a new service from The NPD Group, which analyzes the confluence of connected devices, access, and content. By the end of 2015, the number of in-home users is expected to reach 175M.

Digital Gamers Closing On Core Gamers For Top Gamer Segment

According to Gamer Segmentation 2011: The New Faces of Gamers, the latest report from The NPD Group, Core Gamers, once considered to be the leading gaming segment within the video game industry, is facing rising competition from Digital Gamers for amount of time spent gaming and number of games acquired.

Two-Thirds Of Local Merchants Advertise On Social Network; 1/5 Use Facebook

According to MerchantCircle, new local ad offerings from Facebook are making inroads with local merchants and may put increasing pressure on Google and pure-play deals companies such as Groupon for share of local marketing budgets.

Report: Women of Tomorrow

Women around the world are expanding beyond traditional roles to influence decisions in the home, in business and in politics, creating a massive opportunity for marketers to better connect them with the products they buy, the media they engage with and the technologies they use to do so.

The Seven Performance Metrics That Matter Most

In Digital Impact: The Two Secrets to Online Marketing Success, eMarketer CEO and co-founder Geoff Ramsey and Vipin Mayar, EVP of McCann Worldgroup, outline a framework for how marketers can approach performance measurement in the digital world.

3 Trends Driving Innovation: How To Keep Up With The Ever Changing Fan

Speaking on how technology and consumer demand has challenged marketers to keep up, Nielsen’s Steve Hasker shared conclusions that ring true for developing the artist – fan relationship. “Consumer behavior is the driver of innovation,” said Hasker, offering three trends driving innovation.

Facebook's Incredible Effect On The Web

Facebook is eating up more and more of the time we spend on the web at the expense of all other sites, according to an analysis by Ben Elowitz CEO and founder of Wetpaint. If you exclude online video and mobile web consumption, Elowitz claims, “the web is shrinking.” In the future marketers should spend less time on SEO and more time on optimizing for Facebook, argues Elowitz.

3 Tips For Making Your Mobile App More Discoverable

While some have bypassed app stores by creating HTML5 “web apps,” the vast majority of Android and iOS developers have to think about how to market their listings within app stores. Marketing within app marketplaces is still a black box. But by using the little information you do get, an app developer can start to get an idea of the marketing tactics that work. These tips can help drive traffic, and hopefully sales, to your listing.

Mobile Activities Rival PC For Smartphone Owners

Around the world, smartphone owners are checking the web almost as frequently via mobile as they are via desktop PC, and they are pursuing the same content activities on both devices. Online video viewing and social networking are both now common on smartphones.

iPads Consume 400% More Wi-Fi Data Than Other Mobile Devices

Apple’s iPad accounts for an ever-expanding percentage of the browser market. It’s also becoming a huge Wi-Fi data hog, consuming 400% more Wi-Fi data on a monthly basis than the average iPhone, iPod or Android device, according to a report.

Social Media Marketing Brings New Revenues, Customers

As companies around the world increase their use of social media marketing, the channel is proving its worth. Many are seeing increases in customer acquisition through social media, and those taking advantage of the space are also growing their revenues.

Teen Media Behavior; Texting, Talking, Socializing, TV Watching, Mobiling

Nielsen takes look at today’s American teen, raised in an age dominated by media choices like never before, from the Internet to cable channels to web connected devices galore.

Innovating To Keep Up With The Ever-changing Consumer

Nielsen’s Steve Hasker addressed attendees at Consumer 360 in Orlando with a focus on how technology evolution and consumer demand has challenged marketers to keep up. Companies and executives across all industries hold different beliefs on the primary drivers of innovation, but according to Hasker, for consumer-facing companies, the most important driver of innovation is an ability to secure a unique and comprehensive understanding of the consumer.

When Multicultural Is The Culture

The 2010 Census confirmed something Nielsen has been noting for some time: multicultural consumers are rapidly becoming the majority in the United States and their buying power is significant. Understanding their purchasing and media habits is the next big challenge/opportunity facing marketers and brands today. Taking a deep dive into data and trends within the African American, Asian American and Hispanic communities, Nielsen’s Claudio Pardo laid out compelling statistics and a demographic framework shaping the future.

Bob Lutz and Malcolm Gladwell Talk Innovation, Branding and Bean Counters

At the closing main room event at Consumer 360 in Orlando, which focused on innovation and branding, Fortune’s Adam Lashnisky moderated a discussion between, Bob Lutz, retired Vice Chairman of GM, and author Malcolm Gladwell. Using Lutz’s book “Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business,” as a jumping off point, the duo discussed the tension between the creative types that value the consumer’s emotional response and the bean counters who tend to focus on cost and the bottom line.

Web Users Welcome Brands To Social Games

Fully half of web users ages 18 to 44 play social games every day, according to one study, and many would like to learn about new brands or products in a gaming environment. Gaming challenges that reward players with discounts or loyalty program points could be particularly effective at reaching them.

One-Fifth Of Grandparents Use Social Networks

Twenty-two percent of all grandparents are using a social network, a new study by the website MyVoucherCodes suggests. The study, which collected results from 1,341 grandparents from the UK, showed that 71% of grandparents who use a social network use Facebook, 34% are on Twitter and 9% use the business social network LinkedIn.

Google Now Reaches 1 Billion People Per Month

Google has become the first company ever to hit the 1 billion uniques landmark, according to comScore. In May, unique visitors to Google’s websites rose 8.4% compared to May 2010. Microsoft‘s sites were number two with 905 million uniques, a 15% rise. Facebook‘s were up 30% to 714 million. And Yahoo had 689 million.

China Is Second Largest Market For App Store Downloads

China has become the second largest market for downloads in Apple’s App Store, according to an independent study. The largest market is the U.S. The total number of downloads in Asia “grew significantly” in the past six months, the Distimo study found, while downloads from western countries decreased.

Know When To Hold 'Em

According to a report from Forbes Insights, “Bringing 20/20 Foresight to Marketing,” 52% of a group of marketing and corporate managers cited customer retention as their top current priority, followed by customer acquisition (38%), and customer profitability (29%), and these remain top priorities for 2012, as well.

You Have And App For That … Now What?

With more consumers using smartphones and connected devices like the iPad, there is no avoiding the importance of mobile apps. Apps are responsible for 56% of all smartphone activity according to data shared by Jonathan Carson, CEO of Telecom at Nielsen, during Nielsen’s Consumer 360 conference.

Dads, Kids And Online Entertainment

Mom may be the “household CEO,” but dad wants to have fun. Fathers of children ages 12 and under are more likely than moms to be involved with their kids online—and to spend money on them there, demonstrating to marketers that the way to dads’ wallets is through their kids.

People Who Share Music 5X Are More Likely To Buy

According to Reuters, only 3% of the music stored in the average iTunes user’s digital library was purchased from the Apple music store. The rest came from ripped CDs or was downloaded from peer-to-peer services or elsewhere. However, users of the mobile music app Music With Me, an app that facilitates music discovery through social sharing, have been shown to possess nearly five times the amount of digital download purchases.

May 2011: Top U.S. Online Destinations For Video

According to Nielsen, during May 2011, there were 145 million unique viewers of online video in the U.S. who streamed over 15 billion videos and averaged 4 hours, 20 minutes viewing video content over the course of the month.

Average U.S. Smartphone Data Usage Up 89% As Cost Per MB Goes Down 46%

According to Nielsen’s monthly analysis, smartphone owners, especially those with iPhones and Android devices, are consuming more data than ever before on a per-user basis.

Facebook Display Revenues To Nearly Double This Year

Facebook has quickly risen to become one of the biggest players in the US online ad market and by the end of this year will push past Yahoo! to become the top display ad-selling company in the country. Google, meanwhile, will further encroach on Yahoo!’s standing from below.

Mobile Social Networking Continues Strong Growth

Social networking activities have frequently turned up among the top habits of mobile users, especially those with smartphones. Participation in the category is still growing quickly, and smartphone uptake may also be accelerating, suggesting that social media may soon be as common as SMS on the go.

The Network Effect: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter & Tumblr Reach New Heights In May

With each passing month it seems that social networking becomes more deeply ingrained into our digital lives. If we take a look back at the past few years we can see just how pervasive it has become. Back in 2007, social networking represented about 1 out of every 12 minutes spent online, while today it accounts for 1 out of every 6 minutes spent online.

Cross Platform Report: Americans Watching More TV, Mobile And Web Video

In the Cross-Platform Report, Nielsen finds a resounding trend: Americans are spending more time watching video content on traditional TVs, mobile devices and the Internet than ever before.

Older Facebook Users Catching On To ‘Liking’ Brands

Social media users are continuing to expand their willingness to engage with brands on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Just as older internet users caught on to Facebook after it had already been popularized by their younger friends and family members, they also seem to be warming up to the trend of connecting with brands on the site.

How To Encourage Mobile App Discovery And Usage

Marketers that develop or partner with apps face a challenge. While apps act as a new marketing channel, they also require marketing themselves. From discovery through trial and continued usage, how do users choose mobile apps?

Twitter Users Want Businesses To Answer Them

Twitter is often used as a forum for people to ask questions of their followers or to those they follow, and to the Twitterverse at large. Most users say they wish companies, in particular, answered their questions, and would be more inclined to follow or purchase from firms that did.

US Keeps Lead In Online Ad Spend, But Global Growth Quickens

Despite gains abroad, US advertisers will remain the world’s biggest spenders of online ad dollars, accounting for nearly 40% of global online ad spending through 2015. Regions like the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific will see spending grow more quickly during the forecast period, but won’t approach North America in overall outlays.

The Connected Consumer Challenge

Today’s electronics consumers expect much more than quality devices – they demand a quality experience. Their interest has shifted from the device itself to what they can do with the device. This IBM white paper explores how electronics companies can capitalize on this trend.

Fact Sheet: U.S. Advertising Spend And Effectiveness

In the ever-changing media landscape, consumers’ growing choice of platforms and media content makes it harder for advertisers to reach their desired audience. With an array of options relative investing marketing dollars, advertisers are looking to better understand and accurately measure the impact of their advertising on brand and sales goals. A Nielsen advertising fact sheet details ad spend and effectiveness trends, as well as the latest insights on branded entertainment.

Case Study: Using TV Star Tweets To Engage Viewers

How are TV networks and shows using social media to enhance and encourage viewing and spark conversations among viewers? CBS is using Twitter to give fans a new way to participate.

Understanding Smartphone Users

A piece of research looks into the user behavior of smartphone owners. The study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of how smartphones are used on a day to day basis, how consumers are multi-tasking with their smartphones, typical searches made on smartphones, how smartphone consumers are using their devices to help them make their purchase decisions, and whether they are receptive to mobile ads.

Twitter’s Awareness Vs. Usage Problem

Twitter usage in the US is gaining, but slowly. Now 4 years old, the service still has a major disconnect between a highly successful media presence that has built awareness almost to saturation and actual usage, which remains a niche activity.

Why Brands Need a Digital Customer Experience Strategy To Stay Competitive

Once upon a time, companies differentiated themselves almost entirely based on the things they made. Companies still need to build innovative products and get them to market, but as the differences in many of those products become more subtle, companies need a new way to differentiate. In this new era, companies expect experience to be that new differentiator.

Ringback Tones A Failure In The United States - But Why?

Ringbacks never entertained the same level of success as ringtones in the U.S., though they are extremely popular in Asia and parts of Africa. Will ringbacks progressively become more popular in the U.S., as with many other Asian technological trends? Or will they simply bypass North America, suffering a fate similar to that of mobile phone charms?

Kids Today: How The Class Of 2011 Engages With Media

Nielsen takes look at today’s American teen, raised in an age dominated by media choices like never before—from the Internet to cable channels to web connected devices galore.

Display On Trajectory To Surpass Search Ad Spending

The internet is still primarily a direct response medium, but the rise of display formats—especially online video—has opened up more branding possibilities, and the dollars are flowing. eMarketer forecasts that by 2015, advertisers will spend more on display ads than search.

Young Children Consuming More Digital Media

Young children are increasingly exposed to and consuming various types of digital media. While television is still the dominant media channel among this age group, kids’ engagement with digital channels and formats, including computers, mobile and video, is growing.

What Do Fans Think Of Your Website? 76% Say Make It Easier

What do users think is the most important part of a website design? Flash? Beautiful design? Cutting edge? Nope, nope and nope! Users want a design that makes it easy for them to find what they want. Hubspot.com recently did a survey and the results say a lot! Be sure to read all the Do’s and Don’ts.

Global Marketing Function Intrinsic In Five Years

Results of a study, commissioned by the Public Relations Global Network, show that marketing and communications executives are “going global,” with 7 out of 10 saying their organizations currently have, or will have in the next five years, a global marketing function.

Consumers Still Positive On Blu-ray

15% of U.S. consumers reported using a Blu-ray player in the first quarter of 2011, a 6% increase since 2010; the number of Blu-ray disc buyers has increased and they are buying more.

US Online Ad Spend Poised To Grow 20% In 2011

Online ad spending is returning to pre-recession growth levels, with steady increases projected through 2015 as marketers continue to invest more in digital channels.eMarketer expects US online advertising spending to reach $31.3B this year, a dramatic 20.2% increase over 2010 spending. By 2015, nearly $50B will be spent on online ads in the US.

Content Length Matters Most For Video Ad Completions

The length of online video ads has an effect on how likely people are to view them to completion, but placements matter more. Longer-form content can support longer ads.

comScore Releases Inaugural Data From Total Universe Report

comScore has released their first beta data set from the comScore Total Universe report, which provides audience measurement for 100% of a site’s traffic, including usage via mobile phones, apps, tablets and shared computers such as Internet cafes. This first-of-its-kind measurement capability enables publishers and advertisers to understand digital audience sizes in a cross-platform environment.

Radio Beaming Up

According to a release from the Radio Advertising Bureau, radio posts the 5th consecutive growth quarter, with a 3% increase to $3.783B in Q1. Propelling the momentum this quarter were strong performances in Digital (+21%), Off-Air (+9%) and key Spot categories: Automotive (+27%), Insurance (+20%), and Beverages (+32%).

Half Of Smartphone Owners Say "It's My Life!"

As mobile technology continues to evolve, says a report conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights, a majority of smartphone users are fully integrating their devices into every aspect of their daily lives. According to the survey 52.9% say they utilize all of the functions of their smartphones, 30.4% say they use the basic functions of their smartphones and 16.7% only use their smartphones for calling, texting and emailing.

Experienced Social Media Marketers Add More Goals, Metrics

The more time marketers spend working with social media, the more demanding they are of the channel. Those with more than a year’s experience in social media marketing have more goals and objectives for their efforts and more ways to measure their progress—and less love for Facebook.

Groupon And The Online Deal Revolution

An eMarketer report analyzes consumer and marketer usage of digital coupons and how the internet has changed the way shoppers look for deals. What do digital coupons and services like Groupon mean for an age-old marketing technique?

ShareThis Study: Facebook Accounts For 38% Of Sharing Traffic On The Web

Sharing is big on the Web. We all know that. But exactly how big? ShareThis has some answers in a study it put together with Starcom MediaVest Group and Rubinson Partners. Looking across the sharing and clicking habits of the more than 300M people a month who pass links with a ShareThis button on over a million websites (producing 7B pageviews a month), a few things stood out.

Display Ads Lift Branding Metrics

Display campaigns may not often lead to the last click before a conversion, but they do lift brand metrics. Campaigns with expandable rich media or pre-roll ads can raise a viewer’s intent to recommend a brand twice as much as Flash-only banners.

Interest Builds For Location-Based Services Beyond The Check-In

The check-in is slowly growing in popularity as the nexus of mobile, social and local, but other location-based services are of greater interest to mobile users—and growing fast. Research shows that almost 9 in 10 mobile Wi-Fi users are now eager for some kind of location-aware tools.

Android Leads In U.S. Smartphone Market Share And Data Usage

Smartphones and the consumption of mobile data continue to grow in popularity in the U.S. – 37% of mobile consumers now have one – and smartphones with Google’s Android OS are proving to be the most popular.

The State Of Mobile ROI

Many marketers are still just getting started using mobile for advertising and marketing, though two-thirds plan to have a strategy for their efforts within a year. For now, return on investment is a mixed bag, and a third of marketers are not yet measuring the success of their mobile marketing programs.

Mobile Users Are Ad Clickers

According to the Mojiva Mobile Audience Guide, 60% of mobile users click on mobile ads at least one a week. When seeing an ad, half of users indicated that they would play a game, download an application, or visit a Web site after seeing an ad, but only 22% said they would make a purchase, and only 40% would download a coupon.

How Social Shoppers Share Local Deals

Social shopping sites like Groupon and LivingSocial have succeeded in part because of the shareable, viral nature of the deals they offer. Research shows most users, especially those ages 25 to 44, do share social coupons.

Internet Radio Audience Gives Marketers More Targeting Opportunities

An eMarketer report examines the audience for online radio, including streaming versions of broadcast stations as well as pure plays like Pandora, and how marketers can take advantage of the digital medium for better targeting.

Mobile Users Warm Up To The Check-In

Will checking in to location-based services ever be a mainstream activity for US consumers? Uptake has been slow, but research shows one in five smartphone users now check in.

Smartphones' Rise Spurs New Growth In Mobile Music, But Payment Could Be A Problem

According to a report from The NPD Group, a steady increase in smartphone purchases, combined with the growing options for mobile music, helped fuel an increase in the number of active mobile-music consumers by almost 9M in 2010. Year- over-year mobile music listening increased from 12% of U.S. Web users in 2009 to 17% in 2010. In fact the ability to stream, download, or listen to music is the second most-used utility for Apple iPhones and Android phones, behind downloading apps and ahead of sending photos.

Social Networks Appealing To Affluents

According to an Affluence Collaborative survey by EMarketer, wealthy internet users connect with brands on social networks for significantly different reasons than the general population. The social networks they use to do so are different, too.

Smartphones Surging In Southeast Asia

Almost half of online consumers in Southeast Asian countries who say they do not own a smartphone, say they plan on buying a smartphone in 2011, according to a recent global online survey from Nielsen. 24% of survey respondents said they already own a smartphone, up from 21% at the start of 2010. Singapore led the region, with 46% of those surveyed saying they owned a smartphone, while Thailand and Malaysia posted the most aggressive growth in the sector, 47% and 35%, respectively.

Men Make Purchasing Decisions Too

Women often get pegged as the de facto head of household for shopping purposes, but men play a key role in purchase decisions. They tend to be less impulsive and research products thoroughly, and their coupon usage is high.

Native App Vs. Web App: Which Is Better For Mobile Commerce?

For merchants, it’s no longer enough to have an ecommerce strategy — businesses need to embrace a mobile commerce strategy as well. For most businesses, that means making a choice of creating an optimized mobile commerce website or a native mobile application. Which is better?

Friend Recommendations Drive Local Business Visits

Search is still tops for finding online businesses, but consumers are relying on real-life recommendations from their friends to actually get them in the door—not on social media.

Mobile Search And Shopping Intersecting

A report from Chief Marketer focuses our attention on a study “thinkmobile,” by Ipsps OTX and sponsored by Google, that shows how smartphones are used in daily life, how they are used in decision making for products and services, and how consumers respond to mobile ads. 4 in 5 smartphone users browse the Web on their devices, and 3 in 4 use mobile search.

For Small-Business Marketers, Are Fewer Channels Better?

Small businesses are using ever more digital tools to communicate with customers and prospects. But as they add to their marketing mix, small businesses may not have the resources necessary to use each channel to its fullest.

Tablets Beat Smartphones For Online Shopping, Buying

Smartphones may have been around longer than the current crop of tablet devices, but tablets have caught on for ecommerce to a degree smartphones have yet to attain. Tablet owners browse and research products on their devices more often than smartphone owners do via mobile—and they make more purchases, too.

Traditional Media Ad Spending Plateaus

An eMarketer report analyzes traditional media ad spending and how both marketer dollars and consumer attention are shifting to digital channels.

Q1 Consumer Confidence Gains Are Good News For Global Economic Recovery

The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Confidence Survey tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among more than 28,000 Internet consumers in 51 countries. In the latest round of the survey, the number of global online consumers saying they are in a recession has receded across all regions.

Enroll A Brand Advocate

According to a research study, “brand advocates,” people who habitually review products and share their opinions with others around them, write more than twice as many communications about brands as the average Web user, and forward between two and three times more of other people’s online communications about brands. Brand advocates are 70% more likely to be seen as a good source of information by people around them.

Young Affluents Ditch Traditional Media

Affluents watch less television and consume more print media than the general population, but high-earning young people may be dropping traditional media altogether.

What Marketers Can Learn From Consumers’ Sharing Habits

Consumers use different platforms to share with the various groups of people in their lives. Email and social networks are still popular, and consumers are sharing both embedded pass-along media and link-back media. Marketers can use this knowledge to influence their advertising and marketing online.

Facebook Success Beyond The 'Like'

An eMarketer report digs into best practices in Facebook marketing to discover how to turn “likes” into loyalty. Marketers must turn superficial metrics like fan counts into real success.

Dissecting Diversity: Understanding The Ethnic Consumer

From what people watch to what they buy, behavior across ethnic groups in the U.S. is as diverse as the groups themselves. A closer look at the multicultural landscape by The Nielsen Company reveals how consumers utilize the same resources differently.

From The Age Of Aquarius To The Age Of Acquisition - An Elusive Target Market

According to The Media Audit’s soon-to-be released National Report, social media websites have reached critical mass with consumers who are in important life stages. Among those adults who have children under the age of six years old, 71% visit Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter in a typical month, a figure that is 38% higher when compared to the general population. And, households with children under the age of six visit these social websites at a higher rate when compared to households with children older than six years old.

Report: The New Digital American Family

According to a new report from The Nielsen Company that looks at family dynamics, media and purchasing behavior trends, American households are getting smaller, growing more slowly and becoming more ethnically diverse than at any point in history. Diversity in all its dimensions defines the emerging American Family archetype, with no single cultural, social, demographic, economic or political point of view dominating the landscape.

Digital Radio Gains Ad Dollars As Usage Increases

Digital radio ad revenues are still only a fraction of those for over-the-air broadcasts, but they’re climbing quickly. The popularity of internet radio is also on the rise, with more users and more time spent with the medium.

Subscribers Eager To Open Daily Deal Emails

Daily deal sites and other discount mailings and newsletters have gained popularity and hype in the past year, and many consumers are hungry for their daily dose. Most read the emails every day.

How Moms Keep Connected Using Smartphones

Moms count on smartphones to stay always-available and help manage the activities of their families and their own busy lives. What types of activities—and advertising—reach them best?

Digital Music Sales Up

Jamaica is one of seven countries in the Central America and Caribbean region which, when combined, saw music sales inch up 1.2% to US$8.8 million ($756 million) in 2010 over 2009, due to a huge rise in ringtones, according to data just released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Apple Dominates Among US Teens But Digital Music Pricing Is Still A Barrier

A study by Piper Jaffray into the digital music habits of US teens reveals they prefer Apple products and services but feel downloads and subscription services are overpriced.

Number Of Americans Watching Mobile Video Grows More Than 40% In Last Year

The number of U.S. mobile subscribers watching video on their mobile devices rose more than 40% year-over-year in both the third and fourth quarters of 2010, ending the year at nearly 25 million people.

What Brand Marketers Expect From Social Media Followers

Despite all the effort to put a dollar amount on the value of brand fans, marketers may care more about several less tangible benefits they gain from fans. For many, insights and loyalty matter more than increased spending.

Ecommerce Sales On Track For Healthy Growth

An eMarketer report explores the projected growth in US retail ecommerce sales and the factors that will encourage it.

How Many People Really Use Twitter? A Lot, But Fewer Than You Think

Facebook has 600 million visitors every month and half that visit every day. But how many users does Twitter have and how active are they?

Mobile Music Subscribers To Reach 178 Million By 2015 As Emerging Markets Embrace Music On The Move

A report published by Juniper Research forecasts that the number of mobile users who pay a monthly subscription for access to music catalogs, either via download or streaming, will reach 178 million by 2015, more than triple the number of users doing so in 2010.

Thinking Of Just Creating An iPhone App? Think Again, Android Use Is Exploding

A new comScore study looked at key trends in the U.S. mobile phone market during a three month period ending February 2011, surveying more than 30,000 subscribers. 9.5M people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months, up 13% in just the preceding three months, and Google’s Android is increasingly the platform of choice.

Retailer Follow Up On Negative Reviews Pays Off

According to The Retail Consumer Report, among 1,605 online US adults who shopped online during the most recent holiday season, consumers who have a bad experience will not come back. And more than ever, unhappy consumers are turning to the social web to share their complaints. However, retailers have an opportunity to fight back and use social media to turn unhappy customers into brand advocates, says the report that shows how retailers are using social media to win back customers and drive buying decisions.

Days Of Double-Digit Growth In Social Network Users Are Over

An eMarketer report analyzes the demographic and behavioral trends in US social network usage, and highlights the reasons why social networking’s spectacular growth has slowed.

80% Of Children Under Age 5 Use The Internet

Nearly 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 use the Internet on at least a weekly basis, according to a report from education non-profit organizations Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop.

The Nature Of How Kids Socialize With Friends And Siblings Changes With Age

According to The NPD Group, the nature of how kids socialize is changing, with person-to-person socialization decreasing as kids get older, being replaced by other forms of socialization such as social networks, cell phone usage and video chatting. According to the report, kids ages 2-4 spent 17.5 hours per week spending actual face time with friends or siblings, with the average hours per week dropping off as kids get older (10.8 hours for ages 9-12).

Working Over-65s Making The Big Bucks

According to a new study from Scarborough, the 6.2 million American adults over the age of 65 who are employed fulltime or parttime are financially sound, philanthropic, enjoy the arts, and have robust investment portfolios. These “Retired for Hire” consumers are slightly more likely than the average adult to have an annual household income of $150K+ and are 51% more likely to live in a home valued at $500K or more.

February 2011: Top Online Video Sites In U.S.

The same video brands from last month are still the most popular in February, but with a slight change in ranking as VEVO moved past Facebook to take the #2 spot with 32.3 million unique video viewers.

Online Celebrity Fans More Likely To Follow Brands

According to Nielsen, 64% of adult U.S. Internet users who follow a celebrity also follow a brand – this means the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average U.S. adult online. Additionally, Nielsen found that such fans are also more likely to offer advice and opinion to fellow online consumers. This is particularly the case when it comes to entertainment topics.

In U.S. Men Are Shopping More Than Ever, While Women Are Watching More TV

The stats still show that women do the majority of shopping in the U.S., but with men facing a higher unemployment rate than women, more men are at home than in the past and in many cases, they are taking a more active role in household duties. While women continue to dominate shopping trips in all retail channels except for convenience stores, men have increased trip shares between 2004 and 2010 in all retail channels but drug stores. Nielsen took a closer look at the differences in shopping and media behavior between the sexes and found some surprising results.

Long-Tail Websites Boost Ad Efficiency

Most advertisers focus on the short tail of the web—the biggest sites with the greatest reach. But the long tail of smaller, niche sites can attract a bigger response for their marketing dollar.

Half Of Boomerangers Say I Want It Now

According to a new study by Luminosity Marketing, almost 2/3 of Boomerang consumers make independent decisions about their needs, but are more conservative about influencing “the folks.” In addition, the findings show that 56% buy on impulse, or planned to get it “today.” Boomerangers are college graduates, between the ages of 22 and 29 who are single, have full-time jobs and live at home with their parents.

Mobile Rocks

According to the comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review report, mobile media adoption has continued to grow throughout the past year as consumers are increasingly turning to their mobiles for many other uses beyond just talking or even texting. Since December 2009 the number of mobile media users has grown significantly in the U.S. as 109 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed mobile media in December 2010, up 7.6% versus year ago.

TV Usage Trends: Q3 And Q4 2010 - Timeshifted Viewing Grows In U.S.

Overall timeshifting by U.S. TV audiences increased significantly in the third and fourth quarters of 2010, with the average American watching nearly 10 and a half hours of timeshifted TV at the end of the year. The biggest year-over-year increase was in the third quarter, when timeshifting increased 17.9% over the same period in 2009, compared to 13.4% in the fourth quarter.

The Advertiser-Agency Gap In Digital Spending Priorities

While advertisers and agencies tend to agree on the overall importance of digital to marketing budgets, they are not on the same page regarding up-and-coming digital priorities—or how to measure success in those channels.

Baby Boomers: Neglected By Marketers

Lori Bitter of Continuum Crew spoke with eMarketer senior analyst Lisa E. Phillips about how boomers use media and the best ways to reach them.

Celebs In Ads Bump Awareness; Entertainers Top Jocks

According to analysis from Starch Advertising Research, the use of celebrity endorsers provide significant lift to print advertising readership, despite the risks from some. On average, the ads that contained a celebrity endorser produced 9.4% higher consumer readership than ads without a celebrity endorser, in an analysis of more than 81,000 print ads that appeared in consumer magazines between December 2009 and September 2010.

Who Is Winning The U.S. Smartphone Battle?

The answer depends on whether you’re looking at operating systems or manufacturers. The battle for the hearts and minds of consumer smartphone owners continues to be a heated one, according to data released by The Nielsen Company.

Inbound Marketing Channels More Cost-Effective

Marketing channels that rely on offering audiences information and utility, like blogging, social media and organic search, can bring in leads for less money than methods that push messages at targets.

Small Businesses Doubled Use Of Twitter In 2010

As small and medium-sized businesses increase their reliance on social media to reach local customers, the most popular tool they turn to is Facebook. But Twitter usage has more than doubled, according to one study, to about one in five businesses.

Mobile Web Experience Frustrates Heaviest Users

Small, slow and, for many, missing popular components like Flash, the mobile web experience has a long way to go before it matches up to the PC internet.

Investors Are Drawn Anew To Digital Music

Since the end of last year, at least $57 million in venture capital has gone to digital music start-ups, ending a recent financing drought and setting up an array of young companies like Rdio, SoundCloud and RootMusic.

Google CEO: Mobile Growing Faster Than “All Our Predictions”

Mobile use is growing faster than all of Google’s internal predictions, with YouTube seeing 200M mobile playbacks a day, CEO Eric Schmidt said in his keynote at the Internet Advertising Bureau’s Annual Leadership meeting. Schmidt also said that 78% of smartphone owners use their phones while they shop. “This is the future and everyone will adapt,” Schmidt said. “Because people are fundamentally better off with a better and smarter and more empowered, if you will, customer.”

One In Three Mobile Phone Owners Is A Regular Mobile Gamer

A new survey from casual gaming company PopCap shows that an incredibly high percentage of adults in the U.K. and U.S. is into mobile gaming. More than half (52%) of 2,425 respondents said they had played a game on a mobile device, whether their own device or someone else’s, at some point in their lives. The percentage for U.K. respondents was significantly higher (73%) than the rate for U.S. respondents (44%).

Facebook To Surpass Yahoo! In Display Ad Revenues This Year

eMarketer estimates that, for the first time, Facebook will get the largest share of US display ad dollars, putting Yahoo! in second place. In the search market, Google continues to solidify its position at the top.

Forrester: Online Retail Industry In The US Will Be Worth $279 Billion In 2015

Forrester estimates that both US and European online retail (representing 17 Western European nations) will grow at a 10% compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, reaching $279 billion and €134 billion, respectively, in 2015.

Social Media Is Not Killing Email

There is no shortage of reports of its demise, but email use is still strong across the US online population. It remains the top choice for commercial communication among all age groups, and checking email via mobile is becoming a critical activity.

What Marketers Need To Know About Facebook’s Switch To iFrames

Facebook has recently announced a lengthy list of significant design and feature changes for Pages. One particular item is emerging with perhaps the greatest challenge and the highest potential for Page owners — there is a new way to present custom content on Facebook Pages. Tabs and FBML are going away. Get ready to friend iFrames. Here’s a basic rundown and some tips on how to make the switch.

TV Reigns, But Attention Diverted

Deloitte’s “State of the Media Democracy” survey reveals that 71% of Americans still rate watching TV on any device among their favorite media activities, supporting the notion that traditional television advertising continues to be a viable model. In addition, 86% of Americans stated that TV advertising still has the most impact on their buying decisions.

Electronic Social Etiquette Influences Communication Success

According to a report from Exact Target and CoTweet, 18% of email users say they never open email from companies, and 77% of all US online consumers say they have become more cautious in the past year about giving their email addresses to companies. Relevancy has become a baseline requirement for consumers, and they are quick to judge companies when their email programs fail to live up to this standard.

Celebrity Endorsements Help Boost Sales Of Stereo Headphones

According to a new study by The NPD Group, endorsements are extremely/very important to nearly 30% of consumers when deciding what headphones to buy. Music artist endorsements ranked highest among consumers purchasing headphones under $20 and over $100, and sales of headphones over $100 are growing.

How Well Is Social Media Fitting Into The Marketing Mix?

Social media will increasingly become a bigger part of companies’ overall marketing budgets, with service companies planning the largest increases. But as social media gains traction within the marketing mix, many CMOs are reporting that there is still work to be done in terms of integrating social media into overall corporate strategy.

Online Shopping Is Entertainment To Teen Girls

Catherine Moellering of Tobe spoke with eMarketer about teen girls’ shopping behavior and how retailers can successfully tap into their interests.

Facebook Reaches Majority Of US Web Users

An eMarketer forecast estimates more than 52.2% of internet users in the US were active Facebook users by the end of 2010. Twitter penetration remains much lower, at less than 10% of online adults.

How Marketers Can Benefit From Video Ad Engagement

An eMarketer report examines the concept of engagement as it relates to video advertising, and discusses seven trends for creating and measuring it.

Targeting Boosts Low Facebook Click Rates

Advertising on social networks has never had the highest click rates, with users looking more to socialize than to interact with display placements. One study suggests Facebook’s average clickthrough rates are dropping, but marketers can take advantage of targeting options to drive effectiveness.

The Differences Between Mobile And Tablet Advertising

As tablets proliferate, smartphones are also getting smarter and sporting larger, sharper screens. But despite the similarities, there’s a bright line between attitudes toward ads on the two devices.

Seniors Slowly Shift To Digital

An eMarketer report explores the media habits of seniors and how marketers can best reach them online.

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media

As technology adoption among small businesses increases, social media is an area that more business owners are becoming interested in. In fact, social media is predicted to see one of the biggest increases in online marketing spending this year, just behind website and e-mail marketing. Check out this infographic that gives an overview of how small business are using social media.

Desktops And Laptops Trail Cell Phones In Popularity

According to Pew Research Center’s report, Generations and Their Gadgets, younger adults are leading the way in increased mobility, preferring laptops to desktops and using their cell phones for a variety of functions, including internet, email, music, games, and video. Cell phones are by far the most popular device among American adults, with 85% of adults owning cell phones, and 90% of all adults live in a household with at least one working cell phone.

How Retailers Can Make Video Efforts More Effective

Video on ecommerce sites can increase conversions, decrease the volume of returns and boost SEO. But most retailers have a long way to go in making their video commerce efforts more effective.

January 2011: Online Video Usage Up 45%

Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%.

Multiscreen Viewing Habits On The Rise

An eMarketer report analyzes the video viewing habits of US consumers, who have largely abandoned the old world of appointment TV for newer more convenient and connected options.

Relationship Doesn't End With The Sale

According to shopping cart recovery services provider SeeWhy, a company doing $200 million in annual revenue loses $1.2 million a day from cart abandonment. Timely, relevant emails tied directly to consumer behavior deliver much higher metrics than broadcast emails, notes the report.

Young Men Lead Location-Based Service Adoption

Most people know about location-aware services on their mobile phone, but adoption is still relatively low. Young people are out in front, and privacy concerns make location-sharing more appealing to men than women.

Who Uses Facebook & Twitter? The U.S. Demographic Profile

According to Comscore data of U.S. users, Facebook saw its share of visitors between the ages of 35-54 drop 3.6% to 35.4%, while the share of visitors under 18 (up 1.2 to 11.1% and age 55 and older (up 1.9 to 13.2%) made the biggest gains. Twitter saw a 9.4% gain in the share of 18-34 year olds visiting the site while those under 18 use fell 8 points to 9.5%.

Advertisers: Reach Timeshifted Viewers With Online Video

Many online video viewers choose the internet over traditional TV because of the time-shifting flexibility it offers. Marketers can capitalize on this preference by expanding ad programs to include online video placements to more effectively reach a concentrated audience not often influenced by standard television advertising.

The Future Of Smart Mobile Devices

Most mobile owners in the US still have only a feature phone, but eMarketer predicts smartphone ownership will rise from 31% of the mobile population this year to 43% by 2015. A new eMarketer report examines key trends in mobile device ownership and what they mean for marketers.

5 Tips To Strengthen Your Company’s Social Media Voice

Many brands and companies are still struggling with how to develop a successful social media engagement model — one that goes beyond spitting out corporate messages and instead develops a two-way dialog with the audience. Here MTV Music & Logo Group’s Dermot McCormack shares with Mashable a few of the lessons he learned over this past year about social media strategy.

Top Reasons Why Consumers Unsubscribe Via E-Mail, Facebook & Twitter

More than 90% of consumers unsubscribe, “unlike” or stop following brands because of too frequent, irrelevant or boring communications, according to a report by social media and e-mail marketing services company ExactTarget.

Online Retail Registration Restricts Response

According to a recent study, 75% of consumers take issue with being asked to register on a website and will change their behavior as a result. The majority of respondents said they are likely to leave a website or give false information when required to register. However, 66% of consumers surveyed say social sign-in is an attractive solution to the problem.

Consumers Eager For Mobile Shopping Adoption

The rise of m-commerce has been slow and gradual, with only a minority of mobile web users researching and shopping on their handsets. But that’s set to change, and for many categories mobile could turn out to be even more important than the desktop web.

Is The Era Of Webmail Over?

As digital communication continues to evolve, so too have consumers’ behaviors. Web-based email, which for many years was on a continual growth curve, is now seeing declining usage across many geographies throughout the globe as consumers are offered a growing number vehicles to digitally communicate.

Figuring Out The Best Fit For Online Video

Online video is the fastest-growing ad format in digital advertising, and SMBs want in on the action. What are the smartest uses of online video to get your message across to the right audience?

Consumers Expect Mobile Ads To Inform

The mobile device is a highly personal one, and it can take a lot for consumers to warm up to advertising on it. Research suggests marketers should do their best to make ads educational—and, of course, relevant.

Computers Hooking Up With TVs

According to SideReel, an independent Web TV destination with a base of more than 10 million monthly unique users, 40% of respondents had connected their computer to their TV in the past month, a three-fold increase over last year’s results. 60% of people connecting a device to a TV connect their computer, and 5% use a box like Roku, Boxee or Google TV.

Shoppers With Cyber Stuff Have A Leg Up On Retail Sales Associates

Motorola Solutions annual holiday study indicates that the majority of surveyed retail associates believe that shoppers were better connected to consumer information than in-store associates, driven by increasing availability of online shopping tools and mobile phone applications that allow price comparisons, access to coupons and social-networking. The survey found that retailers that aren’t investing in technology to stay ahead of increasingly tech-savvy shoppers are hurting their own bottom line.

Steve Madden Sees Mobile Web As Value-Add

Andrew Koven, leader of ecommerce, mobile commerce, mobile marketing, and social media and direct marketing strategies for fashion brand Steve Madden, spoke with eMarketer about the evolution of Steve Madden’s mobile web strategy, recent mobile initiatives and why fully integrating mobile strategy with ecommerce and physical stores is critical for retailers.

What Makes Facebook Fan Pages Successful?

YouTube, Coca-Cola and Starbucks are the largest brand fan pages on Facebook, yet local businesses make up the largest category of fan pages on the site. What can local businesses learn from the big brands when it comes to engagement online?

Visits To Twitter.com Fell 14% In 2010

Fewer U.S. adults are visiting Twitter.com, but those who do are frequenting the site more often, according to a new survey. The number of U.S. adults paying a monthly visit to Twitter.com fell 14% from November 30, 2009 to November 29, 2010, according to Experian Simmons DataStream. Meanwhile, the average number of visits to the site rose 37%, from 7.3 visits to 10 visits per month. The data is based on an analysis of data from 30,000 consumers.

Social Network Users Are Satisfied With Privacy Options

Facebook and other social networking sites seem to spur privacy complaints from industry watchers and users alike on a regular basis. But research suggests users are happy with the privacy options they have—or at least, they think they are.

Online Communities Are A Winner For Women

Women are known for their high levels of social media activity and propensity to use online word-of-mouth to learn and share info about products and services. But targeting them on open, female-oriented communities could be more valuable than reaching out on mainstream social networking sites.

Twitter Ad Revenues To Soar This Year

eMarketer’s first forecast of ad spending on the microblogging service predicts $150 million in revenues for 2011—but the company will have to show it can live up to the hype and grow its user base.

iPad Ad ‘Wow Factor’ Boosts Purchase Intent

The interactivity of iPad advertisements means marketers can count on more positive attitudes and improved purchase intent. And publishers benefit as well from premium inventory.

How Marketers Can Experiment With Social Games

An eMarketer report analyzes the social gaming market in the US, which now reaches about a quarter of internet users. Marketers have rich opportunities to play with this sizeable audience and growing revenue pie.

Mobile Shopping Growing Dramatically

According to a new study from ForeSee Results, the US edition of the Report on Mobile Shopping indicates that 33% of all survey respondents had accessed a retailer’s website using a mobile phone (compared to 24% in 2009), and an additional 26% said that they plan to use their mobile phone to visit a company’s website, mobile website, or mobile application in the future. In other words, more than half of all online shoppers are either already using or plan to use their phones for retail purposes.

Household Media Review

Acccording to new data from The Nielsen Company, State of the Media 2010, the average US household has 2.5 TV sets, with 1.9 standard definition TVs and 0.6 high-definition TVs. Furthermore, Nielsen data shows that HDTV households have more sets than the national average. 31% of Americans own four or more TVs.

For The First Time, A Larger Share Of DVDs And Blu-ray Discs Rented From Kiosks Than From Retail Stores

Consumer research from The NPD Group shows a year-over-year 10% gain in the share of videos rented from kiosks during the third quarter of 2010, as the percentage of videos rented from video stores declined by 13% and subscription rental share increased just 2%.

Parents Of Young Children Prime For Social Marketing

Parents of young children tend to be in the market for big-ticket items, like cars, real estate, furniture and consumer electronics. Marketers looking to reach them should not neglect social sites, where they also tend to be extremely active.

Who Recalls The Most Mobile Ads?

More than a third of mobile internet users can remember specific advertisements they have seen on their phones. A demographic breakdown reveals differences within the audience.

Facebook Drives US Social Network Ad Spending Past $3 Billion In 2011

Social network ad spending in the US will be up more than 50% this year, eMarketer forecasts, thanks largely to the ever-increasing power of Facebook. The company’s continued success will help propel the social network ad market to nearly 11% of all US online advertising this year.

In-App Purchases Become Major Mobile Revenue Stream

As the app market matures, developers are experimenting with different ways to cash in and finding the ability to sell extras within applications is a lucrative opportunity.

Social Media Strategists Look Hard At ROI This Year

The question of return on investment has always plagued social media marketers, but now that serious dollars are on the table for many companies, ROI will become a must-have. Strategists are taking a hard look inward as they evaluate their programs and turn to internal education to improve their efforts.

5 New Paradigms For A Socially Engaged Company

The age of social media is not just changing our personal lives, but is increasingly affecting how business is conducted. No longer satisfied with strictly top-down models that view employees as cogs in a system, businesses are quickly adapting to a new paradigm that emphasizes connection, collaboration and innovation.

Jay Frank: How We Can Save Music Retail

According to Jay Frank, there is only one thing that sells music. That’s music retail. File trading is an easy scapegoat for industry ills, but the lack of legal outlets that are in front of casual music fans is clearly the primary culprit.

Cellphones And Global Youth: Mobile Internet And Messaging Trends

Young people around the world love their mobile phones, but they use them in vastly different ways.

The Just-in-Time Consumer: How Shopping Trips Align With Economic Woes

A recent Wall Street Journal article suggested that the trend of U.S. consumers making more frequent shopping trips, but buying less each trip was new, a result of the continuing tough economic conditions and a desire by consumers “to keep cash on hand.” Nielsen’s research supports findings in the article and here they take a deeper dive into the issues to identify trends for small and large trips within specific retail channels and consumer segments.

2010 Total Consumer Spend On All Games Content In The U.S. Estimated Between $15.4 To $15.6 Billion

According to The NPD Group, the preliminary estimate for total consumer spend on gaming content via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile game apps, is between $15.4 to $15.6 billion.

Social Gaming Market To Surpass $1 Billion

The social gaming craze has hit a quarter of US internet users, and the dollars are following. eMarketer estimates gaming revenues will increase nearly 28% this year, and ad spending is growing even faster.

How Mainstream Are Mobile Apps?

Smartphones are in the hands of ever more consumers, and most have downloaded mobile applications. But the audience remains largely male, young and affluent.

Why Location Is About More Than The Check-In

A new eMarketer report explores where location-based services are headed and how marketers can get involved in ways that go far beyond the check-in.

The Demographics Of Social Shopping Sites

Social shopping is the new frontier of retail, but many consumers are barely aware of its existence. Young, affluent consumers are the vanguard in the fast-growing category.

Why Mobile Shopping Could Be As Big As Online Shopping

A study by ForSee Results, which surveyed 10,000 visitors to top e-retailer sites, found that 11% of smartphone users made a purchase using their phones this holiday season, compared to only 2% at the same time last year.

2010 eHoliday Spending Wrap

MediaPost gives a summary of 2010 Holiday eCommerce activity compared to the 2009 Holiday season.

Rapid Growth Ahead For Mobile Game Ad Spending

Worldwide ad spending on mobile games is set to increase tenfold by 2015, Juniper Research predicts. But even such quick growth won’t make ad spending the primary source of mobile gaming revenues.

The Future Of Social Shopping

An eMarketer report explores the strategies and tactics retailers can use to socialize the eCommerce experience and go beyond a simple presence on social media sites.

How U.S. Retailers Can Drive Growth In 2011

In 2010, winning retailers didn’t sit on the sidelines, they innovated and many of the areas where innovation occurred are what we can expect in 2011 as retailers evolve their macro strategies.

Factsheet: The U.S. Media Universe

From televisions to smartphones, The Nielsen Company provides a view of the device usage and audiences in the U.S.

CES Podcast: Pete Blackshaw On Consumer Engagement

Pete Blackshaw is the Chief Marketing Officer of NM Incite. In this conversation with Arthur Greenwald for CES Entertainment Matters, Blackshaw goes beyond the surface glitter of Twitter and Facebook to reveal the real power – and pitfalls – of consumer engagement in the new mass media.

Forrester: iPad Not Death Sentence For Kindle

Despite its color, sexy design and fancy apps, the iPad is not a Kindle killer—in fact, both devices will enjoy robust growth in 2011. According to a report issued by Forrester, tablet computer sales should skyrocket this year, jumping over 130% from the 10.3M units sold in 2010 to 24M in 2011.

The Evolution Of Twitter Usage

As Twitter has grown from the new kid on the block to a staple of social media, the way users interact on the service has changed. More people are willing to share more info than ever, enriching the community.

Forrester Forecasts One Third Of U.S. Online Consumers Will Own A Tablet By 2015

Forrester Research put out a forecast for the growth of tablet computers. It expects the number of tablets sold in the U.S. to go from 10.3 million last year to 24.1 million in 2011, and growing to 44 million in annual units sold by 2015.

How Online Video Can Reach The Business Audience

The sound and motion of video appeal to many web users, offering marketers a chance to reach them with messages as compelling as those on television. Even busy businesspeople want to watch video on the web, looking for information and recommendations.

Untapped Potential For Mobile Loyalty Programs

The rise of mobile social networking has left more consumers than ever interested in connecting with brands via mobile, but few marketers may be taking advantage of their targets’ receptivity to potentially lucrative loyalty programs.

Christmas Lights Up Billboard Sales Charts

Last minute Christmas shopping – and post holiday purchases – impact both the Billboard 200 albums chart and Digital Songs tally.

95+ Predictions For The Web In 2011

2010 was a busy year for social media and the web. For the past two weeks, editors and contributing writers at Mashable have been gazing into their crystal balls to try to discern what’s coming in the new year. Here is a roundup of all of their predictions posts for 2011, covering over 90 topical predictions for what’s in store for the web and social media in the coming year.

Has The Internet Moved Pricing Power To The Consumer?

According to comScore, it’s clear that retailers have gone far beyond the use of paid online display advertising to cost-effectively communicate deal pricing information to consumers, while at the same time consumers have now become accustomed to using online tools to root out best prices. In many ways, the aggressive acceptance and use of these tools by consumers means that they can easily find the most attractive price for any product and, as such, pricing power has surely moved from retailers to consumers.

Brand Equity Ages With Age

According to Harris Interactive, “As kids age… their favorite brands, change with them. Tweens are all about Disney, Nick and gaming, where teens add more technology to the mix… for young adults the snack foods are still there, but technology takes an even stronger presence in their top ten… (and) youth have ways to learn about brands, as well as discuss brands, that previous generations could not have dreamed of.”

Tweeters

According to the first-ever survey reading from Pew Research that exclusively examines Twitter users, 8% of online adults said they do use Twitter, with 2% doing so on a typical day. This survey also showed that 74% of American adults are Internet users, meaning that the Twitter cohort amounts to 6% of the entire adult population.

Apple Leads Smartphone Race, While Android Attracts Most Recent Customers

According to November data from The Nielsen Company, the popularity of the Android OS among those who purchased a smartphone in the last six months (40%) makes it the leading OS among recent acquirers.

Online Ad Spending Set To Break Records

After the setbacks of the recession, online ad spending’s upward trajectory in the US will carry it to new peaks each year through 2014, eMarketer predicts.

Paying For Online Content As Popular As Ecommerce

While many industry watchers have questioned web users’ willingness to pony up for content like music, video and games, research has found that about two-thirds of online Americans have done so — almost the same number who have bought tangible goods over the internet.

Final Pre-Christmas Push Propels U.S. Online Holiday Season Spending Through December 26 To Record $30.8 Billion

comScore reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $30.81B has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 26) witnessed $2.45B in spending, an increase of 17% versus the corresponding week last year.

Branded Display Ads Close Search Gap

According to an eMarketer forecast, growth in spending on online display ads will outstrip that for paid search through 2014, though search will continue to take the greater share of dollars.

How Tweens, Teens And Parents Decide What To Buy

When making decisions about electronics purchases, teens and tweens have very different approaches. And for parents, the internet is the most important factor—after price.

4 Social Media Marketing Predictions For 2011

Ah, social media marketing. Fewer things are so lavishly spent on, yet so poorly measured. Here are a few predictions for 2011 related to where the smart money and dumb money will go, according to Mashable.

Android Apps Double To 200K In 2 Months

It was just over two months ago when the Android Market surpassed 100,000 apps, and now according to AndroLib, the store has unofficially broken the 200,000-app barrier. Apparently the effort to expand the Android Market to more than 20 countries is paying off. It took the store almost two years to get to the 100,000-app mark, but just 63 days to double that.

Americans Don’t Want The FCC To Regulate The Internet

A new survey from Rasmussen Reports reveals that just one in five American voters want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the Internet, placing their faith instead in free market competition to protect the Internet’s U.S. users.

Trendy Trends For 2011

Eleven key consumer trends to watch in 2011 include acts of kindness from brands, the developed world launching products for emerging economies, and online status symbols. Here’s a brief overview of each of the 11 consumer trends which trendwatching.com predicts will have a global impact on marketers in 2011.

Survey: Marketers Not Very Positive About Economy

Marketing executives on the client side have a less sunny view of the economy than agency leaders, says a new survey from RSW/US.

B2B Possibilities For Mobile

C-level executives are increasingly relying on mobile for business purposes beyond just checking email when they are out of the office. Business-to-business marketing opportunities are coming to light as the comfort level with business-oriented apps and m-commerce rises.

Following Japan’s Lead On Social Games

Mobile is critical to Japan’s social networks, and the combination of mobile, social and gaming has proved to be a major revenue driver. Will these findings help drive an even stronger US social gaming market?

We've Hit The Concert Price Ceiling

On Music Think Tank, Brian Carpizo posts about how concert ticket prices have changed and increased since 1966. One factor that affected ticket prices was the decline in recorded music revenue. According to Brian, we have reached the ceiling for ticket prices and can’t go higher.

Women OK With Online Video Advertising

According to a cooperative study between Nielsen and the Today Show, women aged 25-44 are a major force behind the rapid adoption of online video content in the U.S. The study uncovered not only when, but how and why women use online video in their daily lives.

Kids Have Influence And Fears

According to a new study from Harris Interactive, today’s tweens, teens and young adults have a huge and influential presence in our world. They are heard through personal spending power and market influence, as well as their dominating presence in the Internet technology and media realms.

Poll Finds Broad Public Support For 'Do Not Track' List

A “Do Not Track” measure, an idea recently floated by the Federal Trade Commission, has broad public support, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll. Of those surveyed, 30% responded that advertisers should not be allowed to match ads to specific interests based on the Web sites they visited.

Trends In Consumers’ Time Spent With Media

TV is still tops, but internet and mobile use are growing. What do consumers’ changing media habits mean for marketers?

Can Consumers Learn To Love Behavioral Targeting?

Targeting based on a web user’s actions is so unpopular the question is not, “Who likes it most?” but, “Who hates it least?” Public opinion is driving the possibility of legislation or regulation, and marketers’ efforts to educate about the benefits of targeted advertising may fall on deaf ears.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon Sold 158 Items Per Second

TechCrunch reports that on Cyber Monday, Amazon customers ordered more than 13.7M items worldwide across all product categories, which translates to a self-proclaimed,record-breaking 158 items per second. According to comScore, overall online spending in the United States surpassed $1B on Cyber Monday in 2010, up 16% versus year ago. Clearly, Amazon took a huge piece of that particular pie.

7 Predictions For The Gaming Industry In 2011

In 2010, motion hardware such as Microsoft Kinect and PlayStation Move made their debuts, the Nintendo Wii stayed put but still held its own, and the first 3D handheld gaming system was introduced. And let’s not forget that smartphone gaming took the market by storm. Against that promising backdrop, let’s polish up the old crystal ball and take a look at some predictions for 2011.

Facebook Second To Google In Driving Video Traffic

Facebook now drives more web video traffic than any other internet property other than Google. Most video is consumed during the week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But people watch longer videos on the weekends, with the lengthiest web-video sessions happening via video game consoles rather than PCs or mobile devices.

Email, Social Media To See More Marketing Dollars In 2011

Email and social media seem to go hand in hand: Marketers say they are the two areas most widely expected to receive increased funding next year, and the channels will become more integrated as email marketers adopt still more social tactics.