La semaine dernière Adfonic participait à la première édition de l’évènement “M- Commerce Windows Phone” qui se tenait à Cabris(06).

Cet évènement a notamment eu vocation à démontrer que les e-commerçantAvec un parc mondial de Smartphones qui devrait dépasser celui des PC d’ici à 2013 avec plus d’1,8 milliards de terminaux en circulation dans le monde (d’après le cabinet Gartner), le M-Commerce est aujourd’hui une réalité et un marché promis à un très bel avenir. Loin de ne concerner que les grandes marques et enseignes, le M-Commerce représente un marché extrêmement favorable pour les TPE et les PME.

Cet événement a notamment eu vocation à démontrer que les e-commerçants de toutes tailles peuvent se positionner sur le M-Commerce facilement et efficacement.

Pendant ces deux jours, différents acteurs de la chaîne de valeur du M-commerce ont développé le premier module M-Commerce Windows Phone et Web-Application en marque blanche. En seulement 36 heures, deux marques (Coqlakour, site de e-commerce de t-shirts issus du travail d’un collectif et graphistes et une société de coaching fitness) ont pu produire leur propre application et site internet mobile.

A la fin de l’évènement, les deux applications ont été déposées sur le Windows Phone Market et les sites mobiles fonctionnaient.

Adfonic a offert 1000$ de budget publicitaire que les commerçants se partageront pour promouvoir leurs nouveaux sites et applications.

Appnation New York brings together a large number of delegates from the mobile developer communities, brands and agencies. These include cutting edge developers from leading incubators, accelerators and universities, and mobile entrepreneurs- for a day of discussion, analysis and insight into innovative apps, technologies and products.

Come meet us at our stand in the AppLab and discuss how to make money from your app and/or mobile site.

OMMA Video is Mediapost’s bi-annual conference focusing on the art and science of marketing, advertising, producing and distributing video on the web. This now comprises innovative new ad creatives and ad formats such as mobile video and rich media which are bringing mobile advertising to the masses.

We’ll be exhibiting at OMMA Video’s venue, the Westin New York on Times Square. Come and see our latest mobile video ad demonstrations and get advice on how you can plan and buy global click-to-video campaigns across mobile sites and apps and measure engagement time with your brand in real time.

We’re strongly recommending that all our iOS developers diversify the tracking identifiers you send to us – we’ve added several new ways for developers to do this – to ensure that you continue to unlock access to the widest range of campaigns on the Adfonic network and future-proof your integration with us.

Adfonic is continuing to support UDIDs and DPID (SHA-1 of UDID) for the time being, alongside alternatives including ODIN-1 (MAC address) and OpenUDID, and over the coming weeks and months we expect to see more advertiser apps discontinuing use of UDIDs and integrating alternatives.

It is important that developers keep sending us the UDID or DPID values whilst you have access to the UDID, during this transition phase. We would suggest that best way to stay within Apple’s guidelines and avoid issues with app approval is to ensure that you disclose use of UDIDs to your users. You should also ensure that any transmissions of UDIDs are encrypted and provide a link on your iTunes page to your privacy policy.

You can easily integrate the ODIN-1 and OpenUDID identifiers by downloading Adfonic’s SDK Version 2.0 for iOS. Alternatively, you can use the new parameters on the Adserver API.

We’d also like to hear from developers with regards to your plans and timelines on using any of these new technologies, so please do get in touch with us at support[at]adfonic[dot]com

Welcome to our ‘Getting to know’ feature.  Every month, we’ll be profiling one member of the Adfonic team based in one of our local offices around the globe. This month, we’re back in London catching up with our Sales Account Director, Gregor Smith, to ask him a few questions about himself and what he does at Adfonic.

Last month in the New York office, we held our inaugural “March Madness Bracket Challenge” to celebrate the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. All participants were required to submit their selections of the games within the tournament before it tipped off on March 15th. Over 150 people entered from Agencies across the entire USA .

Like Kentucky, the last person standing in our tournament was Joseph Post from Universal McCann New York who won with a score of 167 points, beating his closest competition by just 13 points! Joseph (right) took home the First Place prize courtesy of Adfonic, which was a New iPad 4G.
Please stay tuned to our blog for more friendly competitions coming from Adfonic in 2012!

Adfonic is one of 8 mobile ad network launch partners working with AdMob Ad Network Mediation globally.   The mediation tool, which launched this month, offers another option for app developers to increase fill rates and drive up eCPMs, by working with multiple ad networks.

AdMob Ad Network Mediation aims to simplify the process of working with multiple networks by enabling developers to allocate inventory across several top 3rd party ad networks on a country-by-country basis, through one simple integration. Developers can assess which ad networks are performing best and allocate inventory accordingly to maximise earnings. Developers retain full control and choice over the ad networks they use within a single UI.

Check our AdMob mediation page for further information and instructions on to get started.

Today we have released our updated SDK Version 2.0 for Android and iOS.

The SDK contains loads of great new updates for developers including MRAID support for rich media campaigns, alternative options for UDID and full-page ad units.

All of these new features will provide developers with more options to drive up eCPMs and ultimately, to make more money from apps.

We have also included full support for the AdMob Ad Network Mediation layer, meaning developers who are also working with AdMob, or are thinking of doing so, can use the new SDK alongside those of other ad networks to maximise their earning potential.

The iOS and Android versions of the SDK are available as free downloads, along with technical documentation, at developer.adfonic.com.

Why Rich Media support?

Rich Media is now a mass market option across the top global ad networks. With rich media already established in North America, it is rapidly scaling in Europe and beyond with demand for this inventory forecast to surge as advertisers and agencies choose more interactive and engaging ad units. The great news for developers is that rich media can deliver eCPMs averaging ten times those of  standard banners.

Adfonic status on UDID

With the majority of mobile advertising still dominated by app install tracked campaigns globally, coupled with the recent lack of clarity from Apple and panic around the timing of UDID deprecation, we have included support for alternative options including ODIN-1 (MAC address) and OpenUDID in the new iOS version of the SDK. We will continue to support UDIDs for the time being, given that the bulk of mobile spend still remains UDID driven.

Benefit of full-page ad unit

Advertisers and agencies alike are increasingly requesting full-page ad units. They provide greater real estate than the standard 320×50 banners for branding and messaging and generate higher CTRs for both advertisers and developers than smaller ad formats. Furthermore, full-page ad units command higher CPCs and CPMs than standard banners and subsequently deliver greater eCPMs for developers.

Below is a summary of the top features in new SDK Version 2.0 for iOS and Android.

Mobile Retail and Brand Masterclass

We are excited to announce that we will be participating as one of the Mobile Experts at the Mobile Retail & Brand Masterclass in Munich on 24 April. The masterclass will showcase best practice in mobile advertising and marketing from tablet and mobile apps to direct response, taking in mobile coupons and ticketing, m-commerce and payments.

Attendees of the Masterclass will get our lowdown on the very latest mobile advertising techniques including rich media and integrated mobile video advertising from Albert Pescheck, Adfonic’s General Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You’ll also have the chance to speak to Albert on a one-to-one basis at the roundtable networking sessions and learn more about how to fine-tune your mobile strategy and maxmise the performance of your mobile display ad campaigns.

Sign up for free tickets here.

Mobile advertising spend is growing fast, actually very fast according to IAB US/UK/Spain mobile ad spend reports for 2011. In the UK alone, mobile ad spend grew 157% YoY from 2010 to 2011 at an accelerated rate. However, mobile advertising remains a nascent market with enormous potential to exceed online ad spend in probably half the time. Let’s explore some of the opportunities for a small portion of ad spend.

Proportion of time on mobile devices not aligned with ad dollars

Despite the huge buzz around mobile advertising at the moment, mobile still accounts for a small portion of ad spend – approximately 1%. A study by eMarketer (see below) showed that in 2010, time spent on mobile devices accounted for 10.1% while spend on mobile accounted for 0.9%.  The interesting observation here is the disproportionate spend on traditional media – particularly the over index on Newspapers and Magazines. Some industry experts have estimated time spent on mobile devices in 2012 will reach 20 – 23% with ad spend remaining around the 1-2% level.

Source: eMarketer

Consumer behaviour is changing fast; we will soon be spending more time on mobile than desktop

As at the end of 2011, there were approximately 500 million iOS and Android devices collectively across the globe. In the top 20 countries with the highest smartphone penetration, the share of iOS and Android devices exceeded 60%. iOS and Android devices have changed how we use mobile phones. The sleek design, coupled with the now superior touchscreen interface have created a new, slick browsing experience for consumers. Add to this the vast number of apps available across the growing number of app stores, and you can understand why consumers admit to being addicted to their devices.

A recent study by Flurry showed that we now spend one third more of our time on mobile apps than desktop web That’s a significant contrast to 18 months ago when the reverse was true. Another interesting data point came out of some studies carried out during the Superbowl in February 2012. The two most interesting stats showed that 50% of viewers accessed their phone 10 times or more during the game and that 33% of viewers watched the entire game with their mobile device in their hand. It stands to reason that with these stats in mind, the big brands spending millions of ad dollars on TV advertising during the Superbowl will be considering an integrated approach for their Superbowl ad strategy next year that includes mobile.

Options for advertisers on mobile

Given the above, the obvious takeaway from the mobile advertisings status quo is the need to shift away from the old school static banners on mobile devices to more engaging consumer experiences. Rich media mobile ads, that contain an element of interactivity within the ad, give advertisers a blank canvas to create consumer journeys that align with brand values and experiences.

One aspect of rich media is video, and today Adfonic launched its end-to-end integrated video mobile advertising product. Tap-to-video opens up broadcast media to mobile opportunities. Here, advertisers can re-use commercials created for online, cinema or TV on mobile. In practice, by tapping on a banner on an iOS or Android device the native video player is seamlessly initiated on the device, presenting consumers with typically 30 second commercials (ranging from film trailers for large studios to commercials for automotive new product launches). At any point during the commercial the user can tap on the “Done” button and immediately return to where they were within the original app or mobile site. Moreover, Adfonic’s end-to-end advertiser solution delivers real-time viewing metrics into the advertiser reports, giving advertisers live snapshots from clicks to viewing engagement.  This example of a seamlessly integrated consumer journey, presents advertisers with new options to reach incremental audiences via a relatively untapped channel that we are spending more and more time connected with.

Integrated marketing communications

For advertisers considering mobile as an additional channel to their marketing communications plans, the new creative options offered by rich media and video provide an easier transition to an integrated approach (which includes mobile). For innovative advertisers that create engaging TV commercials, mobile now offers closer alignment between consumer experiences across channels. Let’s not forget that few advertisers today are successfully executing integrated marketing communications, and for those that do get it right, it can hold the path for competitive advantage and access to untapped audiences.

Metrics: Talking advertiser language

Metrics for rich media fall into two distinct areas: hard metrics (such as click volumes and click through rates) that digital marketers live and breath on a daily basis; and soft metrics (such as product awareness, purchase intent and product recall), a metric typically used at more established digital and traditional agencies. With both video and rich media, research companies, like Nielsen and On Device Research, are now tapping into effectiveness studies to measure the softer elements of campaigns and comparing these with similar metrics across other media channels.  The effectiveness studies that have been made public have demonstrated significant uplift when using rich media compared to static standard mobile ad banners.