Mobile Playbook

8/6/2019 Mobile Playbook

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Publishers Playbook: Mobile Strategies

CONTENTS

4How to create a mobile news ormagazine site

85 things your iPhone developer

wants you to know

12In frenzy over mobile apps, dontforget the mobile web

15Scribd reaches out to publishers withfree HTML5 conversion

18Mobile contentlike writing for theweb, only more so

23Mobile advertisings moving targets

28Which mobile platform should youfocus on?

32Mobile web resources

The iPhone and other mobile platformsoffer a great opportunity for media

brands to engage with their audience

and deliver a personalized experience.

But deciding on the right approach

for design, content development and

delivery is no easy task. Here are some

resources to help you gure it all out.
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Statistics are indicating that audiences are now more than ever choosing smart phones as

the way to experience content on the Web. As Harald Neidhardt, co-founder and CMO of

mobile agency Smaato said, If you dont have a mobile presence in 18 months, youre out of

business. Thats why a mobile strategy should be on the forefront of every publishers mind.

But navigating (nevermind proting from) this new terrain can be intimidating to publishers

who do not have the tools and information necessary to get their brand mobile ready.

Thats why weve created the Publishers Playbook to Mobile. Smart phones, like the iPhone and

the Android, offer platforms that deliver the experience everyone is seeking: a personalized one.

So how can you translate your publication to the little screen with a big impact? Well guide you

through the necessary steps for making your brand mobile friendly, give you an inside scoop in

to the mind of an application developer, examine the benets of going beyond the app and

creating a mobile site, and study the companies who seem to be doing it right.

As with all the changes the publishing industry is undergoing, there is no exact formula

to success in the mobile environment. But considering the personalized content audiences

are looking for, a personalized approach to your mobile ventures is a smart way to begin

thinking about your new investment. While reading this guide, think about what makes

your publication stand apart from its competitors and start brainstorming about the ways

you can make that specialized experience convenient for your mobile users.

We hope you nd this content valuable and invite you to share your own Mobile intelligence

with your peers.

CEOS MESSAGE

Prescott Shibles

CEO
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With such an explosion of growth due to the rise of the iPhone, iPad and other smart phones,

media companies face a multitude of questions about their position on the little screen. Does

your site live up to your brands reputation when being viewed on a mobile phone? Does it

have the necessary components to help you execute your paid content or advertising strategies?

If your site renders the same way on a mobile phone as it does on a desktop, the answerto both of these questions is NO and you need to begin developing a more robust mobile

offering. Here are the basics behind developing a mobile version of your site.

Use subdomain instead o .mobi

One of the problems with registering a separate domain name for your mobile site is that you

might not be able to register the same letter combination of your Web site (emediavitals.com

vs. emediavitals.mobi). Someone may have already bought it already, etc. However, using asubdomain (mobile.emediavitals.com) maintains brand continuity while still helping users nd

your mobile content easily.

Browser detection

Most users will type in your regular sites URL into their browser. So, its important that

whatever solution you come up with addresses this user behavior instead of trying to

HOW TO CREATE A MOBILE NEWS

OR MAGAZINE SITEBY PRESCOTT SHIBLES


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change it. Many sites use advanced browser detection capabilities such as those provided

by Browscap to redirect users to their mobile offering or serve up a mobile skin in lieu oftheir standard design.

Homepage content

With the mechanics now out of the way, lets talk about how the user interacts with your

site. First off, remember that while 3G technologies have increased the browsing speeds

of mobile phones, they remain signicantly slower than DSL, cable, or T1 connections. So,

you need to limit the amount of content on the homepage while still making it easy to ndwhat a reader is looking for:

Recent articles (CNN)

Navigation to topic/category areas (ESPN)

Coupons / Discounts (Daily Candy)

Mobile design

Remember that the mobile world is still a bit of the Wild, Wild, West when compared

to the Web proper. There are tons of mobile operating systems, browsers, and other

variables that need to be considered before developing a design. Smashing magazine has

a great piece on designing for mobile devices. Rather than re-hash their points here, Id

recommend heading over there to read up on design.


OR MAGAZINE SITE contd


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Measuring your mobile trafc

While you can use your standard Web analytics package to track the standard metrics,

there are some other more specialized offerings that you might want to consider:

AdMob: Gain greater insight into the phones and browsers used to access your

mobile site.

PercentMobile: Create mashups of data that you get from your mobile usage.

Management buy-in and getting started

One of the challenges youll face is managements mandate to keep expenses in line

and limit projects to key initiatives. Theyll likely look at this project and question

its validity. Develop specic goals for the project that are tangible and reachable.

Arm yourself with the numbers, understand your strategy, and talk to your users and

readers. Listen to how Variety incorporated user feedback to develop and then improve

their mobile presence. Then tie all of that together into a few scenarios:

1. Get the ideal mobile site up with the bells and whistles. Youve got a paid content

game plan and an advertising game plan. This is a straw man to basically get ripped

apart by the execs so that they dont immediately trash the more realistic option.

If they actually green light it, then you know you have some good ideas that are

worth pursuing.




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2. Get some type o mobile site up. They theory here is to get something up that requires

little development expense but positions your brand to grow its reader engagement

on mobile devices. Maybe you sell some ads, maybe you dont. Maybe you get some

feedback on the pricing of your app.

3. No mobile initiative. Show the downside of missing this opportunity. The growth in

this sector cannot be ignored. Make it specic to your brand and your industry.

Develop a prototype using outside technology such as MobiSiteGalore. It doesnt require

development skills, and it can easily provide a proof of concept. Take this prototype tomanagement to demonstrate that the project doesnt require much investment and to your

readers to get their feedback before your offering goes live.

Finally, look at your stats and continuously identify areas for improvement. The nice thing

about an initiative like this is that it isnt labor-intensive post-launch, which means you

are free to invest your time in improving the product by monitoring user behavior. As you

monitor your performance, report up to management how you are doing relative to the

goals that you set out. In addition, point out other unanticipated benets and factor those

into the ROI analysis that you do.






In the burgeoning world of iPhone application development, Socialbomb can be

considered a veteran.

The studios cofounder, Scott Varland, has been knee-deep in iPhone app development

since 2008 when SocialBomb was one of the rst developers accepted into the companys

SDK program, which makes Socialbomb about as experienced as one studio can be in theiPhone space.

We asked Varland, 31, who constantly receives pitches for new apps, about the nitty-gritty

of iPhone app development and how media companies can better work with independent

contractors. Here was his advice:

Do you really need an iPhone app?

The rst thing you need to ask, said Varland, is do you even need an iPhone app?

Would a mobile website sufce?

The iPhone is a unique platform featuring a touch-interface, a gyroscope, a compass and

GPS. If your application doesnt take advantage of some or all of those features, then

the better, more cost-efcient route is to optimize existing content to be viewed on the

iPhones web browser (or, at the very least, create an iPhone-friendly icon).

5 THINGS YOUR IPHONE DEVELOPER

WANTS YOU TO KNOWBY SEAN BLANDA




Serious iPhone application development can reach the mid-ve gures and take months.

Unless you are willing to invest in something useful and innovative, stay clear.

Do one thing well and fgure it out early.

Early in the planning stage for your app, identify one feature that you would like to focus

on and carry that throughout the process.

The most popular iPhone apps typically have a single purpose. The New York Times

app, for example, simplifies the process of reading the paper online. Flashlight turnsyour phone into an emergency light. I am T-Pain, well, makes you sound like the

rapper T-Pain.

Your interaction with your iPhone is maybe 30 seconds, tops, said Varland The more you

bury information with your app, the less likely people are to use it.

While your website may have dozens of features that can be translated to mobile, do not

try to pack them all into a single app. Trying to do it all can place unnecessary stress on the

development team and make it difcult for users to see the value in your product.

If you cant easily state the usefulness of your application to the user, it may be time to go

back to the drawing board.


WANTS YOU TO KNOW contd




Leverage your existing data

If you have any existing databases, your iPhone application may already be halfway completed.

For example, the Weather application on the iPhone searches Yahoos database of

weather forecasts. The application just optimizes the data for the iPhone.

Dig through your publication. Do you already have some sort of content database that can

fuel your application in a similar fashion?

To streamline the process, be sure to provide your developer with all of the

databases you plan on using and demonstrate how they can access the information

stored there.

Be aware o the size o the team you are working with

In most cases, studios accepting client work will likely be one- to two-person teams that will

be focused on coding the application.

To speed the process, Varland recommends producing a function specication document

that plots your application in as much detail as possible.

Utilize your Web team to produce wire frames, the goal for the application and the source

of all of the applications data. You can even owchart the navigation and design some

rough images.



If you have anyexisting databases,

your iPhone application

may already be

halfway completed


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Document what the interface does. What is the user experience? What does each button

do? What does data does it connect to? Varland said.

If you are dealing with a larger studio with more staff, you may be able to ofoad some of

the spec development to them.

Determine i you even need an outside team

For those seeking iPhone developers, there is a bit of a catch-22. Most top talent will

either prefer to pursue their own ideas, or will be snapped up by larger companies forin-house staff.

If youre making an app just to make it, contract it out to India. If you are looking at this

as a major part of your business going forward, you really need to be out there hiring and

training in-house, said Varland.

Socialbombs rst application, Paparazzi, was released in March 2009 and the studio has

subsequently launched a large-scale Facebook app for Fisher-Price.




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Mobile apps are getting all the buzz, but theres still plenty of life and advertising

opportunities in mobile websites.

That was the consensus from panelists at the Magazine Mobile Imperative luncheon

sponsored by the Magazine Publishers of America and eMedia Vitals. Although the market

for mobile applications is taking off, the mobile Web offers more scale and is evolvingas a cross-platform solution for publishers to provide content to mobile users, said Craig

Ettinger, vice president of marketing and business operations for Time.com.

Time.com averages about 500,000 unique visitors a month to its mobile-enabled WAP

(wireless access protocol) site, which it launched in September 2006. New developments

such as HTML5 and 4G wireless will dramatically improve the mobile Web experience,

enabling functionality similar to dedicated apps that take advantage of native functionality

such as location services, Ettinger said.

Were probably six months to a year away from having great, great, rich mobile Web

experiences, and again the beauty of that is cross-device, cross-platform, he said. The

scale is already there. In addition to cross-device support and scale, WAP sites are easier

to maintain and iterate than apps and offer streamlined reporting because they can be

integrated with standard website analytics.

IN FRENZY OVER MOBILE APPS,

DONT FORGET THE MOBILE WEBBY DEREK SLATER


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Monetizing mobile banners

WAP sites also offer benets for advertisers. Because of the scale, banner ads can be

served to virtually all modern mobile devices, said Pooja Midha, vice president of business

development for MTV Networks Digital.

MTVN uses a lot of 300-by-250 formats for its mobile creative;

since advertisers already produce this inventory for other

digital campaigns, its relatively easy to repurpose for mobile

devices. But the smaller screen sizes has also forced MTVN toget more creative with its creative, introducing formats such

as iPhone oaters, which include motion graphics that

appear over a newly loaded page for two to three seconds

before shrinking back to a traditional banner. A recent Sims3

campaign with Comedy Central and other MTVN sites featured

Sims characters that popped out of the banner to steal the

sites logo. The campaign achieved an impressive 24% click-

through rate at launch and a 17-18% click-through for the

duration of the campaign.

Another type is the screen-smasher unit, in which the ad

comes crashing through the screen (a Javascript animation),

simulating a cracked display. The graphic then retreats into


DONT FORGET THE MOBILE WEB contd

Were probably sixmonths to a year away

from having great,

great, rich mobile Web

experiences


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a call to action. Midha said a recent screen smasher campaign with the U.S. Air Force

generated click-through rates of 9-10%.

The key to successful WAP advertising, said Midha, is creating ad formats and experiences

that lean into what users are already seeking and doing with the MTVN content. Dont

bombard the user. Enhance it for them, she said. Our strategy is to do a little bit of

everything but make it about the fan rst.

She said WAP banners have advantages, such as being cost-effective and universally

available on any device, as well as providing scale and a solid metric for success in click-through rates. But on the downside, WAP banners are also a competitive space that is

somewhat commoditized because of the rise of ad networks.

Its challenging for us to explain why a banner on our site is that much more impactful

than a banner on another site thats another premium publisher, she said.


DONT FORGET THE MOBILE WEB contd

Dont bombard

the user. Enhance

it for them


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Maybe you want to make your magazine HTML5-compatible for the iPad, but you dont yet

have the resources to develop a custom app. The document-sharing site Scribd offers one

solution: Publishers can upload PDFs or other digital les of their magazine content and

Scribd will convert them to an HTML5 format viewable through Scribds reader.

Its a simple solution, and one that might fall short for publishers seeking a more robust

iPad application. But Scribds free service is one alternative for publishers to make their

content more mobile while offering some basic interactivity such as links. Scribd is making

a transition to HTML5 from Flash, which required viewers on mobile devices to download

documents via PDF. Scribds switchover to HTML5 is designed to create a better mobile

reading experience as more people consume content that way, says Tammy H. Nam, vice

president of content and marketing at Scribd.

For publishers, Nam says using Scribd is an opportunity to provide content on mobile

devices with zero cost, rather than spending a lot of money developing an app. What

[publishers are] doing right now is creating very specialized applications for these mobile

platforms, and the return on their investment is probably questionable, at least in the near

term, Nam says. With Scribd they can essentially upload their content that they already

have without having to do any extra time or effort.

SCRIBD REACHES OUT TO

PUBLISHERS WITH FREEHTML5 CONVERSION

BY ELLIE BEHLING


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One of Scribds rst big media customers is Forbes, which offered its special issue about

Warren Buffet rst for free via Scribd. This is an issue they had already compiled, Nam

says. The only thing they had to do was upload it. While Forbes is partnering with Scribd,

the publisher is also considering other platforms and pursuing the development of an app,

according to paidContent.

Scribd plans to develop its own apps for the iPad, iPhone and Android, Nam says. The

company is also working on adding support for audio and video as well as the ability for

conversion to an ePUB format. Nam points out that multimedia capabilities will also allow

for more interactive advertising.

Theres another potentially interesting development in the works at Scribd: Nam says the

site will be offering alternative revenue models for publishers in the next couple of

months, though Scribd isnt detailing them yet. Under the current system, a publisher on

Scribd can choose to give away content for free or sell it (forking over a 20% cut to Scribd).

The catch is that the commerce side of Scribd isnt yet in HTML5, but Nam says they will be

enabling it soon.

Scribd hopes to become a place for publishers to experiment with different revenue

models for mobile content. Our goal with media companies is to give them revenue-

making opportunities, and shortly well be able to present them with multiple options to

making money to offer content, Nam says. HTML5 goes a long way in helping to make

that happen because the technology itself is so open and its readily available on any

mobile device ... They dont have to do anything and its immediate distribution across all

platforms.

SCRIBD REACHES OUT TO PUBLISHERS

WITH FREE HTML5 CONVERSION contd

Using Scribd is an

opportunity to provide

content on mobile

devices with zero cost,

rather than spending

a lot of money

developing an app


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Nam says shes seen a surge in media companies using Scribd for a variety of purposes.

Right now 150 media companies publish content to the site, oftentimes consisting of source

material, such as court documents (which are now also in HTML5). Others are using Scribd

to upload entire issues (e.g. Forbes) or for supplemental content, such as USA TODAYs

education issue.

The social aspect of Scribd may be another appeal to media companies. Scribd bills

itself as a social publishing site, allowing users to easily share content across their

social networks. The college-focused, subscription-based magazine Saturday Night,

for example, offers free content on Scribd to target an audience of readers that wantcontent on their mobile devices and interact via social media. Theyre sharing what

theyre reading on Scribd with their friends on Facebook and Twitter, Nam says.

Theres a lot of viral discussions going on. According to Nam, social engagement has

more than tripled since the conversion to HTML5.

Scribd bills itself as a

social publishing site,

allowing users to easily

share content acrosstheir social networks

SCRIBD REACHES OUT TO PUBLISHERS

WITH FREE HTML5 CONVERSION contd


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Its a given that you need a mobile version of your website in order to deliver a good user

experience on a mobile phone. But does the content itself need to be tweaked as well?

You bet it does.

Assuming you have a mobile version of your site, cant you just strip out the graphics,

images, PDFs and ash and call it a day? If you want to make your content useful on amobile device, youll need to do more.

Here are 5 actors to consider or publishing to mobile platorms:

1. Easy to use/scan/understand: Simple wins on the small screen

2. Concise: Get to the point, fast. Dont ramble. Publish robust summaries with links

3. High value or time-sensitive content: Data, actionable inormation, tools and news

4. Search optimized: Its how people nd content on mobile5. Easy to move cross-platform: Adding a prominent email this link is one way

Jakob Nielsen summarizes the differences in writing style for print vs. web:

Particularly on commercial sites whether theyre B2C e-commerce or specialized

B-to-B sites users cherry-pick the inormation and concentrate narrowly on what

they want. I youre smart, youll write accordingly: make your content actionable

and ocused on user needs.

MOBILE CONTENTLIKE WRITING

FOR THE WEB, ONLY MORE SOBY MITCH SPEERS


19/32



Mobile content should be even more actionable (data, not anecdotes) and focused on user

needs (scannable, hyper-concise, ast-loading, and/or entertaining). Some examples:

Apartment Guide Mobile--a magazine thats a directory is well-suited to mobile

http://m.paidcontent.org is fast, highly readable, easy to navigate on a phone.

http://mobile.nytimes.com is an excellent mobile site. I think its actually better than the

NY Times iPhone app.

Unfortunately, good mobile versions of magazine websites are scarce. Car and Driver

touts its mobile site, but the usability is terrible. Varietyshows a great approach to

modifying its content for mobile in an iPhone app.

Paul Conley had this to say about the potential of mobile content:

Mobile devices oer the frst opportunity in history to create content that is

aimed at individual users. With mobile, youre not publishing restaurant reviewsor your community -- youre giving the guy at the corner o Main and State three

options or health ood within a six-block radius. Youre not giving the executive

at the airport an interace where he can check his ight, youre sending him a text

message when the airline changes his gate.


FOR THE WEB, ONLY MORE SO contd

Users cherry-pick

the information

and concentrate

narrowly on what

they want
http://emediavitals.com./http://www.apartmentguide.com/mobile-apphttp://m.paidcontent.org/http://www.nytimes.com/http://www.nytimes.com/http://m.paidcontent.org/http://www.apartmentguide.com/mobile-apphttp://emediavitals.com./


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Should all your content be available to mobile users?

Ideally youll think through what users are most likely going to want to access on their

mobile devices. Asking your readers what they want would be a good idea. News

content is well suited to mobile, as is any content that is constantly updated. Fewer mobile

users will read a 2,000-word interview all the way through. A summary paragraph with

bulleted key points and a link to the full text may get traction.

What about non-editorial content?

You probably publish more than editorial content. If you have a directory, a data product,

a specialty calculator or anything that lends itsel to away-rom-the-computer use, youd

do well to focus your initial efforts there. Some examples:

The Chemical Touch (iPhone App) is a touch-sensitive periodic table of the elements that

brings up a chemistry-textbooks worth of information for the element selected.

US Elections (iPhone App) is a database of every U.S. presidential election, with details

about candidates, electoral votes, states carried, popular votes, percentages and more.

Theres an app or that

If you have the resources, and your content or data is in demand, you should consider

developing dedicated iPhone, Blackberry or Android apps for them. Well-designed

apps like this are often an improvement over the same tool used in a mobile browser.



Mobile devices offer

the rst opportunityin history to create

content that is aimed

at individual users


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Wall Street Journal mobile edition (m.wsj.com) is a decent mobile website, but the WSJ Reader

for Blackberry automatically pushes updates to your Blackberry that you can access ofine.

Deciding which platform to build an app for is a function of your audience. If youre trying

to reach the nancial industry, Blackberry is a good bet, though Bloombergs iPhone app is

well regarded. For consumer markets, iPhone or Android platforms deserve a look. Silicon

Alley Insider has some useful tips for those considering whether to build an iPhone app.

Video and podcasts

Video can work on some mobile platforms, but bandwidth limitations are still a barrier.

For iPhones and Android phones, publishing video to YouTube is a good solution. For

other platforms, its going to be trial and error. For example, Verizon V CAST is a service

add-on for about 35 Verizon phones, but to publish video to this service, you need to

negotiate with Verizon. Good luck with that. Other phones seem to support downloading,

converting and then playing video, such as video podcasts, but not easy playback of video

direct from a website.

Audio podcasts are a lot simpler than video to execute, and are a natural for many mobile

devices. Flash animation is generally a bad idea, as is PDF.

SEO is still critical

If your editorial is well optimized for search with an emphasis on keywords, descriptive (not

clever) titles, headlines and headings, then it will be well-positioned for mobile SEO as well.

Mobile users are heavily dependent on search, so SEO is critical.




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Stafng issues

Tweaking and trimming content for mobile shouldnt really need dedicated staff. It can

(and should) be part of the workow of posting an article in the content management

system. The editor who produced the original piece is best equipped to boil it down for

mobile use, if necessary. Developing mobile apps to expose data products, calculators and

the like will probably require hiring an outside developer. Most media companies dont yet

have iPhone, Android or Blackberry developers on staff, nor should they.

Augmented realitythe uture?

The web allows content to be more useful and accessible than print, some in ways that could not

be imagined 20 years ago. Content, in the form of actionable information and tools, is being

made even more useful on mobile platforms. One fascinating development is augmented reality,

or the ability to superimpose information in a layer over reality. Typically they use the phones

camera, GPS location data and some kind of image recognition processing to provide a layer of

information on top of the camera view of wherever you are. There are some AR apps for Android

and iPhones now, and they are very cool. The Economist did a good write-up on AR recentlythats worth reading. The Layar Reality Browser is a good example of an early AR mobile app.

Mobile means more meat, less at

Small phone screens and keyboards will continue to force publishers to trim all non-

essential words, sentences and images. The real power of the mobile phone as a platform

is that it knows who you are and where you are. Using that power effectively will lead to

mobile content breakthroughs that will set your brand apart.




23/32



Monetizing mobile content isnt just about deciding how much to charge for your iPhone

app despite the overabundance of punditry on that point. Mobile advertising models are

evolving almost as rapidly as the mobile devices themselves. The question for newspaper

and magazine publishers is, How many of these ad dollars can you capture?

The expected growth of the mobile market makes this an increasingly urgent issue. Irish

researcher Research and Markets is forecasting a 37 percent compound annual growth rate

for mobile advertising revenues through 2015.

The challenge for publishers is ghting for a cut of those revenues among the device

makers, wireless service providers, digital stores and yes, the advertisers themselves, which

view mobile as an important channel for making direct connections with a target audience

using their own content.

In some ways, publishers will be competing with advertisers on the content creationexperience, says Ned May, a director and lead analyst with market researcher Outsell.

Every time a brand creates a great app, thats taking a users attention and time from

other media.

Because the role of newspapers and magazines in connecting consumers and advertisers

is less dened in the mobile space than it is in the print or even the PC-based Web worlds,

publishers that wait to see how the mobile landscape takes shape may be left out of the

mix altogether.

MOBILE ADVERTISINGS

MOVING TARGETSBY ROB OREGAN


24/32



Here are three of the biggest moving targets in the mobile advertising space. The more

publishers educate themselves about these key elements, the better theyll be able to

develop a mobile experience that serves both the audience and the advertisers.

1. The devices

The category of mobile devices continues to evolve, from dumb phones (voice and text

only) to Web-enabled smartphones to larger e-readers. In a recent report authored by

May (Device Wars: Whats a Publisher to Do with Smartphones, E-Readers, and Tablets?),

Outsell further distinguishes between e-readers and tablets: e-readers are single-functiondevices for the acquisition and display of content primarily book content, while

tablets are small computing devices [including netbooks] capable of being loaded with

sophisticated applications and communicating primarily via data networks. These devices

may or may not have a dedicated keyboard for input and their display is typically a color

screen and is increasingly one that can handle touch input.

The differences go well beyond the size, shape and functionality of the devices, because

consumers interact with content differently on each device. Understanding how they

interact is critical for both content creators and advertisers.

Heres how May distinguishes usability among the three types: Smartphones are for sips

of content. E-readers are about immersive reading, where people are not looking for

distractions i.e., advertising. The iPad and other tablets, by comparison, will be much

more purposeful for users. Users will pick up a tablet to accomplish something, not just

browsing or playing with a cool new app. That speaks to bigger experiences, which suit

publishers better.

MOBILE ADVERTISINGS

MOVING TARGETS contd


25/32



2. The creative

Because the three categories of devices are used for different purposes, the ads delivered

through those devices will be different as well. In his report, Day describes the different

advertising opportunities emerging for the three devices types:

Smartphones will leverage ads that take advantage of knowing the users location, the

primary task she is engaged in, and her ability to remain connected.

E-readers will be suited to contextual advertising, similar to the Amazon model (If youlike this, youll also like this).

Tablets offer opportunities for advertisers to potentially invest more resources designing

their own applications that reside on the device rather than buying search and display

campaigns.

For this new generation of large-screen tablets, the key for publishers is nding more

ways to integrate their advertising partners into the richer content experiences they offer.

Apples forthcoming iAd platform could help by providing a means to embed interactive

ads that dont take the user away from the publishers app environment.

Skiff, the Hearst-backed venture that is developing a new e-reading platform and e-reader

hardware, is taking a different approach. The initial emphasis of its service, due later

this year, is to help publishers preserve the traditional newspaper or magazine reading

experience including the display ads.

MOBILE ADVERTISINGS


Apples iAd platform

could help by providinga means to embed

interactive ads that dont

take the user away

from the publishers

app environment.


26/32



Ads that are reminiscent of print are a more powerful, better way of reaching consumers

than the more Internet-centric models, says Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Skiffs chief marketing

ofcer. The emphasis will be more around visual display, and the impact that has, so the

advertisers that are currently spending billions on print advertising will be able to preserve

those investments.

For smaller-screen smartphones, publishers have a broad array of inventory types to choose

from, ranging from text-based ads to expanding banners. The Internet Advertising Bureau

lists the various inventory types in its Mobile Buyers Guide.

Sponsorships are also growing in appeal, especially for apps. Financial Times iPad app,

for example, is sponsored by Hublot, a watchmaker, which is subsidized free access to the

subscription-based FT.com site for two months.

For many publishers, sponsorships are a better alternative than intrusive display ads. They

also open up opportunities for deeper, more lucrative relationships with advertisers.

The key to attracting these sponsors, of course, is through compelling content and a large

and/or loyal audience. It always comes back to the content.

3. The metrics

The biggest gap in the mobile space for publishers and advertisers remains a standard

set of metrics. Publishers need compelling audience quality metrics to attract advertisers

and compelling engagement metrics to demonstrate the success of mobile campaigns.

MOBILE ADVERTISINGS



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Unfortunately, theres no agreement as to what those metrics should be. This is a good

news/bad news scenario for publishers. If anything, the launch of new networks like iAd

muddies the waters even more.

The good news is that mobile devices can return all kinds of data about whos consuming

your content, how theyre accessing it and how theyre interacting with it. The bad news

is that carriers and some platform vendors (like Apple and Amazon) are reluctant to share

subscriber information with content or publishing partners. Throw in privacy concerns and

a woeful lack of mobile measurement standards and you have quite the hornets nest.

Theres some movement toward open platforms and standard metrics. Skiff is working

with Nielsen and comScore, for example, on new metrics to measure the effectiveness of

mobile advertising. Without going into specics, Van Rensselaer said the goal is to deliver

fairly quantitative measures of subscribers behavior with publications offered through the

Skiff service, including the time spent on a page. He added that Skiff plans to share that

information with publishers as part of its publisher friendly approach.

MOBILE ADVERTISINGS



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WHICH MOBILE PLATFORM

SHOULD YOU FOCUS ON?BY MITCH SPEERS With ve major mobile platforms in the US market, where should publishers place their

bets? Here is some data to help you make the right decision. Of course, before you invest

in building mobile apps, you should ensure your website is optimized for mobile browsers.

If users have a good experience using your site from their phone, they are more likely to

consider downloading your smartphone app.

First, look at the US market share for each of the major smartphone platforms according to

Comscore research released April 5, 2010:

RIM, maker of the Blackberry, still has a commanding lead in smartphones in the US,

with 42.1% market share for the 3-month period ending February 2010, according to

ComScore. Blackberry is

the platform of choice for

corporate IT departments,

so they are more likelyto be in the hands of

corporate managers. The

biggest gainer in this

list is Googles Android

platform, while both Palm

and Microsoft have seen

pretty steep drops over

the past 6 months.


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SHOULD YOU FOCUS ON? contd

So, if you were to base your decision on handset market share, your priorities would be

pretty clear. However, market share alone does not paint the full picture.

The Apple iPhone is the platform that really gave the mobile application space mainstream

appeal. The iTunes app store is the largest and most protable of its kind by a wide mar-

gin. The numbers are important not for their sheer size, but for what they say about how

each platform is used. The iPhone gets used as much more than a phone. The Blackberry

is a phone/email device with a browser. The others are trying hard to beat Apple at its own

cool multifunctional mobile device game.

Sources:

1. RIM/Blackberry webstore

2. 148apps iPhone app store stats

3. Windows Phone marketplace

4. AndroLib.com Android app fan site

5. Pre Central community site

These numbers are so large as to bealmost meaningless to an app consumer.

Nevertheless, they do emphasize the

relative health of each platforms app

ecosystem, and by that measure, Apple

is the 800-pound gorilla.


30/32





There are now several

paths to in-app advertising

launched or nearly ready to

launch. If your advertisers

want high-impact, rich me-

dia ads in the mobile chan-

nel, these new mobile ad

providers are set to deliver,

at least on Apple iPhone

and Android.

So, how can we project the

future? One good indicator

of future performance is developer support. If developers see promise in a platform, they

will write applications for it, especially if the hardware support is there. Over 30,000 de-

velopers use Appcelerator app development tools, and a survey of 1028 (really) of these

developers in late March 2010 gives a good indication of the attitudes towards these

mobile platforms.

The Apple iPhone is still the platform most developers have interest in creating apps for.

The Apple platform is popular because it has strong consumer acceptance and developers

know you can make money from it.

Palms recent nancial difculties have dampened developer interest. There are really no

compelling reasons to invest in Palm-specic apps for publishers.

(Source: Appcelerator survey March 23-25 2010)


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Developer interest in RIM and Microsoft has surged as both companies have made it easier

(with better APIs) for developers to create new mobile applications. In addition, Blackberry

makes it a point to accommodate carriers, in stark contrast to Apple.

Android is the one to really watch in this race. Googles strategy to beat Apple makes

a lot of sense. They will continue to offer decent (if not stunning) alternatives to the

iPhone, but be available across all carriers, in many varieties, and usually at a lower price.

Most importantly, Googles purchase of AdMob positions them to be a signicant player

in in mobile advertising.

The next big battleeld is for enterprise customers. Apple hasnt shown a lot of appetite

for this market in any of its product lines. RIM has built its success almost exclusively on the

enterprise. Google is pushing hard on several fronts to be a heavy hitter in enterprise soft-

ware, and Android is likely to pull share away from both RIM and Apple in this market.

So, if your audience is largely corporate managers in medium to large enterprises, placing

bets Googles Android probably makes a lot of sense. RIM is huge in the enterprise, but

their app strategy, particularly in-app advertising, looks less-developed. Microsoft, like RIM,has great enterprise penetration, and their new push to woo developers could reverse their

slide, but Apple has managed to make Microsoft something of a joke in mobile devices to

date. If your focus is consumers, Apple and Android are your top choices.

The mobile landscape is changing very quickly, so it pays to have someone in your

organization responsible for staying abreast of the technology and the major players.

You need to be here.




32/32

32 / 32Si f l tt t di it l


How to create your frst iPhone applicationThe iPhone has created unprecedented excitement and innovation. Still, for those outside the development

world, the process of developing iPhone apps is a bit of a mystery. This how-to guide walks you through the

steps to make your idea for an iPhone app a reality.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/11/how-to-create-your-rst-iphone-application/

Mobile app or mobile website?Before you invest in mobile marketing, consider your audience and the startup costs.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingideas/article205856.html

5 cant miss usability tips or mobile website designsA few simple yet prominent steps to designing a much more effective interface and increasing the quality

of a mobile websites usability.

http://spyrestudios.com/usability-tips-for-mobile-website-designs/

Q2 Mobile Ad Impressions Grow 61% Over Q1, According To NewReport From BuzzCity

In case you needed more proof that investing in mobile is a good idea, global mobile media companyBuzzCity released the results of its Global Mobile Advertising Index for Q2 2010, which reveals a

quarter-over-quarter increase of 61% for mobile advertising impressions over Q1.

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/q2-mobile-ad-impressions-grow-61-over-q1-according-to-report-

from-buzzcity-7743/

MOBILE WEB RESOURCES
http://emediavitals.com./http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/11/how-to-create-your-first-iphone-application/http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingideas/article205856.htmlhttp://spyrestudios.com/usability-tips-for-mobile-website-designs/http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/q2-mobile-ad-impressions-grow-61-over-q1-according-to-report-from-buzzcity-7743/http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/q2-mobile-ad-impressions-grow-61-over-q1-according-to-report-from-buzzcity-7743/http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimizationhttp://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/q2-mobile-ad-impressions-grow-61-over-q1-according-to-report-from-buzzcity-7743/http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/q2-mobile-ad-impressions-grow-61-over-q1-according-to-report-from-buzzcity-7743/http://spyrestudios.com/usability-tips-for-mobile-website-designs/http://www.mequoda.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/the-best-seo-keyword-strategy-how-to-pick-seo-keyword-fights-you-can-win/http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingideas/article205856.htmlhttp://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/11/how-to-create-your-first-iphone-application/http://emediavitals.com./

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