Mobile Devices, Local Search and Location-based Advertising

According to PWC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, Mobile Ad Revenues are likely to grow as a percentage of Total Advertising Revenue.According to the IAB, Internet ad revenues for Q1 in the U.S. alone were $9.6 billion. The U.S. for all of 2012 is estimated to have brought in $3.5 billion in mobile ad revenues.
Mobile Advertising revenues are split regionally with Asia- Pacific and North America at 80% of the revenue.

To understand Local Search better the infographic below gives a breakdown of how and what the mobile users are searching for.

Mobile Couponing

According to Business Insider, The number of U.S. smartphone users using mobile coupons has increased dramatically – from 7.4 million in 2010 to 29.5 million last year. By 2014, that number is expected to surge to 47.1 million.

Mobile coupons are being used across the gamut in retail: 41% of mobile coupons users said
they had redeemed coupons at the grocery store, 41% said they redeemed coupons at department stores, and 39% at clothing stores.
And that’s barely scratching the surface: In 2012 there were 305 billion consumer packaged
goods coupons (CPG), print and digital, distributed in the U.S. — a number that remained
unchanged from 2011.

Location-based Advertising

Location is the new cookie: Collecting data has always been difficult because mobile does not support third-party cookies that travel easily across the ecosystem, allowing for
straightforward tracking and data-gathering. That’s where location-based mobile technology
comes in. It gives marketers new ways to identify and track mobile audiences, and with the
aid of algorithms, it can also group them into behavioral and demographic segments for
targeting.
A study by Berg Insight found that location-enabled ad spend reached about 8% of total mobile ad spend for 2012. This proportion is expected to increase to 33% by 2017.

Location-based data is driving much of the interest – and success: Enabling campaigns with
local data produces measurable results. In a study of over 2,500 of its mobile marketing
campaigns, Verve found that its location-based ad efforts were about twice as effective as
the mobile industry average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.4%. Geo-aware ads, geo-fenced ads,
and location data paired with audience demographics or purchase intent are all proving to be extremely successful.

Location is extending beyond the smartphone: The location conversation may have started out as a way to take advantage of mobile phones, but as technology continues to evolve, the
conversation needs to broaden. In 2012, only 12% of smartphone owners and 17% of tablet
owners said they used their device throughout the entire shopping process. This year,
one-third of smartphone and tablet owners said they did so. Additionally, more tablet
consumers are beginning their shopping process on their tablets. This shows that location
ads should be targeted to tablets as well as smartphones, because the first search for a
local business might take place on a tablet.

Source : IAB, Neustar, Business Insider