With the recent news surfacing of initial talks between Robert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Microsoft to block all News Corp. content from Google, Motally was interested in what information was available regarding mobile news sites.  Specifically, we analyzed October 2009 data to see how mobile users engaged with news sites, and whether there was any difference in that behavior from how users engaged with other popular mobile websites.  Interestingly, we did observe a difference.  According to Motally data, mobile users spend less time and view less web pages at news and local information sites than they do at entertainment and download sites.  This difference suggests that mobile users visit news and local information sites with targeted information in mind, whereas they spend more time browsing or searching for content at download and entertainment sites.

Source: Motally, October 2009 

The idea that different sites (and different categories of sites) prompt different levels of user engagement is not new.  Websites compete for eyeballs and premium prices go to the victor.  This is an established model and an integral part of the mobile conversation.  But the challenge to (and exciting thing about) mobile is whether mobile can do more.  Mobile provides unique personalization tools not available on other platforms, and intelligent folks are looking for ways to serve the right ad to the right person at the right time. 

At Motally, we believe that mobile has the potential to take advertising to new levels of personalization, but in order to do so, advertisers need the tools to make this a reality.  Technology is essential, but measuring advertising ROI is equally essential so marketers can validate their investments.  The results of this analysis highlight the fact that advertising ROI tools can evolve beyond simple audience measurement and demographic profiles, they can also measure behavior and that these sophisticated tools can be used to further drive innovation.

To highlight the point of driving innovation, let’s take an example of a more sophisticated advertising scenario.  Let’s say that we know a user is a fan of mobile games.  Using this information an advertiser wants to promote a new game, but wants two or three consecutive ads to really “Wow” a potential new customer with all the new game features.  Using Motally data from this analysis, a mobile advertiser would know it would be better to serve a “multi-part” ad over an entertainment related site than a news related site.  Sophisticated marketing requires knowing more than audience and demographic information, it also requires behavioral and engagement information as well. 

We hope you enjoyed this discussion.  Please check back often as Motally explores other ways mobile analytics can help your bottom line. Or, if there is a topic you would like to learn more about, drop us a note in the comments section.

Thanks,

The Motally team