Everybody’s trying to reach a local audience these days, but our new report finds that hyperlocal might also mean hypersmall. The big attraction to “local” comes from the fact that local websites hold more value because their site visitors make the vast majority household purchases within a few miles of their homes. Our new report digs into a few disturbing aspects of local site traffic, including data that show that the unique visitor-to-actual-people ratio is nearly 4 to 1.
The power of proximity-based, or location-based, advertising poses radical challenges to the mass media model of aggregating local audiences and selling them to local advertisers. Our latest report, “Proximity-Based Marketing: Mobile Devices Untether Advertising from Media,” examines the latest in a 15-page industry paper that gauges mobile proximity-based advertising at $200 million this year, swelling to $760 million in 2011 and springing to $6 billion by 2015.
Mobile apps are all the rage. More than a half-million apps are downloaded every single hour, and the average smartphone user has 22. But the future is cloudy for those trying to tackle the mobile universe via an app. Research shows that after six months, only one of those original 22 apps is still in use. On top of that, a debate is raging as to whether apps will survive a more sophisticated mobile browser fueled by HTML5.
Social networks are increasing their ad revenues at a tremendous pace and before long it could take a toll on ad spending at local media Web sites. In this latest paper, we track the advertising and promotion spending for social networking as well the new rules of marketing under this new “anti-mass” media. Included in the paper is the latest local and national ad and promotions spending projections for social networks by DMA.
Mobile marketing is exploding, fueled by an installed consumer base of 234 million cell phone users and the quick uptake of smart phones, now in the hands of nearly one-third of consumers. The implications at the local level are enormous. This report examines mobile marketing, breaking down the difference between mobile advertising and mobile promotions, and examines what appears to be the first “killer app” for mobile: couponing. It is the first – and a scene-setter – in a series of reports we will publish this year on the local mobile marketing phenomenon.
It’s an “even” year, which means another uptick in political advertising. That’s good news for broadcasters – where most of political advertising winds up – and good news for just about everybody else, too, because of a recent Supreme Court ruling that should open the door to about $400 million more political ad spending this year. A decade-long uptick in political spending has forced a crooked smile on our forecast. It starts at $4.2 billion this year and zig-zags up to $41 billion in the 2012 presidential election year. Online is still barely 1% of all political advertising, just $44 million this year. Our 24-page report includes 12 charts and an appendix estimating political ad spending in each of the 210 DMAs.
Has the mighty real estate advertising category peaked out for online media? Our "2010 Real Estate Outlook" describes major trends in spending by agents, brokers, apartment owners and mortgage lenders and issues our forecast for this year. This ad category declined 20% last year, from $24.4 billion to $19.6 billion. We're forecasting a mild bounce back in 2010 at 3% growth. Our annual assessment of this important category describes the situation and offers 20 charts and graphs detailing how real estate ad dollars are shifting. It also includes appendices offering detailed data on U.S. ad spending in this category, as well as a market-by-market estimates of national and local spending for 210 cities. Don't forget to sign up for the Webinar to discuss this report on Thursday, 2/4, 2pm to 3pm ET for just $75 (free for subscribers).
