By The Numbers: Mobile + Video = Marketing Success

The rise of smartphone adoption and mobile engagement has been well documented. Statistics collected from mobiThinking tell us there are over 1 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, and these users are spending a lot of time on their mobile applications — spending 4.2 minutes per session compared to just 0.9 minutes on the web and spending 94 minutes daily compared to 72 minutes, a study from Flurry finds.

More Consumers Are Watching More Video

Within the mobile industry, one of the quickest emerging trends is video. With the emergence of large displays on mobile devices, faster processors and more mobile hot spots popping up, more consumers are consuming video from their mobile devices.  There is a plethora of stats and figures to support the emergence of mobile video. A study by Dancast gives us several key insights:

• Mobile video will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 28% over the next 5 years.
• More than 25 million mobile owners stream at least 4 hours of video per month.
• Teenagers spend on average 7 hours watching video on mobile devices, compared to just 4 hours on the desktop.
• Mobile video will generate 66% of mobile data traffic by 2015.
• In 2015, 63% of of the US population will own a smartphone or tablet and 86% will stream videos from these devices.

Furthermore, tablets appear to be making mobile video all the more important. DirecTV found that tablet owners watch on average 36 minutes of video a week on their devices, while nearly 25% of all video views in households with broadband internet are coming from devices other than a television. Additionally, the study found that video viewership on smartphones has increased by 35.7%. According to comScore, more than half of tablet users watched video on their device in April 2012, with nearly 10% doing so on a daily basis.

Mobile Is Proving To Be A Successful Marketing Platform

Not only are consumers flocking to mobile video in droves, but mobile is also proving to be an effective vertical for advertisers. Not only do 82% of mobile users notice mobile ads (according to Google and xAd research), they take action:

• 49% make a purchase
• 42% click on the ad
• 35% Visit the website
• 52% make a phone call resulting from an ad

The best way to communicate with consumers is by reaching them where they are, and there is no better way to do that than by engaging with them on their mobile devices.  Morgan Stanley found that 91% of all smartphone owners have their phone within arm’s reach 24/7. Video is the desired format because of its frictionless nature — today’s consumers enjoy rich media ads. Celtra found that video and direct response are the most popular and widely used mobile ad features, with 5 out of 10 ads using some sort of video element which has lead to an average engagement rate of 14.05%.

Mobile Video In Action

There have already been a number of successful mobile video campaigns to date. One example is Lay’s potato chips campaign within Hulu’s iPhone app. A 35-second video ad ran during the Hulu commercial break. Users could tap on the “Learn More” button above the video to be directed to the company’s Facebook page. This campaign gave consumers the ability to visually engage with the brand through video and continue their interaction with Lay’s via social media.

Another brand leveraging mobile video is Dr. Pepper. The video features consumers drinking Dr. Pepper while wearing T-shirts that express their individuality. At the end of the video, viewers are encouraged to connect with the brand on Twitter with the hashtag #ImA.

Additionally, users can enter to win an Xbox360 as part of a sweepstakes with the current film The Avengers.

To enter, consumers can enter codes online found underneath Dr. Pepper caps. In order to find out if they are a winner, users must either sign-in with their Dr. Pepper or Facebook account. Users can also connect with the brand’s Facebook or Twitter accounts to see what others are saying about the brand, thus facilitating engagement between the brand and consumers.

As we move forward, mobile video will not only continue to be a viable advertising option, it will become vital to succeed, and should be integrated into any and all marketing mixes. Videology found that brand recall increases 70-300% when campaigns are run across multiple screens. An effective mobile video campaign can literally and figuratively put your product into the hands of consumers everywhere.

Joseph Deluca is Marketing & PR Manager at SponsorPay. Joe handles the day-to-day press and media relations and content curation as well as sculpts SponsorPay’s overall marketing message. He has a wide range of international experience, both professional and academic, across the US, UK, Italy and Germany. He earned an MA in Integrated Marketing Communications and a BA in Journalism/Mass Communication from St. Bonaventure University.

•