yahoodevelopers:

By Simon Khalaf, SVP Publishing Products

Last year, on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the mobile revolution, Flurry issued our annual report on the mobile industry. In that report, we analyzed time spent on a mobile device by the average American consumer. We ran the same analysis in Q2 of this year and found interesting trends we are sharing in this report.

After putting the desktop web in the rear view mirror in Q2 2011, and eclipsing television in Q4 2014, mobile and its apps have cemented their position as the top media channel and grabbed more time spent from the average American consumer. In Q2 of 2015, American consumers spent, on average, 3 hrs and 40 minutes per day on their mobile devices. That is a 35% increase in time spent from one year ago and a 24% increase from Q4 2014. In just six short months, the average time American consumers spend on their phones each day increased by 43 minutes.

To put things in perspective, there are 175 million Americans with at least one mobile device. This means that, in aggregate, since November 2014, the US connected population is spending an extra 125 million hours per day on mobile devices. This growth rate is especially astonishing after seven consecutive growth years.

The Browser: Sidelined

Looking at the chart above, today only 10% of the time spent on mobile is spent in the browser, down from 14% a year ago. The rest of the time, 90%, is spent in apps. Effectively, the browser has been sidelined on mobile. This has major implications on the digital industry in general and the content and media industry in particular. Historically, the media industry has relied almost entirely on search for user and traffic acquisition, building entire teams around SEO and SEM on the desktop web. But search engines are predominantly accessed from a browser. If mobile users aren’t using browsers, the media industry will have to look for new approaches to content discovery and  traffic acquisition.

The Media Industry: Absorbed by Apps

The chart below takes a closer look at app categories. Social, Messaging and Entertainment apps (including YouTube), account for 51% of time spent on mobile.

Entertainment (including YouTube) grew from 8% of time spent last year, or 13 minutes per day, to 20% of time spent, or 44 minutes per day this year. This is 240% growth year-over-year, or an extra 31 minutes. That is more than the time it would take to watch an additional TV sitcom for every US consumer, every day!

Messaging and Social apps grew from 28% of time spent last year or 45 minutes per day to 31% of time spent or slightly more than 68 minutes per day this year. This is a 50% year-over-year increase. However, the majority of time spent inside messaging and social apps is actually spent consuming media, such as videos on Tumblr and Facebook or stories on Snapchat. A study by Millward Brown Digital showed that 70% of social app users are actually consuming media. While we can’t correlate the 70% directly to time spent, we firmly believe that media consumption, either articles read in the web view in app, or video consumed in the feeds, constitute the majority of time spent in social apps. This is a big trend and one that will be watched very carefully by traditional media companies. These companies have to adjust to a new world where consumers act as individual distribution channels. The growth in entertainment on mobile proves once again that content is in fact king and is beating the gaming industry in its own game.  

The Gaming Industry: Time is Money

The completely unexpected result of our analysis this year is the dramatic decline in time spent for mobile gaming. Gaming saw its share decline from 32% last year (52 minutes per day) to 15% of time spent (33 minutes per day) this year. This is a 37% decline year-over-year. We believe there are three factors contributing to the decline.

1. Lack of new hits: Gaming is a hit driven industry and there hasn’t been a major new hit the past 6 to nine months. The major titles like Supercell’s Clash of Clans, King’s Candy Crush, and Machine Zone’s Game of War continue to dominate the top grossing charts and haven’t made room for a major new entrant.
2. Users become the game: Millennials are shifting from playing games to watching others play games, creating a new category of entertainment called eSports. This summer, Fortune named eSports, the new Saturday morning cartoons for millennials. In fact, some of the most watched content on Tumblr is Minecraft videos created and curated by the passionate Minecraft community.
3. Pay instead of play: Gamers are buying their way into games versus grinding their way through them. Gamers are spending more money than time to effectively beat games or secure better standings rather than working  their way to the top. This explains the decline in time spent and the major rise in in-app purchases, as Apple saw a record $1.7B in AppStore sales in July.

What the mobile industry in general and the app industry in particular have achieved in the past seven years is amazing. Flurry now measures more than two billion devices each month and sees more than 10 billion sessions per day. That is 1.42 sessions for every human being on this planet, every day. And that is just Flurry! If there is anything to say about the mobile and app industry it is this: Mobile is on fire and it is showing no signs of stopping.

(via yahoohk-advertising)

yahoouk:

Brands should focus on content creativity if they want to increase their sales, according to new research from Yahoo. A study into the attitudes of Tumblr users towards brand content has revealed that more than two thirds (68%) of daily users in the UK and Germany are more likely to buy from brands that share content they like on social media.

The findings show that the digital generation enjoy and appreciate brand content, with almost three quarters of respondents (74%) agreeing that brands can sometimes come up with the most entertaining content. A further 70% said that the source of content doesn’t matter, as long as it provides value and is something they want to read or watch.

The research showed that good online content can in fact be a gateway to better engagement at multiple levels:

• Opinion forming – 73% agree that content helps them to form an opinion of the brand
• Friendship building – 74% agree that brands which create content they like can become like friends on social media
• Brand loyalty – 73% agree they’re more likely to be loyal to a brand with a strong personality in its content

The key to creating and sharing this content lies in collaborating with the creative community, as three in four daily Tumblr users feel closer to a brand when it uses influencers to reach them. Whether graphic designers, photographers, writers, videographers, or other content innovators, these influencers have online audiences who share their passions and tastes.

The good news is that these creatives are ready to be engaged by brands, as 76% are open to entering into a commercial partnership with a brand. What’s more, two thirds consider themselves influential, with 70% specifically using social networks to provide advice. Brands can benefit from these influencers’ reach, but also the established voice and authenticity they have within their communities.

Michael Pennington, EMEA Director for Tumblr, said: “Some of the greatest content comes from brands collaborating with creatives and we’re incredibly proud that Tumblr is home to such a huge community of people who are passionate about what they do.”

“We’ve reached a point where brands are becoming like people and individuals are becoming brands. This means that content collaborations have to be truly symbiotic partnerships, and the right fit for both parties. When this happens, and brands open up their creative assets while creatives bring their unique voice to them, that’s when we see the most fantastic content.”

To help brands collaborate better with content creators, Yahoo has developed five guiding principles to consider when working together:

1.    Understand that consumers love brands – two thirds of daily Tumblr users like brands that respond and engage with them personally on social media. They’re already open to brand engagement, so working to create the most engaging and creative content you can is a winning strategy from the outset.

2.     Choose the right partner – not every content creator will be right for you. Before working together, make sure you research any creator’s previous work, voice, and visual aesthetic to ensure they fit with your brand. Remember, both advertisers and influencers should benefit: Advertisers should help influencers to develop their brand and grow their audience, while influencers should help brands to create and promote impactful content. A symbiotic relationship.

3.     Make it a two-way relationship – there’s a balance to be struck in any relationship. When it comes to brands and creators, communication should be regular and in both directions. Be transparent with your creators and work with them, not above them.

4.     Embrace mutual creativity – you must make sure that creators have creative freedom. Yes, they are creating content for your brand, but in order for it to resonate with their audience, it needs to be right for them too. You want them to create their own content with your brand in mind, rather than heavily branded content that doesn’t fit their usual style. Trust that they know their audience and what will work for them.

5.   Remember this is business – while creators will choose brands they want to work with, and believe in, this is still a business relationship. Offer meaningful perks, such as brand tools and resources to help elevate their content, and remember that ‘exposure’ is not a valid method of payment.

 

Methodology:

To examine and explore the importance of creativity in online content, Yahoo conducted in-depth qualitative and quantitative research.

This involved conducting interviews with professional marketers and academic experts, as well as a selection of Tumblr users in the UK and Germany. These findings were then supported by a survey of more than 1,500 Tumblr users in the UK and Germany.