There is a fascinating presentation and webinar by the Kelsey Group on the Mobile Local Opportunity. The thing we probably all know but is recapped with detailed statistics in the presentation are:
- That mobile web and search is being lead by the prolific uptake of smartphones particularly the iPhone and that the focus of usage has a partcularly “Local” focus
- The share of total mobile search that is local is going to increase 27.8% of total searches in 2008 to 35.1%. What was fascinating though is that local search’s share of revenue is expected to be over 56.1% of mobile search revenue.
- Mobile ad revenues although small in size relative to other mediums will experience exponential growth (85% CAGR)
The highlights for me were what exactly people are searching and are doing on their mobiles, how to monetize these opporunites and how effective the early results are for mobile ads.
- People are searching for local products and services. Restaurants and bars is the most popular category with 43.4% of people searching.
- Mobile ad click thru rates are great according to Verizon (2%) compared to web (0.25%)
- Mobile ad recall ratesof 33% (41% for iPhones) - and half of these people actually responding to the ads
- There was discussion of other monetization methods: Cost per acquisition ie online reservations, affiliate models etc
I think this steers to a point I have been talking about for years. Cost per acquisition business models will be what makes local search explode. Why? Small business dont track their clicks and understand thier cost of acquisition online, they are lucky if they have a website. We have to make it simpler to get mainstream adoption. ie they are only paying a fixed fee for each new customer and dont ask them to change the way they already operate. Make the web and mobile work for them!
In the next post I’ll talk about some of the problems with implementing CPA models in local and some of our solutions
Tags: mobile monetization, online reservations, Research, statistics
