Flurry: Largest Address...

Mobile analytics firm Flurry is closing out the year with a look into the forthcoming shift in mobile installed bases expected in 2012. Using data from the firm’s dataset of over 140,000 apps running worldwide, it was able to calculate smartphone penetration in established markets like U.S. and Europe. Then, using additional data from the IMF in combination with Flurry’s own data, the firm was able to then determine which countries represented the top market opportunities for mobile app developers. Not surprisingly, China and India made the list. But so did the U.S. To start, Flurry looked at a snapshot of apps running across its user base over the past 30 days in order to rank the current addressable market. The U.S. led the way, with an installed base of 109 million out of 264 million (41%). Flurry notes that 264 million is about half of what Apple and Google say they’ve activated – something that can be accounted for by old device replacement. China (#2) and South Korea (#4) appeared in the top five, ranking above Japan (#5), France (#6) and Germany (#7). The U.K. is #2. Next, Flurry wanted to determine which markets hold the most future promise. It used the adult population counts from the IMF, then adjusted the numbers based on the size of the middle class in each country using  a study by Miller-McCune . Flurry then estimated the size of the upper class for each country, as those folks could also afford a smartphone. This way, China, India and Brazil would not be over-represented in the estimations just because they have large populations. And yet, they did make a showing. China has 122 million users who could afford an iPhone or Android. The U.S. has 91 million, India 75 million, Japan 65 million and Brazil 34 million. In the final bit of analysis, Flurry wanted to determine the world’s largest addressable markets, regardless of penetration. For starters, it looked at current market maturity (the measure of how penetrated smartphone devices are among a country’s addressable audience.)  The U.S., with the largest light blue circle in the graph below, has the largest total addressable audience (TAM) at 200 million. Sweden is the most mature country with 3.2 million of 5 million (66%) addressable consumers already using iOS and Android devices.  France, 10 th  in maturity, has 9.6 million of 34 million (28%) consumers using iOS and Android devices. In looking at the future addressable markets, Flurry found that even though India’s total population is not far behind China’s, its total addressable market is. Meanwhile Japan, the world’s fourth largest market, has a lot of upside given light penetration of iOS and Android devices against its large, addressable market, says Flurry. Using this method, the top 10 addressable markets are the U.S., China, Japan, India, Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, the U.K. and Russia. More analysis can be found on Flurry’s blog post .

Motorola Mobility Acqui...

Today, SetJam , a company that describes itself as “building the future of TV,” has announced it has been acquired by Motorola Mobility. The company’s products currently include a customizable TV and movie widgets designed for embedding on websites, plus developer-friendly tools like a REST API and XML download of the SetJam database. The TV widgets are designed to be context-sensitive and offer full CSS-styling, so they blend in with the website where they’re placed, while also allowing the site’s owner to increase revenue through affiliate income that comes from clicks to third-party sources. The company’s widgets include links to iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and others, which would be the source of this affilate income. A list of the supported content sources found on the company’s homepage also includes Cartoon Network, MTV, Disney, Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, Spike, TBS, CBS, WB, FX, South Park Studios, Crunchyroll, Fox, TNT and Crackle among those SetJam offers. For those with longer memories, you may recall SetJam was once a consumer-facing web service, similar to Clicker , which aggregated videos from around the web. It later shifted its focus, becoming the B2B service that Motorola Mobility acquired. The announcement of the acquisition arrived from Ryan Janseen, formerly SetJam CEO. It reads: I’m writing to let you know that today SetJam was acquired by Motorola Mobility.  We are all very excited about this transition here at SetJam.  Motorola and SetJam share the vision of making content delivery, discovery, and consumption seamless across any screen, and as a world leader in video technology, Motorola will provide us with unprecedented levels of reach and distribution. I want to take this moment to personally thank you for your continued encouragement and support over the past two years. None of this success would have been possible without your backing and belief in us.  While this acquisition was in process, we’ve had to be far less communicative than we normally would be.  We greatly look forward to reconnecting with all of you in the New Year.  In the mean time, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season! Cordially, Ryan Ryan Janssen (Former) CEO, SetJam The announcement comes at a time when Motorola Mobility itself is being acquired by Google for $12.5 billion . Given Google’s own TV intentions with its Google TV service, one has to wonder if there’s a connection between the two moves.

4 Great Ways Marketers ...

Now that all those Black Friday sales are over and we are getting closer to the online holiday rush slowing down, we can shift our attention to the more altruistic part of this season. People are often looking for a way to give back at this time of year, and, given the current economic climate, there is certainly a lot of need among nonprofits of all types. From volunteering to feed the homeless to helping raise funds for school supplies for children in need, we are presented with many opportunities to get involved. If you’re not sure where to begin, try the Corporation for National & Community Service’s serve.gov site. For those of us with specific expertise, there’s also the option of helping a non-profit organization on a different level. So, considering the Marketing Pilgrim audience, here are but a few of many opportunities to do some ‘social good’ this season: Sparked bills itself as the world’s first microvolunteering network, or “volunteerism for the digital age.” Simply put, nonprofits express their needs – from blogging to copywriting to SEO and more – via the website. Those needs are matched to volunteers with the right skills and interests, who can choose to participate based on their availability. As NPR said, it’s “crowdsourcing for the common good.” Volunteer Match helps match volunteers with opportunities. For instance, a search for ‘marketing’ volunteer opportunities in Orlando, FL yields 21 results, from the Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell Run/Walk to StandUp for Kids. HandsOn Network is another nonprofit-volunteer matching organization that says it mobilized over 30 million volunteer hours last year, valued at more than $626 million. Its focus is on skills-based volunteering, which essentially means connecting the right volunteer with the right project. Media Cause limits its focus to nonprofit needs in the realm of Google Grants, social media, and SEO. Most of these challenges take only a few hours to complete, so the commitment is manageable even for the busiest digital marketer. Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information. Having recently volunteered some time, along with several of my colleagues at Full Sail University, to work with the Adult Literacy League, I can attest to how positive it feels to be able to provide some assistance to an organization that is working hard at doing good. Take a few minutes this season to try it for yourself. About the author Rob Croll is Department Chair for the Internet Marketing Bachelor’s degree program at Full Sail University, and the Course Director for Search Engine Optimization there. He also owns Marlannah Digital Marketing, a consulting firm that works with small- to medium-sized businesses and non-profits. Rob was named one of the Top 100 Marketing Professors on Twitter and has had numerous articles published both online and in print on a variety of Internet marketing topics. You can follow Rob on Twitter @rcroll. Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

Not Just For Kids Anymo...

I sat down with Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO of Major League Gaming, who had some alarming and interesting statistics to share. First, the championships saw viewerships of over 3.6 million while fans watch 15 million hours of video during the Pro Circuit leading up to the championships. “Our viewership numbers this year have been staggering and MLG now pulls in larger audiences than several traditional television cable networks,” he said. “Our LIVE streams of the Pro Circuit National Championships garnered more 18-24 male viewers than Comedy Central, MTV, TBS, and FX draw in an average quarter hour and nearly as many as Adult Swim.” MLG isn’t just greasy kid’s stuff anymore. It’s a serious business with millions in revenue and a reach of billions around the world. We talk a bit about the future of the league, how gaming is blowing up these days, and if my experience in Minesweeper can translate into a career in gaming. Enjoy.

FTC Tells Cap ‘N Crunch...

Unless Cap ‘N Crunch can start hawking carrot sticks, this popular advertising icon may have to sail off into the sunset in the near future. The FTC is proposing a new set of guidelines for food advertising aimed at children and there’s no tolerance for anything sugary, fatty or fun. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is quoted as saying, “Children are strongly influenced by the foods they see advertised on television and elsewhere. Creating a food marketing environment that supports, rather than undermines, the efforts of parents to encourage healthy eating among children will have a significant impact on reducing the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic.  These new Principles will help food and beverage companies use their creativity and resources to strengthen parents’ efforts to encourage their children to make healthy choices.” Hopping on my soap box for just a moment, I have to say that healthy eating is not a matter parents versus the advertisers. Look at Jaime Oliver’s movement to get healthier lunches in the schools. Are dieticians also unduly influenced by the Jolly Green Giant and the Keebler Elves? Kids are smarter than people thing. Present a cookie and an apple to a kid and I’ll bet they can tell you which is the healthy choice. Kids may ask for a particular cereal because they like the character on the box, but it if doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it. And that’s what’s funny here. The FTC isn’t asking advertisers to stop using cartoon characters to promote food, they just want them to promote healthy food. They think that if you put Disney characters on whole grain bread, kids will eat it. I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not against healthy eating and I appreciate the fact that the FTC is trying to protect our kids. They did it with cigarette ads, so it’s likely they’ll also win the battle against junk food ads. But does that mean they’ll win the battle against junk food? Does a lack of colorful advertising really mean a drop in sales? And exactly what is considered “aimed at kids?” Those Keebler Elves make fabulous cookies ,but I would say they’re aimed at the adult female consumer, not a ten-year-old. So can they keep on working their magic? Right now, the guidelines are voluntary, but you can see where this is going. If your company markets food products to kids, you should go check out the new guidelines at www.FTC.gov . Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community