For the second month in a row, daily deal sites Groupon.com adn LivingSocial saw significant declines in traffic, while Facebook.com, Twitter.com, MtV.com and unsurprisingly, NFL.com, all saw major traffic increases, acccording to Kantar Media Compete.
Compete ranks the 250 top websites monthly. This month’s results:
Daily Deal Leaders Drop in UVs for Second Consecutive Month Perhaps in part due to market saturation and deal fatigue, the daily deal category’s definitive leader, Groupon.com, dropped 28.6 percent month-over-month (M-O-M) to 21.9M unique visitors (UVs). Despite its two-month downward trend, however, the site still shows impressive 164.9 percent year-over-year (Y-O-Y) growth. Livingsocial.com attracted 10.15M UVs in August, a 4.25 percent fall M-O-M, but a 96.02 percent rise Y-O-Y.
Facebook Gives Twitter a Boost In August, Facebook.com and Twitter.com both scored all-time high numbers of UVs for the second straight month. Facebook hit 155.8M UVs (up 3.97 percent M-O-M, up 22.12 percent Y-O-Y), while Twitter rose 12.68 percent M-O-M to reach 36.5M UVs, a 27.57 percent improvement over last August.
“As both of these booming platforms wrestle with monetization and developing the optimal approach to incorporating advertising into social networking, marketers should watch the sites’ monthly metrics and referral traffic carefully to help determine if, where and/or how their brands should advertise in social,” said Michael Perlman, managing director, financial services and online media & search at Compete.
In August, Twitter.com received 26.6 percent of its traffic via Facebook.com — more than from Google and Yahoo combined! Of Twitter’s outbound referrals, 22.74 landed on Facebook. Conversely, only 0.37 percent of Facebook’s incoming traffic was referred from Twitter. A mere 1.22 percent of Facebook’s outgoing referrals were to Twitter.
MTV.com Celebrates VMA Anticipation and the Return of Jersey Shore MTV.com was among the fastest-moving sites on Compete’s Top 250 list in August. Monthly UVs leapt to 12.8M, a 45.8 percent M-O-M increase and a 24.9 percent increase Y-O-Y. Factoring into this success were the season four Jersey Shore premiere on August 4 and the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28.
Traffic referrals from Facebook accounted for nearly 14 percent of MTV.com’s traffic in August. On the outbound end of things, almost 19 percent of MTV.com visitors made Facebook.com their next web destination.
NFL.com Benefits from Fantasy Football NFL.com, home of the National Football League, shot up to 9.8M UVs in August, translating into a monthly spike of 114.36 percent and a Y-O-Y increase of 18.96 percent. Although the official season didn’t start until September, the site drew in scores of visitors with its fantasy offerings. NFL.com subdomain Fantasy.NFL.com jumped 309.82 percent for the month.
One to Watch: Patch.com Patch.com, a “community-specific news and information platform,” hit number 208 on Compete’s Top 250 list in August, garnering 6.78M UVs — a 17.8 percent increase for the month and a 1193.1 percent leap from the site’s standing in August 2010.
Google’s Chrome browser is poised to grab the number 2 browser rank from Mozilla’s Firefox, and I’m not surprised.
Do you use Mozilla’s Firefox browser or Chrome? I switched to Firefox from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer years ago, because at the time Firefox was faster and its add-0ns made lots of online tasks quicker and easier. Now, however, I find Firefox seems to have bloated to the point where it has as many, if not more problems than Explorer.
Not infrequently, when trying to reopen it, Firefox delivers that “Firefox is still running” message that more often than not requires restarting a computer. It is certainly slower than Chrome and will just freeze up for a second or two at times for no obvious reason.
I still like it’s add-ons and changing browsers can be a pain once they’re set up to suit me – particularly if you work online as I do.
Chome may overtake Firefox by December
Apparently, I’m not the only one doing more of my work (and play) via Chrome rather than Firefox (though I still haven’t switched entirely, despite considering it). StatCounter, the Irish firm that tracks browser use, shows that Chrome is on track to surpass Firefox by December.
In the first week of September (2011), Chrome boasted a 23.6 percent share of the browser market, while Firefox had 26.8 percent. Internet Explorer, for all its faults, still the dominant browser (and according to recent tests, the most secure, h’mmm) had 41.7 percent. Now that Explorer has adopted many of the best features of both Firefox and Chrome, it may be time to give it another try. Is it still suffering from the bloat that slowed it down and caused browser crashes?
Still, Chrome is gaining users so quickly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it overtake IE. It gained eight percentage points since January, up 50 percent.
Fireforx and IE both dropped 4 percentage points in the same period – obviously losing them to Chrome.
If these trends continue unabated, Chrome will pass Firefox by December.
So just what the heck happened to Firefox, anyway?
Even going by the different numbers measured by Net Applications, which pegs Firefox at a 22.6 percent share and Chrome at 17.8 percent, the pace of Chrome gains means it would bypass Firefox by mid-2012. Net Applications figures include the massive Chinese market.
So just what the heck happened to Firefox, anyway? Among other things, it seems to update every week or so, generally disabling a handful of incompatible add-ons every time (including a security plug-in). Lately, it will just stop loading new sites while I’m working. Earlier this week I had to grab the urls and move them to Chrome when it did that.
A Google search showed that others were having similar problems. Chrome, on the other hand, updates silently and without causing any troubles – so far.
At our recent Digital East conference in Tysons Corner, VA, one app development expert noted what should be obvious: software products have work well and if they don’t, people find something else – fast.
I’m not crazy about everything in Chrome. I’m used to finding the new tab button on the right, not the left, and I haven’t mastered all its eccentricities yet, although I will in short order if I finally make Firefox (or Explorer) my secondary browser and use Chrome as my primary one. I just hope they don’t, over time, junk it up to the point where it’s advantages disappear as they have with Firefox.
Online advertising is growing around the world according to research conducted by Econsultancy, with two-thirds of advertisers and agencies increasing online display ad budgets and almost a quarter moving budgets from search to display.
Sponsored by the Rubicon Project, the advertising technology company, the survey shows that two thirds of the advertisers and agencies polled in the US (68%) and 57% of those in Europe (including the UK) said they had increased their investment in online display advertising in the last year. Nearly a quarter (23%) of the advertisers say they have moved budgets from search to display advertising in the past year.
The growth of Real-Time Bidding and the rise of the Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
The research, which questioned over 400 advertisers and agencies globally, reveals that over a fifth (23%) of the advertisers and agencies surveyed say they use a demand-side platform (DSP) which takes an average of 32% of the media plan.
This is highest in the US, where 39% of the advertiser and agency respondents surveyed say they buy display advertising through DSPs.
An average of 34% of trading desk spend goes to real-time bidding (RTB): 41% in US and 34% in Europe.
However, the survey also reveals that 37% of responding companies say their trading desks spend less than 20% on RTB and that 17% of advertisers and agencies do not allocate any display advertising budget to their trading desks.
“The shift in dollars from search to display comes as no surprise; we’ve seen this trend rapidly increase over the last year with the increased availability of automated, easy-to-use buying tools that make spending in display as easy as search.
The rise in RTB spend represents another milestone in this trend toward more programmatic buying, as the overall buying strategies of agencies and trading desk gravitate in that direction,” said Kara Weber, SVP of Marketing at the Rubicon Project. “Yet, it’s not all about RTB. The research also shows that ad networks play a predominant role – clearly illustrating that the buyers are using multiple channels to maximize ROI, not yet placing all bets on the RTB marketplace. We’ll be watching this trend carefully through 2011; we predict the shift to automated buying channels, including but not limited to RTB, will be dramatic in 2012.”
Performance and audience targeting remain key concerns
Of those advertisers using demand-side platforms, 82% use more than one DSP and 15% say they use more than four.
When rating a DSP ‘performance’ is viewed as one of the three most important criteria by 75% of the advertisers surveyed, followed by technology (51%), audience (46%) and reach (35%), and improved targeting is seen as a key benefit of working with a DSP by 64% of advertisers.
This is followed by real time understanding of campaign performance at 60% and the ability to buy at impression level for 53% of advertisers, with liquidity (lack of available inventory), cited as a challenge for over half of those surveyed (54%) and service levels an issue for 51%.
Linus Gregoriadis, Research Director at Econsultancy, notes, “The survey results reflect the huge transformation of the online display advertising environment since we last carried out this research two years ago. Advertisers and agencies have more opportunities than ever to target the right audience. Ad networks and exchanges continue to prosper, while real-time bidding is having a major impact on the industry and is fueling the growth of demand-side and supply-side platforms.”
Online advertising networks continue to command significant spend
The research also reveals online advertising networks are receiving an average of 55% of the average media plan, up from 31% in 2009, when Econsultancy conducted similar research.
Evidently, online advertising networks are seen as an important part of the media mix. Of those advertisers working with ad networks, 43% say they work with at least five different ad networks compared to 30% two years ago.
Over a third of advertisers (34%) buy from between five and ten online advertising networks – up from a quarter (23%) in 2009 – and 46% of advertisers say they are dealing with more networks than they were a year ago. This is particularly high in the US with 53% of advertisers and agencies dealing with more ad networks than they were a year ago.
The main advantages of RTB are listed as improved performance, reduced media wastage, better targeting capabilities, and lower cost per acquisition. Performance is also seen as the main advantage of ad networks with 79% of advertisers citing this as one of their top three criteria for rating an online ad network. The importance of reach has declined since 2009 however, when 67% of survey respondents highlighted it, which could be because of the growth of DSPs providing near total reach of the available inventory in key markets.
This is Econsultancy’s second Online Advertisers Survey Report, produced in association with the Rubicon Project. The study, supported by the IAB UK, IAB France, IAB Europe and AOP, follows a similar piece of research carried out in 2009 and is based on a survey of over 1,000 online advertising professionals carried out in August and September 2011. This report is specifically focused on results from more than 400 advertiser and agency respondents. A copy of the full report can be downloaded here.
Netflix has transformed the viewing habits of millions of U.S. consumers – but it may need to do more to win their hearts. Those are among the findings of a new study of “over-the-top” video viewing from Knowledge Networks.
The survey suggests opportunities to grab a piece of the Netflix market are ripe, considering the hit the company took to its subscriber projections following its doubling of what it costs to have both mail delivered DVDs and its streaming service.
The research – conducted not long before Netflix’s much-discussed changes in its pricing policies – shows that
35% of all U.S. consumers (ages 13 to 54) say they use Netflix – for streaming and/or DVD or Blu-ray rentals – at least once a month;
regular Netflix subscribers, on average, watch 5 TV shows and 4 movies per week via the streaming or DVD-rental aspects of the service;
20% of Netflix users with VOD are watching VOD less because of their Netflix viewing; but
10% of Netflix subscribers said they were “very likely” to cancel the service if their cable or satellite provider began to offer a similar service at a similar price.
Knowledge Networks also found that videogame systems (62%) are by far the most popular gateway for viewing Netflix “Watch Instantly” content on a TV set; other options – like Internet-connected Blu-ray players and Roku boxes – are used by 15% or fewer of these viewers.
Note: Netflix was not involved in and does not endorse this report.
“Netflix has made remarkable in-roads, bringing streaming video and other alternative viewing options to a mass audience,” said David Tice, VP and group account director (Media) at Knowledge Networks. “
At present, Netflix has a dominant market position in this space – but cable video on demand (VOD) and other video services are widely available and poised to act as alternatives. Netflix needs to use its remarkable platform to build deeper customer relationships, differentiating itself by offering benefits that speak to subscribers’ desire for control, comfort, and convenience.”
The online study – How People Use Over-the-Top TV – was conducted in June 2011 among 1,013 members of KnowledgePanel.
The number of U.S. consumers planning to purchase a smart TV has nearly doubled in less than a year, according to new consumer research from Parks Associates that has implications for Internet marketers, content providers and others in the digital world.
The firm’s Consumer Decision Process: Summer Update reports more than 10% of broadband households plan to purchase a smart TV in the second half of 2011, up from 6% in the first half.
These households, representing 50% of the nearly one-fourth of U.S. broadband households planning to purchase a flat-panel TV, anticipate an average cost of $1,000 for the smart TV, defined as an HDTV with built-in Internet access capability. That seems a bit high to us. Consumers will likely find better bargains than that.
Ad campaigns sparked awarness
“Advertising campaigns from manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, and VIZIO have boosted consumer awareness and interest, making connectivity a must-have feature for new CE products,” said Tricia Parks, CEO, Parks Associates. “Younger consumers especially want the extra benefits on their new TVs of going to the web for social networking and on-demand video or subscription entertainment options.”
Consumers’ preferred entertainment and social networking options on connected CE devices such as Blu-ray players, game consoles, and smart TVs include the ability to stream and download movies and TV shows as well as access to Facebook and online music.
Apple the preferred brand
The survey also shows 19% of broadband households intend to purchase a tablet in the second half of 2011.
“Apple is the preferred brand by far, capturing over 40% of planned tablet purchases for the rest of 2011,” Parks said. “Apple has a very strong reputation in consumers’ minds, with over 70% of consumers familiar with the brand rating Apple as ‘innovative’ and ‘cool,’ although considerably fewer rate it as ‘affordable.’”
We suspect Amazon’s new Kindle Fire and other late year entries in the tablet market that are priced more reasonably may slice into Apple’s tablet pie. — Allan Maurer
Having the website search engine optimized to be found in major search engines is crucial for most businesses in the 21st century. But how do you find out if a specific webpage has been created with search engines in mind?
SEO Specialist’s new SEO review tool will make it quick and easy to review if a website is well optimized, while also giving straightforward advice if a web page is not search engine friendly.
Markus Jalmerot, the founder of SEO Specialist, explains why it can be beneficial for both large and small businesses to review if their webpages are search engine friendly once in a while.
Doing a webpage review is a free and simple way to ensure that the webpage is targeted for the appropriate keywords. Many webpage optimization factors can be changed quickly, while having a huge impact on the bottom line. It’s a free tool, so why not try it?
What does the SEO review tool measure?
The website review tool has been created to quickly yet accurately review webpage titles, amount of indexed pages, text volume, text relevancy, headings, meta descriptions and image text. It also gives comments about risky top level domains that should be avoided, such as webpages that share IP address with other websites, or when relevant keywords are being used in the domain name or URL path.
SEO Specialist considers their webpage review tool to be unique by providing details about IP-address usage and comments about the chosen top level domain.
How is the SEO score calculated?
The maximum score in the automated webpage analysis is 100 points. Negative points are given for any factor considered to give a negative search engine ranking effect in Bing, Google or Yahoo.
Big issues such as missing to use the given keyword in a web page title gives over 10 points reduction, while smaller ranking elements such as sharing IP address with several other websites will give a smaller reduction. At the end, the amount of negative points is subtracted from the original total (100 points) and that is your final score.
Where is the limitation of this website review tool?
It’s usually more helpful to get a hands-on review from a SEO specialist, but this tool is currently being evaluated in beta testing.
Search engine optimization is complex and depends mainly on web page factors and link building. The results from the SEO review tool are based on a range of website factors, but link building factors are not taken into account.
The company says its SEO Specialists are constantly trying to improve this tool and would be keen to hear any kind of feedback or suggestions for improvement.
Want to learn more about what matters for search engine optimization?
Read SEO Specialist’s 50 page free guide to website optimisation, where all the most important steps in webpage optimisation are explained.
Over the last year, Google had the velvet ropes out, only allowing in a limited number of people as they continued to beta-test their circle system and refine their social network. With the red carpet now rolled up, Google has extended the invite to everyone, making Google+ poised to take a huge cut out of Facebook. Or so says a Web design firm owner.
Facebook is too large to falter though, right?
Wrong.
Jay Correia, owner of the web design company, DreamCo Design, and many others in the technical arena are beginning to think otherwise.
It was just a few years ago that MySpace was the social network of choice. What caused the shift then? Facebook made many gains by learning from its predecessor’s mistakes. It also dug its hands into the internet by offering up development tools to webmasters, allowing site visitors to log in or check in to various websites using their existing Facebook accounts, thus bolstering a huge user convenience factor.
Google+ adding features
With Google+ now hitting the shelves, it looks like the tides are about to turn. Fox News has also reported that Google appears to be working on rolling out a built in voice feature that will allow members to communicate directly with one another via phone. Recent “trends” data also displays a huge increase in traffic for Google+ and a buzz about the web with the network receiving a huge influx of searches.
With an estimated 50 million people already signed up since launch, Google+ seems well on its way to taking a chunk out of Facebook.
Google+ has ramped up privacy and security, two gaping holes many users of Facebook have always been concerned with. It also offers up superior social networking functions with the circle system, allowing users to organize their social network like never before.
Google also has ability to eventually tie in Google Search, Youtube, Gmail, and many of its other preexisting products into the network.
Google has even teamed up with search rivals Yahoo and Microsoft by allowing users to easily import contacts to invite to a user’s Google+ account, thus making the network grow that much faster.
With this said, the most important element involving the shift involves Google’s ability to self promote. Owning the most visited URL in the world certainly makes it easy to expose millions of people to anything you offer on the cheap.
It seems like it is only a matter of time until the next social networking superpower shift. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
67 percent of iPad users are frequent travelers and use their device for everything from booking flights, to getting directions, to finding the best local restaurant. A new study by mobile advertising network Greystripe, a division of ValueClick (Nasdaq: VCLK), on the use of touch smartphones and iPads in travel, found while nearly all touch smartphone and tablet users use their device while traveling, iPad users are more likely (60 percent) than iPhone and Android users (49 percent) to use their device to make a travel booking.
These results correspond to the boom in travel-related mobile ad campaigns in the Greystripe network, which has grown 49.2 percent in the past 12 months.
Greystripe collected the data from 971 users on its expansive network of iPhone (including iTouch), Android and iPad devices during a month-long period from June to July 2011.
The study took an in-depth look at how iPads, iPhones (including iPod Touches) and Androids are used by frequent travelers throughout the travel process – for everything from planning a vacation to how they use their devices while traveling. The study found iPads are especially vacation and business travel-friendly: 91 percent of iPad users have used their device for a travel related activity of some kind.
Because iPads are so portable, many travelers with the device use it to make travel arrangements:
47 percent have used their iPad to book a hotel
37 percent have used their iPad to book a flight
28 percent have used their iPad to make a restaurant reservation
24 percent have used their iPad to rent a car
Greystripe found that both iPad and touch smartphone users are more likely to use the mobile web for their travel needs than apps:
69 percent of iPad users compared to 60 percent of super smartphone users have used the mobile web to book travel, get travel information or research local attractions, restaurants and activities.
50 percent of iPad and 52 percent of touch smartphone users have used apps to book travel, get travel information or research local attractions, restaurants and activities
“The power and portability of iPads, iPhones and Androids make them the ultimate devices for any jetsetter,” said Dane Holewinski, director of marketing for Greystripe. “Because so many travelers are looking to their mobile devices for travel information and booking, mobile is an excellent channel for advertisers to reach travelers.”
At least half of mobile consumers view their mobile device as a holiday shopping resource for product information, coupons and sale information, product reviews or store information. Nearly one third (32%) think their mobile device is helpful for buying products, according to Mojiva research.
The two-month study (July-August 2011) is available via the Holiday Edition of the Mobile Audience Guide (MAG). It was conducted with InsightExpress, a leading digital marketing research firm, and polled more than 200 random users on the Mojiva network who completed the survey. The full MAG is available at www.mojiva.com/news/mobile_research.
The MAG shows that there is an even greater opportunity to target holiday shoppers through mobile ads this season.
The findings show that:
One third of mobile consumers are beginning holiday shopping in October. Half (54%) of consumers begin shopping for gifts for the holidays in November and December.
Many (roughly 70%) who use mobile devices for information and guidance on gift buying are likely to consider spending $20 or more on items such as toys & games or electronics via the devices.
Four in ten consumers feel comfortable spending $50 or more on a single holiday gift item using their mobile device.
“What’s unique about the holiday season is the high concentration of consumers actively purchasing. What makes the mobile user an even more attractive audience during the holidays is the engagement they exhibit on their devices,” said Tony Nethercutt, general manager of Mojiva. “Our data shows that consumers are accessing a variety of information on mobile devices specifically for holiday shopping. This is a valuable channel for advertisers to fill specific needs of their customers. With a significant amount of consumers beginning shopping in October, marketers need to have their mobile strategy in place very soon.”
Additional general findings in the Mojiva MAG regarding interests and activity on mobile devices:
Grocery, clothing and entertainment purchasing continue to lead as the categories consumers are deciding to purchase.
Larger proportions of consumers are making decisions about buying travel, financial services, or automobiles in the past two months.
A large proportion of consumers indicate that they would browse a website as a result of seeing a mobile ad, which is a consistent finding from previous MAG reports.
More consumers have indicated that they would redeem or download a coupon as a result of seeing a mobile ad on their phone, as compared to previous MAG reports.
Mobile marketing having increasing influence
“We are seeing that mobile marketing is having more and more influence and a direct impact on consumer behavior. Consumers are indicating that they are open to browsing web destinations or redeeming or downloading a coupon as a result of seeing a mobile ad on their phones,” said Joy Liuzzo, vice president from InsightExpress.
“This shows that mobile marketing has made tremendous strides, and the consumer activity and interests we are observing on the Mojiva ad network is a clear indication of the larger trends happening in this segment.”
The Mojiva MAG is an industry resource for advertisers and agencies looking for insight into the habits and tendencies of mobile users. With user statistics developed and managed by InsightExpress, the MAG offers a look into what resonates with users through mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
One in four young professionals think working for Google is their dream job. The company’s notoriously tough interviews don’t seem to be much of a deterrent.
Despite this, many tech firms say they’re having a hard time finding all the talent they need and some, such as Atlanta-based Pardot, have even offered bounties for referrals that work out.
Here’s an infographic from MastersDegree.net that shows how to get a job in tech:
For the second month in a row, daily deal sites Groupon.com adn LivingSocial saw significant declines in traffic, while Facebook.com, Twitter.com, MtV.com and unsurprisingly, NFL.com, all saw major traffic increases, acccording to Kantar Media Compete.
Google’s Chrome browser is poised to grab the number 2 browser rank from Mozilla’s Firefox, and I’m not surprised.
Online advertising is growing around the world according to research conducted by Econsultancy, with two-thirds of advertisers and agencies increasing online display ad budgets and almost a quarter moving budgets from search to display.
Netflix has transformed the viewing habits of millions of U.S. consumers – but it may need to do more to win their hearts. Those are among the findings of a new study of “over-the-top” video viewing from Knowledge Networks.
The number of U.S. consumers planning to purchase a smart TV has nearly doubled in less than a year, according to new consumer research from Parks Associates that has implications for Internet marketers, content providers and others in the digital world.
Having the website search engine optimized to be found in major search engines is crucial for most businesses in the 21st century. But how do you find out if a specific webpage has been created with search engines in mind?
Over the last year, Google had the velvet ropes out, only allowing in a limited number of people as they continued to beta-test their circle system and refine their social network. With the red carpet now rolled up, Google has extended the invite to everyone, making Google+ poised to take a huge cut out of Facebook. Or so says a Web design firm owner.
The two-month study (July-August 2011) is available via the Holiday Edition of the Mobile Audience Guide (MAG). It was conducted with InsightExpress, a leading digital marketing research firm, and polled more than 200 random users on the Mojiva network who completed the survey. The full MAG is available at
One in four young professionals think working for Google is their dream job. The company’s notoriously tough interviews don’t seem to be much of a deterrent.
