03.07.09 > Television

How DVRs are changing the television landscape

Americans are watching more TV than ever, and the increasing penetration of DVRs has likely contributed to increased viewership. But "Must See TV" doesn't mean that people are gathering around their TV anymore during primetime on a Thursday night.

Appointment viewing is now when the viewer wants to watch it thanks to DVRs. As of March 2009, 30.6 percent of households in Nielsen's National Peopl...

02.07.09 > Mobile::industry guidelines

U.S. consumer best practices for cross-carrier mobile content services

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) released the latest version of its U.S. Consumer Best Practices guidelines. Updated regularly, the guidelines are the industry standard for cross-carrier mobile content services such as text messaging (SMS), multimedia messaging (MMS), shortcode programs, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and mobile Web.

The new, version 4.0 guidelines are the first to conso...

01.07.09 > Internet::social media

Inside Twitter

Sysomos conducted an extensive study to document Twitter's growth and how people are using it. After analyzing information disclosed on 11.5 million Twitters accounts, Sysomos discovered that:

* 72.5% of all users joining during the first five months of 2009.

* 85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update/day

* 21% of users have never posted a Tweet

* 93.6% of users have less than ...

30.06.09 > Mobile::new services

Quantifying the mobile apps revolution

gravitytank, a Chicago-based strategy and design consultancy, just published a comprehensive new study examining the social, cultural and technological impact of today's mobile software applications.

As part of the study, gravitytank surveyed 804 smartphone users, 301 of whom own app-enabled phones (either Apple's iPhone or HTC's G1) to develop a quantitative picture of how they use their handse...

29.06.09 > Internet::email marketing

Social media is emerging as a direct marketing channel

Commercial-grade solutions for marketing and transactional email provider StrongMail Systems announced new survey data that points to the emergence of social media as a direct marketing channel and significant planned investment in email marketing and social media programs in the second half of 2009.

The results and recommendations outlined in this announcement are based on data from more than 5...

26.06.09 > Internet::TV

New service tracks online interest in TV

Wetpaint released TV Fandex, the first-ever measurement tool that gauges "online engagement" with popular TV programs rather than just measuring size of viewing audience.

Measured from sources including Facebook, Twitter, Google and Wetpaint fansites, the rankings are generated through an algorithm that tracks consumption and creation of content and fan buzz.

The TV Fandex is calibrated to mea...

25.06.09 > Mobile::stats

Nearly two thirds of mobile users are concerned about the security of their devices

The results of a newly released consumer survey commissioned by carrier-grade messaging security company Cloudmark and conducted by Harris Interactive® found that nearly two thirds of mobile device owners are concerned about the security of their devices.

The survey, which polled 1,812 U.S. adults who own mobile devices, shows that security concerns are preventing many users from adopting new mo...

24.06.09 > Internet::search marketing

High level of dissatisfaction among SEM pros in key performance categories

Given the fact that consumers are using the internet daily to research products and services they want to buy -surfing reviews, comparing price/offers and chatting with existing owners- search engine marketing (SEM) has become a standard practice in many organizations as an extremely measurable, cost-effective way to drive traffic and sales.

However, the effectiveness of an SEM campaign involves...

23.06.09 > Mobile::stats

iPhone dominates Boingo airport access

Boingo Wireless released a data snapshot of mobile device access on its airport network of Wi-Fi hotspots. Since May 2007, mobile device usage has gone from accounting for 0.1% of Boingo's airport Wi-Fi connections to 26.1%. In two years, the smartphone has gone from a non-entity to accounting for 1/4 of all of Boingo's connections.

Boingo has also tracked what type of devices associate with Boi...

22.06.09 > Mobile::advertising

Yahoo! to bring behavioral targeting to mobile

Yahoo! has launched a new effort for Smart Ads, whereby it will partner with third-party ad technology firms to expand behavioral display ads to mobile.

Smart Ads uses anonymous data from users' online activities and search queries to serve more targeted ads.

According to Yahoo!, the program yields double the average ROI of traditional banner ads -with click-throughs up to three times higher.<...