Millennial Media brings out it’s S.M.A.R.T. reports monthly, and we don’t report on every one, but we found that there’s enough new in its latest Q2 to warrant some interest.
For example, the number of mobile video users in the US grew over 40% year-over-year.
That’s one of the numerous facts and figures found in Millennial Media’s newest Report released last week. The report shows that six vertical sectors experienced triple digit growth or greater year-over-year: Finance (1095%); Retail & Restaurants (956%); Pharmaceuticals (426%)’ Automotive: (236%); Entertainment (234%); Travel (145%).
With Retail and Restaurants vertical grpwth of 956% year-over-year, it maintained the number one spot on the Top 10 U.S. Advertising Vertical Ranking and moved to the number eight position on the Top 10 International Advertising Vertical Rankings in Q2. Advertisers in the Retail & Restaurants vertical leveraged mobile to create awareness of seasonal retail promotions.
With growth of 1095%, the Finance vertical placed in the number three position and the number five position on the Top 10 U.S. and International Advertising Vertical Rankings respectively. insurance brands heavily used mobile for generating leads, while banking and credit advertisers ran campaigns to raise the awareness of their products and services.
Travel moved up three spots on both of the Top 10 Advertising Vertical Rankings in Q2, ranking in the number six (U.S.) and the number three (International) Travel advertisers leveraged mobile to drive application downloads in Q2. Travel applications have evolved from information and research tools to include transactional functionality.
We noted that Local Market Targeting made up 44% of all targeted audience campaigns in Q2. In the original S.M.A.R.T. report (March 2009), fewer than 2% of campaigns leveraged Local Market targeting.
And since the first S.M.A.R.T. report, the only two mobile devices that are still on the list of the top 20 phones are the iPhone and BlackBerry Curve. 60% of the devices on the Millennial network use a touch screen as the input device. In the first S.M.A.R.T. report, only 33% of the devices were touch screen. This change was largely driven by the rise of the iPhone, Android and connected devices.
Also, since the first S.M.A.R.T. report, Apple has increased its market share as top manufacturer by almost 20 percentage points (going from 11% to 30%). Samsung was previously the top manufacturer. 23% of all campaigns in Q2 drove consumers to an app store or app download page.
Broad Reach targeting methods (Run of Network, Custom Subnet and Channel) represented 55% of the Campaign Targeting Mix in Q2.
Automotive and Travel brands created broad reach awareness campaigns in anticipation of the summer buying and travel seasons. And advertisers in the Finance and Restaurant verticals leveraged Local Market Audience targeting to increase awareness of local promotions and drive customers to their brick and mortar locations.
Demographic Audience targeting represented 43% of the Targeted Audience Mix. Insurance brands used Demographic Audience targeting to target customers who would likely be interested in their products or services, while Retail brands used Demographic Audience targeting to reach customers who were likely to make a purchase during the Moms, Dads and Grads shopping seasons.
Application Download grew 9% quarter-over-quarter and represented 23% of the Campaign Destination Mix in Q2. As Smartphone penetration continues to increase, advertisers are enhancing the functionality and utility of their applications while reinforcing their brands. The Travel and Retail verticals have led other verticals in creating applications that make it easy for customers to research and transact on-the-go.
In Q2, View Map grew 28% quarter-over-quarter as a Post-Click Campaign Action. Advertisers in the Automotive and Telecom brands leveraged mobile in Q2 to promote new product launches and drive customers to dealerships and retail outlets to complete their purchases.
Retail Promotion experienced a 20% increase quarter-over-quarter, with 26% of the Post-Click Campaign Action Mix in Q2. Consumer Packaged Gods, and Retail & Restaurant advertisers used Retail Promotion as a Post-Click Campaign Action to engage customers and drive sales during the Moms, Dads and Grads shopping season.
Mocial (Mobile Social Media) grew 5% quarter-over-quarter and represented 19% of the Campaign Destination Mix in Q2. In Q2, Telecom, Entertainment and CPG brands used mobile campaigns to drive awareness of their social media promotions and contests.
Travel experienced a 57% growth quarter-over-quarter in application impressions. In Q2 2011, there was a large increase in usage of applications related to air travel and mass transit/tourism guides.
In Q2, Smartphones grew 8% quarter-over-quarter and led the Smartphone, Feature Phone & Connected Device mix with 67% of impressions. Connected Devices experienced a 13% growth quarter-over-quarter and accounted for 17% of the Smartphone, Feature Phone & Connected Device mix in Q2. Android maintained its position as the leading Smartphone OS Impression Mix on Millennial Media’s network in Q2, with 53% of impressions. iOS grew 4% quarter-over-quarter and represented 27% of the Smartphone OS Impression Mix in Q2. iOS is expected to see incremental growth with the release of the iPhone 5 in Q3 2011.