Online advertising spend rose 14% year-on-year during the first quarter of this year, according to an IAB survey conducted by PwC.

However, spending dipped quarter-on-quarter (see chart below).

"If you compare how this stacks up with other media in NZ, television released their quarterly figures with 4% growth in the same period up $4.4 million on the first quarter of 2011 vs $11.09 million for online,” trumpeted IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) NZ general manager Alisa Higgins.

Click chart to enlarge.

The Advertising Standards Authority recently released figures showing TV accounted for 28.4% of total advertising spend during 2011, but with scant year-on-year growth ($618 million to 2010's $607 million). TV pushed newspapers ($582 million/26%) into second place with fast-growing internet ads ($328 million/15%) cementing third place ahead of radio.

For the first quarter of  2012, the IAB said spending on online video ads increased 21% over the year-ago quarter - albeit off a low base - to $2.1 million. However, it fell from the previous quarter's $2.64 million.

In 2011, mobile ad spending blipped onto the IAB's radar for the first time at $632,092.

Ms Higgins told NBR ONLINE the IAB would not break out quarterly figures, but she expected mobile spending to reach $1 million this year.

Looking at total online spend during the first quarter:

• Classifieds (including Trade Me verticals and the likes of Seek) were up 17%
• Search & Directories (including Google and Yellow) were up 15%
• Display (including both traditional publishers and Facebook ads booked through agencies) grew 9%

"The automotive category moved up to fourth place at 10.77% share of display ad spend which is the highest ever share for this category in New Zealand. Beautiful rich media ads help car manufacturers showcase new features and benefits and video display advertising should see an increase in ad spend during 2012,” said IAB chair and MSN NZ general manager Liz Fraser.

Click chart to enlarge.

Galaxy S III key features:

• 4.8-inch 720p high definition display (S II: 4.3-inch)
• Eye tracking technology
• New voice commands
• Quad-core processor (S II: dual core)
• 32GB of onboard memory (64GB version on way)
• Runs on Google Android 4.0 software (aka Ice Cream Sandwich)
• 8 megapixel rear camera, 1.9 megapixel front camera
• HSPA+ support for up downloads up to 21Mbit/s
• 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm (S II: 8.5mm)
• Release date: First release will be for Europe late May. Samsung says early June for NZ
• Expected to be on Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees
• Compatible with the new Snapper/2degrees mobile payment system

Samsung took the wraps of the Galaxy S III at an event in London today (Friday morning NZ time).

The Galaxy S II was one of the most successful Android contenders against Apple’s iPhone.

The new S III features a monster 4.8-inch screen – nudging ahead of the 4.7-inch HTC One X recently released in NZ as the Android big-screen arms race continues (the reigning champ is still the Samsung Galaxy Note on 5.3-inches). Apple's iPhone has a 3.5-inch display - which now puny by high-end Android standards, but at least can be thumbed in all areas while held in one hand.

Another signature feature is eye-tracking technology, which uses the S III’s front-facing camera to monitor your eye movement. If it senses you're looking at the screen, it won't dim the display even if it's due to time out.

Enhanced voice commands let you say "direct call" to phone someone in the middle of typing a txt to them, or "snooze" to shut off an alarm.

Elsewhere, the S III gets similar mod cons to other Androids here or on the way from the likes of HTC, Motorola, Huawei and Sony Ericsson, including a quad core processor, and an onboard memory boost to a roomy 32GB (Androids have previously skimped on onboard memory).

If you can keep up, the quad core processor allows multitasking tricks such as writing a message at the same time as you watch a video.

In London, a Samsung “All Share” content streaming service was demonstrated, continuing the trend of Android phone makers offering their own content portals in parallel to Google Play (formerly Android Market).

A rep for Samsung NZ could not immediately confirm if All Share would be available for NZ customers. The Android camp's messy content strategy remains a stark contract to Apple focussed, single store approach.

Samsung did not break out detailed mobile phone statistics in its recent announcement of a record $US4.5 billion quarterly profit.

But one analyst put its total smartphone sales (including various models in the Android-based S series) at 44 million, eclipsing sales of Apple’s iPhone (35 million during its December quarter) and Nokia’s new Windows Phone-based Lumia series (2 million during its launch quarter).

May 2: A second survey has found that Samsung has overtaken Nokia to become the world's biggest cellphone maker - and passed Apple in the smartphone market to boot.

The worldwide mobile phone market declined 1.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2012 as Samsung ousted longtime leader Nokia to become the world's top mobile phone vendor. And the Korean company may be in for another boost this Friday as the Samsung Galaxy S3 - the successor to its best-selling iPhone rival the S2 - is unveiled this Friday morning.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, cellphone makers shipped 398.4 million units in the first quarter of this year compared to 404.3 million units in the first quarter of 2011.

Nokia has been the global market leader in total mobile phone shipments since the inception of IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker in 2004. Samsung's ascension to the market's top spot is largely a reflection of its gains in the smartphone market over the past two years, IDC says.

ABOVE: Total worldwide cellphone shipments, in millions. Behind the top three, China's ZTE has risen at the expense of LG.

"The halcyon days of rapid growth in the smartphone market have been good to Samsung," says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. "Samsung has used its established relationships with carriers in a mix of economically diverse markets to gain share organically and at the expense of former high fliers such as Nokia."

Click to enlarge

Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphones
Meanwhile, the worldwide smartphone market grew 42.5% year over year in 1Q12, as Samsung overtook Apple for the smartphone leadership position.

Vendors shipped 144.9 million smartphones in 1Q12 compared to 101.7 million units in 1Q11. The 42.5% year-over-year growth was 1% higher than IDC's forecast of 41.5% for the quarter, and lower than the 57.4% growth in the fourth quarter of 2011.

"The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. "Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key markets, most notably in China, and Samsung experienced continued success from its Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet and other Galaxy smartphones."

ABOVE: Worldwide smartphone shipments, in millions. Click to enlarge.

Smartphone Vendor Highlights
Samsung reclaimed the smartphone leadership position and established a new market record for the number of smartphones shipped in a single quarter. Propelling the company forward was continued expansion of its Galaxy portfolio in nearly all directions - new and old smartphones, product and market segmentation, and multiple price points, screen sizes, and processor speeds.

Apple slipped to second place in the worldwide smartphone market, but nonetheless posted strong year-over-year growth to reach 35.1 million units shipped. Apple's gains in the market benefited from iPhone availability at additional mobile operators worldwide, as well as sustained end-user demand among both consumers and enterprise users.

Nokia's Symbian phone shipments declined precipitously last quarter as demand dropped in key emerging markets, such as China. The company's current smartphone woes make a speedy transition to products powered by the Windows Phone operating system, upon which it has bet its smartphone future, critical.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry unit decline continued last quarter, reaching levels not seen since 2009. Like Nokia, RIM is a company in transition. Smartphones running on its new platform, BB 10, will be released later this year. Until then, results like these may be a sign of things to come.

HTC's struggles in the U.S. market once again negatively affected its overall performance. However, its relatively strong performance in Asia/Pacific still allowed the company to maintain its position among the top 5 smartphone vendors. The company is staking future success in large part on its One X and S products.

April 30: Samsung overtook Nokia in the first quarter to become the world's biggest cellphone maker, according to market research company Strategy Analytics.

The Korean company's mobile phone shipments surged from an estimated 68.9 million in the year-ago quarter to 93.5 million in the first three months of 2012.

At the same time, Nokia - which recently reported a 29% revenue fall - crashed from 108.5 million to an estimated 82.7 million.

In its recent announcement of record $US4.5 billion quarterly profit, Samsung did not break out specific smartphone numbers. However, it's estimated the company sold around 44 million handsets in the smartphone category; most of them running on Google's Android software.

Despite essentially having a single model, Apple came in third with 35.1 million handsets shipped.

Nokia is attempting a comeback with smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone software under a multi-billion alliance between the two companies. The first models in the pair's Lumia series were launched in November last year.

So far, the Lumia has sold around 2 million units.

Cool.

The Australian High Court today over-turned a lower court decision that iiNet - the largest independent internet service provider - was liable for alleged illegal downloading of films and TV shows by its customers through peer-to-peer services such as BitTorrent.

Thirty four Hollywood film and TV studios had taken collective action against the ISP in what was widely seen a test case of global significance.

A High Court summary of the decision said, “The court observed that iiNet had no direct technical power to prevent its customers from using the BitTorrent system to infringe copyright in the appellants’ films.

"Rather, the extent of iiNet’s power to prevent its customers from infringing the appellants’ copyright was limited to an indirect power to terminate its contractual relationship with its customers."

An industry group representing the Hollywood studios, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), had argued iiNet was aware of alleged copyright infringement by its customers - in part because AFACT sent iiNet infringement notices each week for a year from July 2008.

iiNet argued it was not not reasonable for it to be expected to monitor its customers and terminate their accounts if copyright infringement was found. The ISP ignored the notices, taking no action against its customers.

Today, the High Court said iiNet's inactivity after receiving the AFACT notices could not be inferred as authorising its customers alleged piracy.

Influential on NZ
Lowndes Jordan partner Rick Shera told NBR the unanimous decision "will be very influential in New Zealand and indeed worldwide."

Mr Shera says, "It is the first ultimate appellate Court decision anywhere to rule on whether an internet service provider is liable when its users infringe copyright – in copyright law terms, whether the ISP has “authorised” the infringements."

"This has been a burning issue in New Zealand with the section 92A debacle and then the replacement infringing file sharing legislation, but it applies more widely than that. The few decisions we have on 'authorisation' don’t come anywhere near this. So, we’ve had to look to overseas Court decisions to try to predict what the law might be here in New Zealand.

The problem with that is that Australia has been out of step with other influential countries we look to like UK and Canada, Mr Shera said.

"That’s been a worry for ISPs and other online service providers who increasingly seem to be being targeted by copyright owners, because it’s created uncertainty.

The Megaupload prosecution is the latest high profile example, Mr Shera said.

"What the iiNet decision does is bring Australia back into line with a narrower view of an ISP’s liability. Whether you agree with the decision or not, at least we now have a far greater degree of certainty, which is good for business."

EXCELLENT decision!

LOL.

New figures show television captured the most advertising spending in 2011, pushing newspapers into second place  - but that the internet is fast closing in on both.

The Advertising Standards Authority says TV accounted for 28.4% of total advertising spend during 2011, but with scant year-on-year growth ($618 million to 2010's $607 million).

Newspaper's hold on to number two, at 26.7%, but with its spend dropping from last year's $627 million to $582 million.

Online (interactive) ads, by contrast, continue their explosive growth.

In 2010, the new media moved ahead of radio.

In 2011, online consolidated its lead over radio as revenue jumped from $257 million (12% of total ad spend) to $328 million (15.1%).

With new media rising faster than old media is falling, total ad spending increased slightly in 2011 to $2.179 billion, the ASA says.

The bad news - at least for mainstream media involved in online - is that search ads (hello, Google) still account for the majority of spending in the new medium.

NEW ZEALAND ADVERTISING INDUSTRY TURNOVER 2012

Click table to enlarge.

Explanatory notes for the year ended December 31, 2011

Television:
This figure includes all cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding GST from free to air (including Prime) and pay television. The figures are independently collected for ThinkTV and reported to the ASA as a total revenue figure.

Newspapers:
This figure includes all cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding GST from all daily, Sunday and community newspaper titles in New Zealand. The revenue includes display, retail, classified and insert advertising. The figures are sourced from the member newspapers of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association of New Zealand and the Community Newspapers Association of New Zealand. NOTE: Newspapers advise the figure reported is not a comparative measure with other main media which derive the majority of their revenue from National and Retail advertising sources.

Interactive:
The online advertising expenditure figure is based on gross amounts charged to advertisers and inclusive of any applicable agency commissions. The 2011 figures include Display Advertising which includes banners, skyscrapers, rich-media, streaming advertising, email, online video and other forms of interactive Display advertising; Classifieds, which includes revenues from ads placed to buy or sell an item or service and Search & Directories Advertising which includes revenues from online Directories and search engine listings. The figures are supplied via PwC, an independent auditor on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB NZ).

Radio:
This figure includes all cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding GST from members of the Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA). Actual returns comprised 99% of the total radio advertising revenue for 2011. The total also includes an estimate for non-RBA members, iwi and student radio based on direct industry knowledge and projections based on market share. The figure is sourced from the Radio Broadcasters Association.

Magazines:
This figure includes cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding GST from the majority of members of the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA). For some MPA member and non-member publications, an estimate has been made. The figure does not include revenue from classified advertising. It is estimated that MPA members represent 65% of magazine advertising revenue in New Zealand. The figure is sourced from the Magazine Publishers Association.

Outdoor:
This figure includes all cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding production, installation and GST from members of the Outdoor Media Association of NZ (OMANZ). The revenue data is independently collected for OMANZ. The figure also includes actual returns from four other companies involved in outdoor or ambient advertising.

Unaddressed Mail:
This figure includes all cash revenue excluding GST, from the letterbox media companies. These companies are Reach Media and PMP Distribution. The revenue recorded is drawn from the cost of delivery. This total represents 95 % of the unaddressed mail advertising revenue in New Zealand.

Addressed Mail:
This figure is an estimate based on the cost of delivery only. It does not include production or associated costs. It is compiled using volume and expenditure estimations from Nielsen Media Research’s MailPix system. The Nielsen estimations (at standard postage rates) are validated and adjusted using New Zealand Post’s own volume and expenditure data taking discounting into account to produce the final market revenue estimation. The figure is sourced from New Zealand Post.

Cinema:
This figure includes all cash revenue, including agency commission, excluding GST from the two major companies involved in cinema advertising in New Zealand.

Researchers to marketers: don’t mount the business cycle

 

March 20th, 2012 by StopPress Team 

One of the perennial bug-bears of the marketing industry is the fact that it’s often seen by the bean counters as a cost to be cut in times of economic hardship, rather than an investment that will pay off when things pick up. And, according to the research of a top marketing professor who’ll be speaking in Hamilton on Friday March 30 as part of the Excellence in Practice seminar series offered by Corporate and Executive Education at Waikato Management School, billions of dollars of shareholder value are destroyed each year by companies that tie their marketing budgets to the business cycle.  

Professor Marnik G. Dekimpe, research professor of marketing at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and professor of marketing at the Catholic University Leuven in Belgium, has looked at how the FCMG industry across a range of countries has responded to the global recession and says the sector has lessons for all businesses.

“We studied the stock price performance of 26 global companies over a 25 year period and found that annual growth in shareholder value for companies that do not tie their advertising investments to the business cycle is 1.3 percent higher compared with companies that do let their advertising investments depend on the business cycle.”

Dekimpe says firms need to be proactive to achieve increased brand success and shareholder value in difficult times.

“Having a solid marketing strategy before the recession hits is crucial to a company’s survival,” he says. “And it’s important to see marketing tools as strategic investments, rather than short-run costs that can easily be cut when the going gets tough. Our research shows that the common practice of cutting back on marketing support during a recession actually exacerbates the negative impact of the economic downturn, both during and after the recession itself.”

Market research is a prime example, he says.

“Your brand is your most valuable asset,” he says. “In bad economic times it’s more difficult to convince consumers to buy your higher-priced brand, and this is where market research can help, by optimally matching your brand with consumer needs. Yet for many companies market research is one of the first casualties of a recession.”

Better, he says, to use the recession as an opportunity to pull ahead of short-sighted competitors by focusing on activities that keep your customers satisfied—and loyal.

Professor Dekimpe will be joined by another leading marketing researcher, Professor Wagner A. Kamakura, Ford Motor Co. global marketing professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. His presentation will focus on the wider environment, looking at how household budget expenditure patterns change during economic contractions and expansions.

• The free public seminar will be held at 1.30-3.00pm on Friday 30 March at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, followed by drinks and nibbles until 4.00pm. Numbers are limited, to secure a place, contact Gina on execed@waikato.ac.nz.

via stoppress.co.nz

LOL!

The laptop market may be growing at a single digit pace, but shipments of tablets and e-readers are booming, according to market tracker IDC.

The pie is expanding, leading to higher sales for all-comers. But in the global market - as in the New Zealand tablet market - tablets based on Google's Android software outpaced the iPad. Apple remains the market leader by a large margin, but slowly slipped through the year (the company will be hoping its new iPad - along with the new tactic of keeping the iPad 2 on as a $NZ579 budget model - will bolster its fortunes).

Worldwide media tablet shipments into sales channels rose by 56.1% on a sequential basis in the fourth calendar quarter of 2011 (4Q11) to 28.2 million units worldwide.

That represents an increase of 155% from the fourth quarter of 2010.

The market experienced stronger-than-expected growth across many regions and at many price points, leading to a full-year 2011 total of 68.7 million units.

Based upon the markets' strong 2011 finish, and the clear demand expected in 2012, IDC has increased its 2012 forecast to 106.1 million units, up from its previous forecast of 87.7 million units.

Apple's iOS-based iPad still dominates, but is slipping - and is forecast to lose more share to tablet's based on Google's Android software.

Apple iPad share slips from 61.5% to 54.7%
Despite an impressive debut by Amazon, which shipped 4.7 million Kindle Fires into the market (the Google Android-based Kindle Fire is so far US-only), Apple continued to see strong growth in the quarter, shipping 15.4 million units in 4Q11, up from 11.1 million units in 3Q11. That represents a 54.7% worldwide market share (down from 61.5% in 3Q11). 

Amazon's shipment total put the company in second place with 16.8% of the worldwide market.

Third-place Samsung  - maker of the Android-based Galaxy Tab - grew its share from 5.5% in 3Q11 to 5.8% in 4Q11.

Despite shipping more units, including its new Nook Tablet (which runs a customised version of Android), Barnes & Noble saw its worldwide market share slip to 3.5% (down from 4.5%). Pandigital rounded out the top five, grabbing 2.5% of the market, down from 2.9% the previous quarter.

"Amazon's widely-reported entry into the media tablet market with a $US199, 7-inch product seemed to raise consumers' awareness of the category worldwide despite the fact that the Fire shipped almost exclusively in the U.S. in the fourth quarter," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices.

"As a result, products across the pricing spectrum sold well, including everything from Apple's premium-priced iPads (which start at $US499) to Pandigital's line of Android-based, entry-level tablets (which start at $US120). The success of market leader Apple was particularly noteworthy, as the company's shipment total for the quarter represents an increase of 110.5% from 4Q10."

Android grows from 32.3% to 44.6% share
As predicted, Android made some strong gains in 4Q11, thanks in large part to the Amazon Kindle Fire's success (the Fire runs a custom version of Google's Android OS). 

Android grew its market share from 32.3% in 3Q11 to 44.6% in 4Q11. As a result, iOS slipped from 61.6% market share to 54.7%; Blackberry slipped from 1.1% to 0.7%. WebOS, which owned 5% of the worldwide market in 3Q11, dropped to zero in 4Q11. Looking ahead, IDC expects Android to continue to grow its share of the market at the expense of iOS.