We’re back with another content round up! Here’s our curated selection of stories and studies from this month that might not have made the major news headlines, but that provide valuable insights into the latest developments in mobile, apps and marketing. Grab a coffee, set aside a few minutes, and catch up with what’s been happening in March.
Galaxy S9, 5G and more: Everything we learned at MWC 2018
5 minute read. By Kent German, Jessica Dolcourt, Roger Cheng. Via Cnet.
Cast your mind back to the beginning of the month, and Mobile World Congress. With all the hype around the conference, it’s all too easy for the flood of information emerging from MWC to mask what the really influential developments are likely to be. Now that we’ve all had time to decompress, take five minutes to look through Cnet’s summary for a recap of the most exciting (and most disappointing) announcements of the show.
TV ad spending finally fell in 2017
1 minute read. By Rani Molla. Via Recode.
The tide is finally turning on TV ads, it seems. Perhaps unsurprising, as more and more viewers are cutting the cord with cable companies and switching to watching via media streaming services instead. Whilst a slight increase is predicted around the Olympics in 2020, the numbers confirm what many businesses have already acknowledged: the real advertising power now lies in digital.
The Challenges Publishers Face in Monetizing Digital Content
1 minute read. By eMarketer Editors. Via eMarketer.
Not only are television ads losing their currency, thanks to widespread ad blockers and the increasingly high expectations of users, it’s becoming more and more difficult to make advertising work as the sole source of monetization for media. Sponsored content is considered one of the most important revenue streams, but topping the list is subscriptions. These bring regular revenue, but are tough to upsell to free users - like so many other aspects of successful apps, subscriptions rely on developing positive user-app relationships.
ARKit-only apps top 13 million installs, nearly half from games
3 minute read. By Sarah Perez. Via Techcrunch.
Gaming apps are where AR first found popularity (Pokémon Go, anyone?), and games still dominate this list of the most popular ARKit-based apps, despite the fact that the number of AR apps is rapidly growing. That’s indicative of two things. Firstly, that AR is still a source of considerable novelty and excitement for users. And secondly, that the non-games market is a potential area for further development, albeit one where integrating AR will be a harder task.
Two-thirds of consumers with voice-powered devices don't use them for purchases, study says
3 minute read. By Erica Sweeney. Via Marketing Dive.
As we wrote earlier this month, voice assistants (and particularly the stand-alone assistants in smart speakers) are gaining in popularity, making them worthy of notice as an emerging way of interacting with consumers. However, it’s also important to note that these devices won’t be taking over from smartphones any time soon: the majority of voice assistant owners don’t even use them to browse yet. The answer is, of course, developing a multichannel approach that delivers app experiences across mobile, voice assistant, OTT, and any other platform that your users interact with.
