By Lai Kok Fung, BuzzCity CEO
One of Singapore's leading mobile service providers, MobileOne (M1), has implemented a service that they claim helps mobile web pages load faster and improves a user's experience. But in reality, their “mobile web content transcoding engine” MobileSurf violates consumer and publisher rights and makes surfing the mobile internet more difficult for consumers.
M1 should disable MobileSurf immediately. BuzzCity has already conveyed this message in writing to M1, but so far the company has dismissed our appeal. More about that in a moment.
What MobileSurf does is insert the company's branded headers and footers onto mobile web pages that do not belong to it. The engine also tracks consumers' surfing patterns. All this is done without the permission of M1 users or the mobile sites visited. These practices infringe on the copyrighted content of web publishers (including BuzzCity), jack up prices for mobile surfers, violate consumer privacy and cause service disruptions.
What M1 is doing is not new. In the fixed line internet world, it's called “Browser Hijacking,” a practice where a company uses scripting tools or server-side programs to manipulate browser settings and displays seen by the end users.
Here's an image taken by one user of a mobile website before M1 started Browser Hijacking:
And here's an image taken afterwards:
Back in 2005, SpyWare called Browser Hijacking “a despicable trend.” Australian computer journalist Rose Vines writes: “Let's face it, anyone who is prepared to kidnap you in this fashion has little regard for your privacy.” Vines adds that hijackers are trying – over and over again – to drive users to their site in the hope of boosting business. She also notes that porn sites were the first to implement this tactic.
At BuzzCity, we strongly believe that what M1 is doing is wrong for the following reasons:
1. Copyright Infringement. M1 does not own the pages that it is modifying. End of story. Imagine for a moment that you are a media company like CNBC or BBC. Would you allow a mobile carrier to insert branded headers and footers into your carefully designed pages? It's bad enough when this happens on PC internet sites, but in the mobile world, where the screen size is already quite small, M1's ads can sometimes occupy more than a quarter of the viewing page.
2. Privacy. M1 is tracking the pages visited by users as well as the date that the site is visited and the time spent there. Hello Big Brother.
3. Data Costs. M1 is basically increasing its revenues and raising the consumers' costs without their consent. Consumer charges are based in part on data transfer and M1's banners add to the size of the data transmitted when consumers surf the mobile internet.
Since MobileSurf was launched in early April, we've written M1 to ask that the headers and footers be removed. At first we were told that the banners were only inserted on webpages during MobileSurf's launch phase. When we later pointed out that they were still in place, M1 replied: "we are of the view that there has been no infringement on your rights in any way." As for the banners, M1 says they help "customers to navigate and manage the websites they are surfing on their mobile phones." It adds that "the access links do not form any part of your website nor do they alter the contents of your website in any way."
But as soon as M1 implemented MobileSurf, it attracted complaints from consumers as well. One blogger writes “Call M1 hotline 1627 and tell them they don't have the rights!" Another blogger notes that a number of applications that he was accustomed to using – Google Maps, Opera Mini, Outlook Mobile Access and Twitter – stopped functioning. In response to a M1 claim that MobileSurf “provides a friendlier way to browse the Web on your mobile phone, making it easier to go online wherever you may be” this blogger replied “Friendlier way my ass.” After talking to M1's helpline a couple times, he determined that there is a workaround – turn off MobileSurf. For the benefit of other M1 users, he posted instructions on how to do it. Users of the chat forum Hardware Zone were similarly peeved.
The BuzzCity Ad Network meanwhile can track the number of page views by carrier. We note that M1's share of the market dropped from 21% to 13% after MobileSurf was introduced. And this is taking place against the backdrop of a huge increase in our reported advertising inventory based on over 2000 publisher sites.
If companies like M1 want to drive users to their mobile sites, the solution is simple. They should offer content consumers want. What they shouldn't do is hijack other pages.
M1, it's time to do the right thing. Turn off MobileSurf.
By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)
This week BuzzCity releases its first quarterly survey of advertising trends, the myGamma Global Mobile Advertising Index. With this tool, BuzzCity tracks the growth of our advertising network – ads are currently served on more than 2000 publisher sites worldwide – and by extension the growth of the mobile internet. No matter which direction the index moves (and it's an easy bet right now it will continue to rise and rise), we'll announce the results and trends every quarter.
But for now . . . Mark the date. The time has come to announce that MOBILE ADVERTISING is no longer a promise, it's real. Despite contracting economies in many regions and sectors, mobile is growing. And it's growing spectacularly. In fact, over the past year, the number of advertisements served across the myGamma Network has grown 730% from 340 million ads in the first quarter of 2007 to over 2.5 BILLION ads in the first quarter of this year.
THE TOP TEN
At the top of the myGamma Global Mobile Advertising Index is Indonesia with more than 654 million ads served. What's particularly interesting is that Indonesia wasn't even among the top ten markets a year earlier. In fact three of the top ten countries -- China, Pakistan and Indonesia -- are new entries.
Here's the top ten list by advertising page views and percent year-on-year growth in parenthesis:
1. Indonesia : 654 million (+ 13328%)
2. India : 577 million (+ 1522%)
3. South Africa : 426 million (+ 418%)
4. USA : 132 million (+ 917%)
5. Kenya : 79 million (+ 424%)
6. Romania : 57 million (+ 446%)
7. Bangladesh : 53 million (+ 305%)
8. China : 37 million (+ 6053%)
9. Brunei : 35 million (+ 221%)
10. Pakistan : 35 million (+ 814%)
As you can see, from the table above, the number of advertising page views in Indonesia grew by more than than 13,000 percent. I don't think I've ever written a percentage that high before. But there were in fact twenty markets on our list registering more than 1000 percent growth. And among the top twenty countries, even the smallest growth story is experiencing nearly 100 percent growth year on year.
THE ADVERTISERS
Let's take a closer look at who is placing the ads. The top advertisers by segment are
1. Mobile Services
2. Financial Services
3. Consumer brands
Mobile service companies – businesses that sell ringtones, games, other social networks and ad-supported services – were among the first adopters of the medium and they still occupy top spot. But financials and other brick and mortar companies are not far behind. Here's an example from each sector:
Cellufun is an ad-sponsored mobile gaming service that wishes to increase its global distribution. They are running multiple campaigns across a variety of markets. Cellufun optimises bannners regularly to keep spending in check, and as a result, achieves click-through rate higher then the network average.
Standard Bank has undertaken several campaigns in South Africa. They've launched a mobile banking service and a referral recruitment drive. Both subscribers and referrals were entered into a lucky draw to win a new phone. The lucky draw was promoted with banner ads targeting South African visitors to myGamma. This campaign costs just US$58 per day and generates nearly half a million page views per month. And this month, Standard Chartered is engaging consumers with another interactive campaign – leveraging on its sponsorship of the Pro20 Cricket Series to promote mobile banking. In this case, consumers can win tickets to the matches.
Coca-Cola is promoting the Sprite brand with a wap site called “Sprite Yard”. This campaign has targeted French mobile users with graphic and text banners, inviting them to a social network where they can download branded content such as visual ringtones and animated “mobisodes”. Coca-Cola spent just US$12 per day on the campaign.
MILESTONES
In the first quarter of the year, there were
38 countries averaging more than 1 million page views per month;
11 countries averaging more than 10 million page views per month;
3 countries averaging more than 100 million page views per month.
Within the next two quarters, we expect all of the countries in the Top Ten will exceed monthly page views of 100 million.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So why is Indonesia at the top of the charts and why is its growth so incredibly off-the-charts? First, the cost of handsets has dropped. So more people have phones. Second, the cost of mobile access has dropped too. So more people can get online. Third, advertising on the mobile internet is extremely cost competitive with other media. The Indonesian example is a good indicator of trends in the rest of the world. Basically, mobile is cheap. It has great reach and penetration. So it shouldn't really be a surprise that advertisers are turning mobile. To many, though, it still is. They just haven't seen the myGamma Global Mobile Advertising Index yet.
In September '07, Kok Fung’s blog "Connecting Africa", reported on the phenomenal activity of the mobile internet, especially in South Africa. Since then we have seen more traffic from the African continent, particularly from the northern end, in Egypt.
In Q1 of 2008, we served more than 26 million banners to Egyptian users. This is a growth of 5,400% against the first quarter of 2007 when we served only 490,000 impressions. During this period, Saudi Arabian traffic grew by nearly 900% to 22 million banners.
Advertisers, like Mozat from Singapore, have been quick to take advantage of the rise of the mobile internet in the Middle East and have targeted campaigns to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
All in all, it has been a busy first quarter. We delivered 3 billion banner ads (whew!). And we deployed new services in Croatia, Iran, Namibia, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
myGamma now serves mobile networkers in 68 countries.
By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)
“Geo-targeting” is a hot buzz term in the mobile industry these days. It's basically a fancy way of saying “Let's have a different ad for every locale. Let's customise our message based on where someone's from or where they happen to be right now.”
Targeted advertising isn't new. It's actually been with us for a long time. The best example is The Yellow Pages, not the one you get online now but the voluminous hard copy that used to be delivered door to door. In many countries, these business listings and ads were customised by postal codes or districts. Consumers in Jefferson County received a different book than someone in neighbouring Oldham County. This made sense, right? Targeting helps brands deliver the right message to the right customer, i.e. those customers most likely to make a purchase. And from the consumer's perspective .... when you're looking for a plumber, you want a professional who will come to your home, not someone who will have to travel from far away.
COSTS AND BENEFITS
In today's mobile age, the big question about geo-targeting is just how far do you drill down, how specific should we get. Do you localise all the way down to street level so that someone on Robinson Road gets a different message than a person on Cecil Street?
Relevance is the key here and geo-targeting helps advertisers connect better with consumers. However, as in any business activity, there are costs involved. In this case, there's the cost of tailoring the creative content plus the cost of disseminating each ad. Advertisers need to know the number of people who will see – and act on – each local ad and then do a cost benefit analysis. What's the cost per viewer? The cost per converted consumer?
How granular can you get before you lose the critical mass that advertisers need?
SPAM DOESN'T WORK
With mobile devices, there's another element to think about as well. Phones are personal devices. Users decorate the screens with customised screensavers. They download ringtones and other bling. Cyber-hawking, based solely on proximity, is like trespassing. You risk a severe consumer backlash not to mention a poor response rate.
So highly-targeted mobile campaigns need an opt-in element. For example, at a cinema, users can be asked to use their phones to rate the film. Movie-goers will participate if they're offered a chance in a lucky draw or a discount on their next movie ticket.
One company that has done it right is Kodak India. They ran a campaign on the myGamma network called “Shoot It, Win It” that encouraged consumers to take digital photos and print them at a Kodak shop. Participants stood a chance to win prizes. Thanks to country-specific targeting, the Kodak ad banners were only seen by Indian users. After clicking, these consumers were directed to a registration form and a store locator with a drop-down menu that had state and city listings. The campaign engaged consumers and helped them to locate a photo store nearby. Plus, Kodak India registered new sales as well as gathered information from the participants who opted in.
FILTERING
Here at BuzzCity, we call this “filtering” - drilling down to get the targeting desired, so advertisers can differentiate between consumers in Boston and Bombay and between inner-city Chicago and the suburbs. Other filtering techniques include personalised local news, classifieds, price guides and restaurant directories.
Another way to filter is to target based on consumer interests. Ad agencies should take a look at the niche communities sprouting up across the mobile space – from newlyweds to sports enthusiasts - and tailor creative campaigns to them.
You see, you don't need GPS to locate your consumers. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, “it's the content, stupid” not the technology.
FOOTNOTES
myGamma has added four new countries. Welcome Croatia, Namibia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen! We are now in 66 countries and have 2.5 million members. The Gamma advertising network, meanwhile, is serving one billion ads every month. That's a jump from 2007 -- which was already a good year – when we served 5 billion ads. The Gamma network should top that figure by June.
