The global mobile opportunity is tremendous. According to the International Telecommunications Union, there are 4.1 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide—that's four times more than the number of personal computers. As the proliferation of mobile phones continues, marketers with brands that want to reach their audiences in new and innovative ways are increasingly looking to mobile to drive their marketing and advertising campaigns.
Contrary to what's happening with other industries affected by the current economic downturn, mobile is actually accelerating due to several key drivers: Network speeds are getting faster; handsets are more powerful; and data plans are increasingly affordable—which makes the mobile Internet more attractive and accessible to all. These industry shifts, coupled with new and innovative mobile services from industry leaders such as Yahoo!, mean that mobile advertising has a foundation to be one of the largest advertising mediums of all time. When economies stabilize and move into a cycle of growth, mobile advertising is expected to garner a larger slice of the pie. Most of all, mobile advertising will benefit from the shift of advertising spending from traditional to digital media, particularly as consumer take-up of mobile entertainment services grows in line with greater take-up of 3G.
A quick look at consumer behavior provides a good indication of what services are essential. Through research, Yahoo! has identified three main things that consumers want to do on mobile: Find the answers they need, stay in touch with the people who matter to them and access their favorite content and interests from one place. When they are on the go, consumers want a mobile experience that is customizable and personally relevant.
The simplicity of the "always on" mobile experience, together with the fact that the mobile phone is always with the user, keeps engagement high. As a result Yahoo! has seen mobile usage grow exponentially over the past several years and believes it will continue to increase.
Historically, the strongest players use slow economic periods to capture share from weaker competitors and come out stronger on the other side of a downturn. Mobile advertising is at a tipping point and provides an opportunity to engage a target demographic in a one-to-one conversation with the right message, in the right place, at the right time.
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
The new mobile Yahoo! home page brings together favorite services from across the Web on a single page. Access e-mail, social networks, favorite Web sites, news, sports, movies, weather and stocks—all the things that interest users. The home page is continuously updated throughout the day, so users get the latest each time they check back. With PC-to-mobile sync, users can continue the Yahoo! PC home page experience on the go with a more seamless PC-to-mobile integration. New apps added to the Yahoo! home page on the PC can easily be added to the mobile home page.
The new mobile Yahoo! home page enables users to:
- Discover: via instant answers from award-winning mobile search, leading editorial, popular topics of the day and a directory of all Yahoo! mobile services.
- Stay connected: by receiving aggregated access to e-mail and social network accounts from the most popular Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book and calendar tools.
- Stay informed: by bringing together favorite content—Web sites, sports teams, news sources, RSS feeds, weather, stocks, horoscopes and more—in a single location.
Yahoo! Mobile features display advertising from leading brands across such key categories as automotive, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, finance and travel. With some of the highest quality inventory available and a highly engaged user base, Yahoo! is focused on creating scale for advertisers by helping them reach their targeted audience wherever they are.
