Every now and then, it’s good to assess your place in the vast and changing world of online advertising. Today we’ll take look at the wide digital landscape, and how it’s shifted in the past year. Hopefully, it will help you more easily envision your future as an advertiser.
How is the Digital Landscape Evolving?
Recently, comScore released its 2018 Global Digital Future in Focus, which looks at device use in 2017 to learn how audiences and content consumption changed during that year.
Around the world, people are still using multiple devices. In the United States, this is the habit of nearly 70 percent of the total digital audience.
Mobile use sees twice as much time as desktop use does. In the United States specifically, mobile is seeing more than twice as much time as desktop at about 5,500 minutes.
More than 80 percent of those mobile minutes are spent with apps. In the United States, apps take up 88 percent of users’ time with mobile. Small businesses and advertisers have a great opportunity for expansion in this space.
While Google and Facebook continue to dominate when it comes to top apps, Snapchat has now jumped into the top five in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Although mobile gets more use time in the U.S., the desktop audience is still larger. The group of desktop unique visitors is still 10 percent larger than the group of mobile unique visitors.
Certain content categories capture the bulk of users’ time with digital media. In 2017, it was multimedia, social networks and instant messaging occupying well over a third of digital time in the U.S.
For apps specifically, the top content categories are entertainment, social media, instant messaging and games, which together account for nearly 80 percent of app time in the U.S.
At the same time, these are not the categories with the fastest growth in use. It seems that the growth of mobile, as well as users’ comfort with using it for finances, might drive the growth happening in financial categories.
These days, video is being watched primarily on mobile. In the U.S., almost 70 percent of video views happen on mobile.
Video growth in the U.S. is happening mostly on mobile, but notably on desktop as well. As we recently discussed, video will be very important in 2018, but will come with challenges involving fraud and return on investment (ROI) measurement.
The key takeaways for advertisers in comScore’s report include:
- People still use multiple devices, though mobile is gaining ground. Note that while mobile gets more time in minutes and hours, the desktop audience remains a bit larger; that ad audience is very much present.
- Growth is happening outside of the usual top apps and content categories, and advertisers can look to places like Snapchat and financial content as viable platforms.
- Entertainment showed the most growth when it came to app minutes spent. Check out our post on advertising to Millennials within their preferred entertainment platforms.
- Video is growing on both mobile and desktop, but mostly on mobile. As you’ll see on the post we linked to in the previous paragraph, there are numerous ways to prepare for the challenges and opportunities in this space.
Are You Using Omnichannel to Put Your Digital Future in Focus?
One of the striking things about that report from comScore is a reminder of the importance of an omnichannel approach.
Quick refresher: Omnichannel is so much more than simply advertising on multiple channels (analog, digital, desktop, mobile, web, app, social media, etc.). It is using the multiple channels for a well-crafted, consistent message, and also creating a seamless, positive user experience through them.
When we see the continued use of desktop and mobile devices, various apps and content categories rising to the top and the popularity of video, we must recognize that potential consumers use all of these and more to learn about brands.
Last autumn, MarketingProfs offered an infographic on maximizing ROI with omnichannel advertising. Highlighting the fact that most users switch between a range of devices every day, it encourages broadening reach through data, consistency, monitoring and a customer-centered strategy.
Hubspot takes a step back, and presents the successful omnichannel marketing strategies of seven well-known brands, including Disney, REI and Chipotle.
At SearchForce, we revisited omnichannel in December, exploring how the auto industry can use it for great advertising. As the technology of automobiles themselves moves rapidly forward (think self-driving cars), the retail side needs to keep pace. Focus on the digital journey of auto shoppers, as well as local trends to make the most of your omnichannel approach.
The digital future is full of devices on which people use apps to enjoy a wide range of content. Continue focusing on a customer-centered, omnichannel ad strategy to ensure your brand has a place within that future.