9 Digital Marketing Stats that Caught our Attention this Week
It’s been an unusually active week in digital marketing stats, drawing interesting numbers from mobile-minded players like Apple and Pokemon Go to online marketplaces such as eBay and 99Designs. Check out the nine data points that caught our eye below.
1. Apple’s new best friend—Pokemon
Apple could rake in as much as $3 billion over the next two years because of the Pokemon Go craze, according to several publications. The tech giant, which collects fees to host apps in its App Store and pays itself a percentage of dollars spent within iOS apps, keeps roughly 30 percent of the cash that Pokemon Go users spend on the app, per Reuters, specifically with the game’s “Pokecoins.”
2. Programmatic wha-a-a-a?
According to research released today by the ad-tech company Turn, a survey of 200 creatives in the United Kingdom showed that just 59 percent of respondents from large agencies have worked on programmatic campaigns. But this stat is more surprising: A mere 11 percent of small agencies were even confident that they knew what “programmatic” meant.
3. Virtual reality’s big impact
Greenlight VR’s survey of 1,300 adults found that 71 percent of them think that virtual reality makes brands seem “forward-thinking and modern.” And, there’s even better news for marketers in this emerging space: Fifty-three percent of respondents said they’d be more likely to purchase from a brand that uses VR than from one that doesn’t. Check out the full study here.
4. Mobile holidays
Results of a study released this week by Facebook IQ said the share of mobile purchasesmade during the holiday shopping season increased 33 percent between 2014 and 2015. The study, Facebook’s most significant holiday survey to date, included surveying 21,500 adults across 17 global markets asking them about their mobile shopping habits.
5. eBay totally hearts this
Digital marketplace eBay is one of the first advertisers to test audience and keyword-based ads on We Heart It, a site where users upload photos into a stream that’s a mix of Pinterest and Facebook. After eBay posted an image of a pink mermaid tail, it generated 100,000 users to click back to look at the item on eBay. Read more about eBay’s aims in social advertising innovation.
6. Digital agencies lead Marcom M&As
Results International Group revealed this morning that full-service digital agencies remain the No. 1 merger and acquisitions choice among marketing-communications (marcom) buyers. They consisted of 12 percent of deal activity in the second quarter with 27 transactions, on a par with the same period last year and up from 8 percent in Q1 2016.
7. Pokemon ‘Goes’ retail
Placed, a location data company, has been tracking a double opt-in audience of 1 percent of those who downloaded the Pokemon Go game during its first week, ending July 6, and thenmeasured their real-world store visits. It found that Pokemon Go users were 75 percent more likely to visit Hot Topic, which sells alternative-culture-related clothing and accessories, besting all other merchants. According to Placed, other retailers that Pokemon Go players frequently visited include Fred Meyer, Victoria’s Secret, Express and GameStop.
The most popular restaurant was Red Robin, where Pokemon Go players are 44 percent more likely to eat at, per Placed’s metrics, while Buffalo Wild Wings, Cold Stone Creamery, Steak ‘n Shake and In-N-Out Burger round out the top five.
8. Hold on about mobile commerce
Sailthru, a retail-minded digital marketing provider, crunched thousands of numbers from hundreds of clients and found that 62 percent of purchases are still made on desktops—not smartphones. It also predicted that mobile will account for 30 percent of global online retail spending by 2018.
9. A freelance designer’s dream?
Online marketplace 99designs, which launched in 2008 as an early player in the “gig economy,” revealed this week that it’s paid more than $150 million to freelance designers around the world in the last eight years and is averaging $3.5 million in monthly payouts to its community.
