Mobile has been driving its way to becoming the most preferred way to watch video. According to recent research, in the fourth quarter of 2016 mobile devices saw 54% of all video starts. This figure is up from 52% in the third quarter, which is a substantial rise in just three months. ZenithOptimedia recently reported that global consumers are currently spending close to 20 minutes per day watching videos on their mobile devices.

The advertising industry is constantly being turned upside down with the implementation of new technology. These new breakthroughs include virtual reality, social media and wearables. Not only is technology changing, but the consumer behavior is also migrating towards these advancements, along with the entire advertising industry. As a case in point, this year (2017) digital advertising is expected to outperform television advertising for the very first time, bringing in $202 billion in the process.

Where do you use your smartphone? If you’re like most people, you use it everywhere! Case in point: 91% of smartphone users look up info while right in the middle of a task. 69% of online consumers agree that their perception of a brand is influenced by quality, timing, or relevance of a company’s message. 82% of smartphone users turn to their phones while standing in a retail store trying to decide which item to purchase.

A company must be present in all places in order to reach its marketing objectives, assuming those objectives are lofty. But, bigger is not always better. Let’s look at Google, as an example. They are a huge network, and they average 3.5 billion searches a day. Why, just with YouTube alone there are 5 billion videos watched daily. While these numbers sound very impressive, are they covering all the medium bases?

Utilizing a deep neural network (a system that has been trained to think like the human brain and nervous system) loaded with a large set of bounce rate and conversion data, researchers were able to determine the rate at which users dropped off as a page loaded. As the load times went from one second to ten seconds, the users were incrementally likely to bounce at this rate: 1 to 3 seconds - the likelihood of a bounce increases 32% 1 to 5 seconds - the likelihood of a bounce increases 90% 1 to 6 seconds - the likelihood of a bounce increases 106% 1 to 10 seconds - the likelihood of a bounce increases 123% This research left little doubt that the faster a page loads, the better chance there is of a conversion.

Did you know that: Compared to a year ago, smartphone users are 50% more likely to plan on purchasing something using their smartphones to compare availability, prices or customer reviews. Over the last two years, toothbrush searches have increased over 80%. Over the last two years, “best” toothbrushes have increased over 100% Over the last two years, mobile searches for “best” have increased by 80%. We are now 50% more likely to depend on our smartphones to make spur-of-the-moment purchases than we were last year.

There’s a new, cutting-edge technology that’s changing the face of retail marketing. It’s beacons. Here are a few statistics that may help to emphasize this point: By the end of this year alone, it’s expected that there will be over a million beacons installed in stores here in the U.S. Over 40 billion queries for beacon-related content are pulled by Android devices from Google Services each year. Bluetooth beacons are expected to reach a 133% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) between 2016 and 2021 in advertising, retail and personal tracking.

Have you ever been doing research, watching videos on YouTube or attempting to find a new couch on sale, and you discover that with every page you open, there are more and more adds to contend with? It seems that no matter how quickly you click on the life-saving little “X” in the corner (assuming you even have that option), another ad pops up! Why would publishers do this? They flash banners, they play videos (unsolicited), and implement all kinds of overlays that block you from seeing the content you are trying to see.

Once again, Forbes.com has published an article by Genius Monkey’s CRO, Jeremy Hudgens. It expounds on the importance of sticking to the measurements that most impact your bottom line. The title of the piece is: Profits Are More Important Than Impressions. Brand marketers tend of focus their measurements on items that, in the long run, don’t really matter. These items include viewability, impressions and third-party verifications. The dynamics that count most in today’s digital world are Attribution and Conversion.

At Genius Monkey we’re a breed apart from the rest. Most of you reading this will remember a children’s show called Sesame Street. On it, they played a game called “One of These Things is Not Like the Other.” They would show several items, all identical except for one. The children had to determine which item was the different one, and why. If Genius Monkey were featured in a game of “One of These Things is Not Like the Other,” we would certainly be the one that was different!