There are many experts in the marketing industry who feel that it won’t be long before mobile commerce dominates over PC-based sales. In fact, recent polling data indicates that there are many people who believe that this “domination” has already begun. Recently, 2,773 American adults were surveyed* regarding their online habits. The majority of them revealed that they spend more time with their mobile devices than on their desktop computers.

Recent studies have shown that being present and available for consumers as they conduct their initial online searches is a crucial factor in order to drive customers to your website, or through your doors. A prime example of this is the automotive industry. To win the sale of a car, these early “micro-moments” must be won by the dealer, first. This is a lesson from which all businesses can learn.

Most internet users of today experience media on a number of screens, such as their smartphone, computer, tablet and television. This means that a user may start a function on one device, yet finish it on another. Here’s an example: Have you ever searched for product information on your mobile device, then continued your quest once you’re in front of your computer? According to recent Google research, 90% of users do just that: Start on one device and finish on the other.

According to a recent forecast by eMarketer, it is estimated that close to 80% of every dollar spent on advertising will be allocated to programmatic in 2017. This number equates to a whopping $32.56 billion for the year! There is no room for doubt that programmatic is here to stay; especially in light of the fact that by the end of the year, that number is expected to grow to 84%.

The key to online success is to drive quality targeted traffic to websites that are easy to understand, and simple to navigate. It must be transparent WHO you are, WHAT you sell, WHERE it can be purchased, WHY consumers should purchase it and HOW they should do it. When you use a search engine like Google, your goal is most likely to find the most appropriate answer to your questions, no matter what device you happen to be using.

HTML5 is the latest and greatest version of the HyperText Markup Language that was developed in the late 1980s. It was meant to describe documents that linked to one another. Back in the day, the role of HTML was rather simplistic-to help describe the structure of documents and to permit them to cross-link. Today it’s used to enhance a text file with bits of code (or markup) that describes the structure of the document.

In December of 2016, a cybersecurity firm called White Ops announced that Russian cybercriminals had built a new high-tech ad fraud enterprise. The scheme involved showing real ads to fake people, and to date, has syphoned over $180 million from the online advertising industry. This highly sophisticated bot farm operation is called “Methbot,” and according to White Ops COO, Eddie Schwartz, “This is a very advanced cyber operation on a scale no one’s seen before.

A recent study concluded that an advertiser on a primetime television broadcast could have reached 56% more adults (18-49) by also placing their video on YouTube. The screens that ads appear on are losing their relevance, but content, reach and timing will always be of the upmost importance. In today’s advanced technological world, there is very little that can’t be viewed onscreen. Whether it appears on a television screen, a computer screen or on a mobile device … we still see it.

According to leading marketing forecasters, the dollar amount that’s spent on advertising via social media is predicted to equal what is spent on newspaper ad revenues by the year 2020. This rapid shift in advertising trends has rocked the media industry over the past few years. Firms have started moving their marketing budgets from the more traditional advertising sources like newspapers, for instance, to online sources across all channels and screens.

The measurement and tracking of today’s advertising results is easily contaminated; plagued by malicious fraudulent activity. In order to validate the effectiveness of a company’s ad spend, all efforts must be put forth to eliminate ad fraud from their programmatic advertising system. But as attractive as that sounds, is it really possible? The answer is a resounding “YES!” One way to accomplish this is to utilize the services of multiple (and reputable) third-party validation companies, incorporating just one of them to oversee what the others are doing with the campaign.