GigaOM » JiWire

Why retailers should forget showrooming and turn to in-store Wi-Fi

laurielamberth — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:55:36 +0000

Showrooming. Everybody’s heard of it by now — conniving shoppers checking out a product in a retail store, then buying it online later for less. But today it makes more sense for retailers to shift their focus away from this practice and focus on harnessing the shopper’s in-store wireless experience for themselves and their brands. In addition to making mobile-data-hungry customers happy, customer-facing in-store Wi-Fi networks will bring the retailers themselves much value.

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JiWire builds a location graph to make mobile ads relevant

Ryan Kim — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:00:23 +0000

As Internet expert Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins has helpfully pointed out, mobile still has huge monetization potential that is still largely untapped. Location-based advertising may prove to be one of the key ways in which mobile Internet companies can boost mobile advertising revenue and close the gap with traditional Internet ads.

Location-based ad provider JiWire is trying to capitalize on this opportunity with the launch of a Location Graph that it says will help it deliver relevant ads based on what it can learn from the way people move around from place to place. By understanding the relationship between locations and what it says about the people who frequent them, the Location Graph will help JiWire anonymously identify distinct audience groups, from soccer moms and businessmen to luxury shoppers and tech enthusiasts.

JiWire has a database of more than 3 billion location tags pulled from latitude and longitude information and other data that connects to real places. As the Location Graph pulls in anonymized location data from mobile devices using UDID and other persistant identifiers, it can start to understand where people are visiting with their devices. Then it can map that movement to what it knows about the various locations and the way certain people favor certain places.

This database allows JiWire to go beyond simple targeting based on what app an ad appears in or geo-fencing, which only looks at the general proximity of a user to a location. With the Location Graph, JiWire can better identify a user for an advertiser, who can choose to try to walk them into the store with an incentive if they’re nearby or push out general brand advertising to build awareness. Having a history of where a user has gone can also allow JiWire to push ads from advertisers that are not just nearby at that moment, but are also close by the places where a person has often visited in the past.

JiWire’s interim CEO David Staas said early beta testers, including Microsoft and Comcast, have seen a 30 to 45 percent lift in click-through rates when using the Location Graph. He said the Location Graph shows how mobile advertising can become lucrative for publishers and effective for advertisers.

This reminds me of Sense Networks, another mobile advertising startup that is targeting ads not only based on place but also by the unique behavioral profile of users. The approach is a more sophisticated take on location-based advertising and it means that different users in the same place can get more personalized ads based on who they are and where they like to go. Users, however, have to be comfortable with the fact that companies are gathering anonymous information about their whereabouts. JiWire is trying to allay fears by giving users an opt-out option and also using TRUSTe to handle the user location data.

Here’s a look at some of the connections the Location Graph is able to find between places and people.

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Hyperlocal: opportunities for publishers and developers

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:19:17 +0000

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Mobile Advertising Heats Up With Funding, Deals

Ryan Kim — Fri, 06 May 2011 17:15:33 +0000

Mobile advertising currently generates just a fraction of the total revenue earned by online advertising. But it’s ramping up quickly and is poised to grow by more than 40 percent over the next several years, outpacing traditional online advertising. That’s helping fuel a spate of funding announcements and deals for mobile advertising companies as the competition in this space heats up.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau started reporting mobile advertising revenue for the first time, saying mobile ads brought in an estimated $550 to $650 million in the U.S. last year. Online advertising raked in a record $26 billion in 2010, eclipsing newspaper advertising revenue for the first time ever. Mobile advertising, while small, is expected to grow from $491 million in 2009 to $2.9 billion in 2014, according to BIA/Kelsey, a 43 percent compound annual growth rate. It’s that promise of rising growth that’s fueling optimism in the online advertising space.

Google is a major player with its AdMob acquisition and said last year its mobile advertising business was on a $1 billion run rate. Apple has also used its Quattro Wireless pick-up to introduce iAD. But there are plenty of other players in this space who are making moves, picking up money and getting bought up.

Here’s a look at some of the recent activity:

JiWire announced it has raised $20 million to expand its location-based advertising network, which utilizes Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile devices. I recently talked about the Gap’s results using JiWire’s platform .
Jumptap yesterday said it raised $25 million, helping it bulk up as one of the top independent ad networks. The company said it reaches 83 million consumers a month, a 30-percent increase from last year.
Millennial Media, considered the largest independent network, pulled in $27.5 million in January, helping it in its bid to compete with Google and Apple. Millennial said it tripled its revenue in 2010.
Location-based ad network WHERE was bought up by eBay last month. WHERE only delivers ads based on a person’s location, which is going to be one an important way mobile ads become more effective.
Last month, ValueClick also reportedly bought mobile ad network Greystripe for $75 million.

Again, it’s still early and mobile advertising revenue is relatively small. But the promise is big for this industry, which can get in front of consumers and engage them in very personal and targeted ways. As rich media and location-based mobile ads grow, we’ll see more money head this way as advertisers look to use these channels for reaching consumers. Expect to see a lot more deals and funding announcements as mobile advertising ramps up.

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Are the End Days Nearing for PCs (and Macs)?

Ryan Kim — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:17:50 +0000

The venerable computer isn’t going to disappear anytime soon but its glory days as a computing workhorse are fading with the rise of more nimble smartphones and tablets. The future is tilting toward mobile devices, something underscored by new data from JiWire.

The Wi-Fi provider told us new Mac users on its U.S. network over the holidays were down 28.1 percent while new connections from PCs were down 12 percent. JiWire, which operates 315,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots including 35,000 in the U.S., said new users on the iPad increased by 33.8 percent after Christmas while new Android users were up 47.9 percent. While this is just one set of data points, it shows that the shift away from traditional computers is real and it’s affecting both Macs and PCs. The reality is people’s dependence on computers is waning as they find more utility and portability in smartphones and tablets.

This, if you’ve been following along, confirms a lot of what we’ve been writing about. People are increasingly embracing ever more powerful mobile devices, a trend that is shaking up the computer world. Gartner recently revised its PC forecast downward in light of rising tablet sales and predicted that 10 percent of PC sales would be displaced by tablets. And as mobile networks ramp up to 4G and Wi-Fi usage grows, it’s only fueling the interest in mobile devices. This is a major shift that is forcing all the big players to adjust.

The impact of this new mobile reality is on display everywhere including CES, the annual gadget fest that has largely become a showcase for tablets and smartphones. Microsoft is getting back into the smartphone game with Windows Phone 7 and showed at CES how its next Windows OS will work on ARM-designed chips, the favored processor of mobile devices. Intel is working hard to get its chips to run on tablets and smartphones though it’s still an uphill battle displacing ARM-designed chips. Meanwhile, HP, which bought Palm last year, is preparing a splashy event next month to show off a line of webOS tablets and smartphones.

These are all necessary steps, prompted in large part by Apple, which helped kick off this trend with the launch of the iPhone and more recently the iPad–both of which made mobile computing more user-friendly. Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself predicted that overall PC usage would decline when he compared computers to trucks and suggested that lightweight devices like the iPad would do most of the tasks people needed. Now, the companies that are learning to embrace this new reality, are the ones best positioned for the future. At some point, it means PC manufacturers are learning to accept that the switch to mobile devices may come at the cost of traditional computer sales. But as the market moves toward mobile, manufacturers can let someone else lure their PC customers away with a tablet or smartphone or they can build one themselves.

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Post and thumbnail photo courtesy of Flickr user Rego Korosi

JiWire Turns Mobile Ads into Apps

Ryan Kim — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:53:28 +0000

JiWire is leveraging its network of 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to serve up a new kind of highly-interactive location-aware ad that operates more like an app than an ad. The company is hoping that by packing app-like features into its new Compass ad platform, consumers will be more likely to engage brands and make a purchase nearby.

When users see a JiWire Compass ad on a Wi-Fi log-in screen, they will have an option to expand the banner ad. When they do that, they will get a landing page that includes a map of their location with retail stores nearby where they buy an advertiser’s product. They’ll be able to get walking or driving directions, call the retailer to put an item on hold and get real-time inventory for more than 3 million products, all from the ad. Consumers will also be able to schedule an appointment for a trial or make a reservation.

By leveraging a user’s location, derived through the Wi-Fi hotspot, and marrying that up with clues on intent based on their location, JiWire says it can deliver ads that may be more relevant to users. The company said the key is packaging in features that users might have had to go to another app for, and said engagement has been 80 percent higher in test ads when jiWire injects local and contextual information. Launch partners for JiWire’s ads include Hewlett-Packard, Groupon, Ritz Camera and Clinique. JiWire has about 40 million unique users a month on its network.

While there are many rich media ads using video, animation or other visual tricks to engage users, JiWire is hoping that bundling in app-like features is a way to basically lead people to the store. If it works, it could also help further boost local mobile advertising, which BIA/Kelsey predicted will grow from $213 million in 2009 to $2.02 billion by 2014. JiWire’s approach makes sense — mobile users are already app crazy, so why not use that to make ads more useful?

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Want to Make Your Location App Hot? Add a Discount.

Ryan Kim — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:12:23 +0000

Almost nine out of every 10 mobile users will access some type of location based service this holiday season, according to JiWire, which analyzes audiences through Wi-Fi hotspots. However a large number aren’t doing it to score points or share their position, but rather to gain discounts, which may offer companies a way to move beyond the game-playing early adopter crowd into the mass market.

The number of users is high but it reflects JiWire’s audience, an on-the-go, early-adopter lot. According to JiWire, 89 percent of users said they would turn to location based services this holiday season, with 37 percent of users saying they would use them more this holiday season (42 percent said it would be the same as last year). The most popular use of location services is to find store locations, something 61 percent of respondents said they would do, followed by getting product descriptions and reviews (36 percent) and looking up product inventory at local stores (33 percent). Sixty two percent of people said they found a location by clicking on a mobile ad.

While a little over half of users said they still don’t check-in, 29 percent said they found check-ins valuable because of deals and promotions. Others popular reasons for checking in included “sharing my location” at 17 percent, “associating with cool places” at 14 percent and scoring points at 7 percent. The data suggests that while points and badges are nice, the lasting appeal of check-ins comes with getting something tangible out of it. Interestingly, 30 percent of users on average said they would be willing to travel more than five miles to redeem a coupon, with entertainment the leading reason to travel that far. Bars and restaurants were most effective within five blocks. And 21 percent of users said they redeemed a mobile coupon in the last three months. Location has become a buzzword but it can hold true promise for companies that understand how mobile audiences want to use it.

Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide grew to 337,666 in the third quarter, up 19.7 percent over the same period a year ago. Free Wi-Fi hotspots accounted for 53.9 percent of all hotspots. But within that, free cafe hotspots grew by 36.9 percent, due in large part to Starbucks offering free Wi-Fi.

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Wi-Fi Cafe Users Love Apple and Like to Spend

Jennifer Martinez — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:03 +0000

While you’re enjoying a cup of joe in a local cafe, the folks sitting around you typing on their laptops and smartphones could very well be purchasing something online. Nearly 38 percent of people who use a cafe’s Wi-Fi say they make an online purchase during their visit, according to the findings of a report released today from mobile media company JiWire. Of those, more than half say they’re making a personal buy, while just 15 percent say they’re making a business purchase.

In addition, the iPhone and iPod touch are hugely popular with the cafe crowd, the report reveals. The two Apple devices account for a whopping 98 percent of mobile gadgets used in cafes with Wi-Fi. About 54.2 percent and 43.4 percent of people using Wi-Fi in a cafe say they use the iPhone and iPod touch, respectively. (For more on the iPhone, check out our upcoming Mobilize 09 conference.) And although 74 percent of the cafe Wi-Fi crowd use PC laptops, over one-quarter are Mac users — which is notable given that Apple accounts for just 7.4 percent of the U.S. market share for notebooks. To boost its share even more, maybe Apple should target cafe goers in the future. Though it’s partnered with Starbucks before for iTunes promotions, Apple could try coming up with a clever campaign tied in with the coffee chain to boost MacBook sales.

Other notable statistics in the JiWire report are:

The first half of this year saw 9 percent growth in worldwide public Wi-Fi hotspots.
As of June, the U.S. had the highest number of public Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide (67,420), followed by China (28,678) , U.K. (27,459) , France (25,619) and Russia (14,499).
New York had the highest number of public Wi-Fi hotspots out of all U.S. cities (887) as of June. San Francisco (872) came in second, and Chicago (792) trailed behind in third. Stacey’s hometown of Austin, Texas, (417) rounded out the list by taking the 10th slot.
85 percent of Wi-Fi cafe users connect to the web at least once a week, and 68 percent stay connected for over an hour.
53 percent of Wi-Fi cafe users say they go to social media sites during their visits.

Facebook, MySpace and Twitter may want to start reaching out to large chains such as Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee. Thanks to Wi-Fi’s growing ubiquity, more people are choosing to stare at their computer screens in places other than their homes or offices.

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