Flexible screens on mobile could be the future, predicts Adobe's Tamara Gaffney

Trends like Android OS TV, flexible screens, voice recognition and conversation commerce will be game changers in the coming years, says the Principal Analyst at Adobe Digital Index

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | April 29, 2016

Digital trends have been changing faster than the weather, keeping marketers on tenterhooks. Marketers need to know the direction in which the consumer is moving. The consumer in turn, would like to consume only relevant advertising and is suddenly confronted with native advertising in the digital space.

So, how will digital impact the future of mobile advertising and advertising in general in different regions of the world? Adobe, which is an integrated digital platform which empowers digital experiences, also studies consumer patterns across industries.

While a lot of common trends have been evident in the digital space, Tamara Gaffney, Principal Analyst, Adobe Digital Index is certain that more digital trends would soon become apparent in India and other global markets.

India is seeing a lot of smartphone penetration. According to Adobe Analytics, smartphone traffic grew by 36.3 per cent in the media and entertainment industry, followed by a jump of 27.1 per cent in retail. Smartphone traffic in the travel and hospitality industry jumped by 21.2 per cent, followed by a 21 per cent increase in finance and 16.6 per cent rise in the technology industry.

Consumers continue to rely more and more on smartphones to browse websites. At a global level, China saw the largest increase in smartphone traffic with an average performance of 73.4 per cent, while India witnessed a 70.9 per cent increase in smartphone traffic.

Notwithstanding the growth in the mobile penetration of the digital space, desktop visits are still substantial. All industries still have more than half their traffic coming from desktop devices. Overall, desktop traffic decreased for all countries. After the US, India saw the least desktop traffic, of an average of 67.6 per cent.

The gap between the average and the top 20 performances is getting wider in all countries and engagement is suffering worldwide. There is a year-on-year (yoy) decrease in visits on smartphones, while desktop visits have increased in India and China.

Gaffney predicts that mobile would have flexible screens to keep up the digital experience for consumers. Smartphones today already have wide screens, in a bid to overtake the need and usage of tablets. But with flexible screens, the experience could be a game changer in most markets. Speaking of the future of advertising, Gaffney predicts that mobile advertising rates ? now at 26 per cent ? were going to fall.

Pop-up advertisements annoy consumers and worldwide ad blockers are used to avoid pop-ups on mobile devices and desktops. Marketers do not benefit from the trend, since it signifies a waste of investment in advertising. Luckily, the Indian digital space has not seen too many ad blockers. Facebook seems to have been able to buck the trend with native advertising, but other players in the digital space are still looking for the right solution.

Marketers targeting mobile devices face another problem. They are not always able to provide a consistent app experience. Consumers often forget their passwords and cannot login frequently. Biometric authentication is expected to overtake passwords by 2020, revolutionizing many trends in the digital space.

Speaking of the internet of things (IoT) Gaffney said she was amazed with technology like voice supporting almost all functions of the consumer. While globally and more specifically in the United States, Amazon Echo is the most admired voice support. Amazon Echo leads by 67 per cent as the most admired support when it comes to quality of voice recognition. In terms of quality of voice recognition Google Now and Siri rate at 45 per cent, followed by Windows Cortona at 38 per cent and lastly Facebook M at 18 per cent.

Gaffney said she was amazed with the kind of conversational commerce such disruptive technology could have and predicts that it will be the future of communication. She is also of the opinion that every brand that thinks about digital needs to think about voice.

Android OS TV's is expected to accelerate transition to digital video and the trend is expected to be evident by 2017 and will probably reach India by 2018-19. Finally, Gaffney predicts that augmented reality and virtual reality would change the way advertising and the digital world functioned. In her opinion, the trend would open up new business opportunities.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com