What’s happened this week:
- Google could be adding Buy buttons to mobile search, whilst Facebook now let’s you call from local Newsfeed ads
- Lyft, a rival to Uber, raised an extra $150m of funding, valuing the company at $2.5bn
- Cross-platform adserver Sizmek has acquired mobile DSP StrikeAd for $11.7m
What we have learned:
- Early morning shopping – mobile in-app revenue peaks at 7am, according to research by AppLovin and Tune
- 74% of Millennials use mobile and tablet to research holidays, according to research from Yahoo
- Views of “How To” videos on YouTube have increased by 70% YOY, with over 100m hours watched in 2015
Cool stuff:
- Great campaign for the prevention of skin cancer – Shadow WIFI only offers internet access in the shade which moves in real time throughout the day
- Google’s home-made self-driving cars will be hitting the roads of California later this year
- Silicon Valley Fashion Week? Who needs runway models when you’ve got Drones – is this the future of fashion?
Where to find more:
- Verizon, the US mobile operator, purchased AOL for $4.4bn – what does this mean? Forbes are worried about content, NYT say it’s all about adtech whilst this article claims it could be the future of the mobile operator business model
- As the BBC, Guardian and Buzzfeed sign up to Facebook’s Instant Articles, publishers are divided over what this means for their future business models – balanced perspectives from Vox, Venture Beat and DigiDay
- Nice overview from PSFK looking at the three trends driving connected living
