I don't think there is a hotter topic in the measurement world than measuring mobile. Eric certainly called this in last year’s X Change keynote! It seems like every company I talk to is deeply interested in exploring mobile – and trying to figure out how to bring measurement along.
What’s already become clear is that Mobile measurement is a potential minefield of problems – with enormous complexities around units and capabilities that make our old issues with browsers look as tame as a pet spaniel.
Mobile measurement has spawned a whole new set of tools – some that feel more like throwbacks to 2001. And, of course, it's being aggressively pursued by traditional vendors as well. Talking with Omniture (who will be supporting this Huddle) getting your feedback on mobile needs is one of their top priorities for X Change as they move toward some significant announcements in this area. So Bob's Huddles will provide a great way to learn about Mobile AND influence the direction of mobile measurement!
Bob, as you’ll see below, is on the front-lines of all this and brings years of mobile experience to the table. I know that I want to sit in on these Huddles (but I may have to defer if they’re as popular as I expect)! Here is Bob's interview:
Could you describe your role at Turner?
I lead Turner Broadcasting System's R&D efforts for wireless and
broadband on a global basis. I also am responsible for the global
strategy and look after mobile product operations.
How long have you been doing this?
I've been at Turner for roughly 3.5 years now. Prior to that, I spent
over 18 years at Motorola spanning R&D, product development, product
management, brand management, product marketing, strategy, and business
development. I lived in the UK for nearly 8 years during that time and
was at ground zero for the launch of several mobile technologies
including third generation mobile.
Can you tell us a little about the technology your using - and how
that's evolving - both in terms of web analytics and the online measurement
eco-system?
We have deployed a wide range of mobile products from basic text
messaging alerts through to mobile streaming television. We also
provide a mechanism for our viewers to submit their own user-generated
content (iReports) for use on-air on CNN. The entire analytics piece
continues to evolve, but we are currently using Omniture for our
reporting and are fully integrated with DART for our advertising.
Your first Huddle topic is "The Mobile Landscape: Challenges and
Opportunities." What led you to pick that?
I travel roughly 250,000 miles in a year all across the world. Every
country that I go to has unique challenges and opportunities. What I
see in Korea and Japan just blows me away by comparison to the
relatively simplistic state of the USA mobile market. For Turner
though, this is a great opportunity to see and try new things in markets
which are much further ahead than our own. I thought it would be great
as well to talk about this perspective, as many of the things taking
place elsewhere in the world are generally good predictors of what we
will see in the USA in a couple of years.
You're also doing a Huddle on "Mobile Technology: Development,
Deployment, and Measurement." tell me a little about that?
There is no question that the rapid pace of mobile technology deployment
is often at the expense of well thought out business models. Technology
is never the challenge in the mobile industry. Figuring out how to make
money of that technology is certainly a challenge. Now that we are
moving further into schemes where advertising plays a key role in that
monetization, there are significant challenges in providing accuracy in
measurement. I thought it would be fun to talk about those challenges
and how we are attempting to get past them.
Of the other Huddles at X Change, are there some you're particularly
keen on?
There are also a couple of presentations from colleagues on mobile
measurement and mobile marketing. I'm very keen to see and hear how
others are approaching the same problem that we face.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing enterprise web
measurement in the next year?
In general, I think there is a fascinating challenge that awaits us in
general when it comes to web measurement - and it is actually in terms
of how we apply it. Users are increasingly concerned about the privacy
aspects of how their data is being used by marketers and advertisers. I
think that finding this balance and figuring out how not to scare off
people - whilst still being able to provide relevant, targeted
advertising will be a huge challenge. The techniques and measurement
schemes seem to be the least of our issues; as always, the challenge
comes in the real life application of that measurement data.
Any other thoughts / comments?
I'm looking forward to this conference, and I hope to not only share a
lot of the things that I've seen but learn from others as to how they
are tackling the problems that we as an industry are facing in the area
of mobile measurement and marketing.
If you are going to be tackling mobile web measurement, the opportunity to talk in-depth with someone like Bob is incredibly valuable. Of course, that’s the whole idea behind X Change. My next interview is going to be with Jared Waxman of Intuit. Jared’s pushing the envelope in more traditional measurement – and I think you’ll find his topics and takes equally compelling!
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