Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Bowling Centers. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

• One of the biggest opportunities for growth is considered to be partnering with high schools. More high schools are not only offering bowling as physical fitness and elective classes, but also adding varsity bowing teams. There was a 3% increase in high school bowling team/club participation in 2009.
• There’s a growing opportunity for bowling “lounges,” which cater to the 21-40-year-old demographic. These sophisticated lounges are typically set in urban areas and offer upscale menus, music, bars, high-tech audio and visual systems, and party areas.
• The number of certified bowling league members has declined by an average of 3% annually in the last decade.

The Industry Marketing Insights report for Bowling Centers is available on Ad-ology.com (Research Store) for $195 USD with local market data for any U.S. market.

[Source: Ad-ology Research. June 24, 2010]

Consumer interest in mobile apps remains huge. Nielsenwire analysts note that the sales of smart phones are projected to overtake the sales of traditional mobile phones in the near future. As they do, consumers will continue to download apps. This trend presents an opportunity for app developers.

Currently, about 14% of mobile phone subscribers downloaded apps in the past month. The rate of app downloads varies somewhat by the type of smart phone in use as the following statistics show (average number of apps used in one month by user):

• BlackBerry: 10
• iPhone: 37
• Android: 22
• Palm: 14
• Windows mobile: 13

For smart phone users, the following app  types were the most frequently downloaded in the past month:

• Games: 65%
• Music: 46%
• Social networking: 54%
• News/weather: 56%
• Maps/navigation: 55%
• Video/movies: 25%

Nielsenwire’s data also shows that marketers can target specific demographic segments by the types of apps being downloaded. For example, while teens are downloading MySpace, LinkedIn has more fans in the 25-44 year old age group. Men are heavier users of search and map apps.  Slightly more men (51%) than women (49%) use Yahoo Music while significantly more men use iTunes and Pandora.

It’s interesting to ponder whether games will continue to be the most popular app as more consumers connect to mobile networks. For now, both app developers and marketers have huge opportunity to make names for themselves in this nascent industry.

[Source: The State of Mobile Apps. Nielsenwire.com. 1 Jun. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010]

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Family Entertainment Centers. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

• After falling from their peak of 10,000 in the 1980s, the number of arcades has risen to approximately 5,000 across the country. Industry professionals believe part of the fueled popularity is due to members of Generations X and Y introducing their children to games they used to play, such as Pac-Man and Tron.
• Many family entertainment centers are adding private-party areas to attract those celebrating birthdays and other events. In particular, “tween” and teen parties are increasingly in demand, during which traditional games are replaced with go-karts and other activities geared toward older consumers. For some locations, these types of parties account for 30% of birthday-party business.
• An emerging trend is adding live events to family entertainment centers (FEC). More of these businesses are showcasing family-friendly DJs or live music, which they believe not only encourages repeat visitors but also attracts consumers that might not normally visit an FEC.

The Industry Marketing Insights report for Family Entertainment Centers is available on Ad-ology.com (Research Store) for $195 USD with local market data for any U.S. market.

[Source: Ad-ology Research. June 16, 2010]

Few people will argue that consumers are spending more time than ever engaged with media. The total media time for consumers, on average, has reached 3,532 hours, annually.  And as the hours have increased, the types of media used by many consumers have changed. But Veronis Suhler Stevenson analysts believe many companies in the media industry have not kept up with the pace of these changes.

“We’re finding that media owners and investors require greater awareness of how their companies match up to their industry peers and other industry spending patterns that could be viewed as an alternative growth areas and/or competitive,” said John Suhler, Co-founder, President and General Partner of VSS.  To support this contention, the firm’s data points to huge shifts in communications spending in the past 30 years.  While consumer advertising was once the mainstay of a firm’s communications budget, that segment is now dwarfed by the huge amount being spent in the entertainment/leisure sector. The following numbers show the current allocation of spending compared to the historical data (presented in parentheses):

• Entertainment/leisure: 30% (15.9%)
• Targeted media: 23.4% (18.4%)
• Business information/services: 16.2% (8%)
• Traditional consumer advertising: 17.2% (40%)

The drop in time spent with ad-supported media such as TV and newspapers can partly explain the smaller budgets being directed to traditional consumer advertising. Historically, consumers spent nearly 90% of their time with ad-supported media. Today, only about 50% of consumer media time goes to ad-supported models. The rest goes to channels such as video games or the Internet. The biggest beneficiary of this shift, according to VSS analysts, is subscription or pay TV.

The bottom line for media companies is that they must be willing to engage with consumers in the way that these consumers choose to spend their time. By doing so, they will capture a larger share of marketer budgets and enhance their own bottom lines.

[Source: New VSS Study Shows Fast Growth in Communications Industry, Subscription TV and Consumer-supported Media Over 35 Years. VSS.com. 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 3 Jun. 2010]