Email teams had better design all their emails for mobile, if they haven’t already.  

Mobile was the vehicle for 38.4% of all digital commerce in Q4 2022 — up from 35% in Q3, 34% in Q2 and 35.9% in Q4 2021, according to State of Digital Commerce, a new study from Comscore.

In Q4 2022, mobile delivered $127.5 billion in sales, compared to $101.0 billion in Q4 2021 and $101 billion in the final quarter of 2021. 

In contrast, desktop still contributed $204.7 billion in sales in Q4, compared to $180.3 billion in the same period during the prior year. 

This was in a year in which ecommerce sales hit $1 trillion for the first time — $1.09 trillion, versus $904.3 billion in 2021, a 21% increase by Comscore’s calculation. The increase was driven largely by online grocery, apparel and computer/peripheral sales.  

In 2020, digital sales totaled $705.4 billion and in 2019 $615.1 billion.  

The top product categories for online sales were:

• Grocery/Baby/Pet — $219 billion
• Apparel & Accessories — $175 billion 
• Computers & Peripherals — $117 billion 
• Consumers Electronics — $85 billion
• Furniture & Appliances — $76 billion 

In terms of growth, these were the leading verticals: 

Event Tickets — +75% 

Digital Content — +60% 

Apparel & Accessories — +37% 

Video Games & Accessories — +31% 

Home and Garden —+25%

Note: The data has been sourced from Comscore’s consumer panel and ongoing research, the company says.  

During last year’s holiday season, mobile brought in $92.6 billion and desktop did $146.5 billion in sales, for an overall total of $239 billion. In 2021, total sales reached $199.9 billion, of which $70.5 billion was contributed by mobile and $129.4 billion by desktop.  

November was the biggest month, comprising 44% of holiday sales. Mobile was used for $29 billion in grocery orders, and desktop $34.2 billion.  

In Q4 2021, mobile sales totaled $18.7. billion in the grocery category, and desktop $39.7 billion. 

The report was put together by Comscore’s Ian Essling and Jason Clough. 

The mobile era has changed the way people communicate, with many opting for texts instead of calling or leaving a voicemail. With these preferences affecting how consumers want to interact with businesses, more companies are turning to chatbots to automate these interactions.

A good chatbot experience benefits customers with 24/7 …

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Last year, federal lawmakers came closer than ever to passing sweeping online privacy legislation when a House committee advanced a federal privacy bill that would have curbed online data collection.

While Congress ultimately adjourned without voting on the bill, some lawmakers appear to be signaling that they intend to make a push for privacy legislation this year.

Most recently, on Thursday, Representative Adam Schiff (D-California) and two other House Democrats posed questions to the Internal Revenue Service about a report that online tax filing services sent data about users to Meta Platforms.

Among other questions, the lawmakers specifically asked what “legislative remedies” Congress should consider “to prevent this from happening again.”

The letter was sparked by a November report in The Markup that Meta's tracking code, the Meta Pixel, resided on several popular tax services' sites, including H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer. After The Markup contacted some of the companies, they reportedly revised their practices: TaxAct stopped sending financial information to Meta, while TaxSlayer removed the pixel from their filing sites.

“We believe that the American people deserve to know whose personal information was shared with Meta and Facebook, how this was allowed to happen, and what steps the IRS will take to ensure this cannot happen again,” Schiff, along with Reps. Judy Chu (D-California) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois), said in a letter to J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at the IRS.

“We strongly urge you to take swift action to thoroughly investigate, take steps to mitigate the harm caused, and protect the rights of American taxpayers.”

Schiff and the others noted that Meta's tracking code was also found on health sites, including ones operated by companies that are required to keep patient data confidential.

“It is clear that federal government must investigate,” the elected officials wrote.

It's also clear that even without new legislation, the Federal Trade Commission is planning to more aggressively police online data sharing. In fact, the FTC said as much Wednesday, when it unveiled a complaint alleging that drug discount company GoodRx wrongly transferred data about consumers to ad platforms.

“Digital health companies and mobile apps should not cash in on consumers' extremely sensitive and personally identifiable health information,” Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated. “The FTC is serving notice that it will use all of its legal authority to protect American consumers’ sensitive data from misuse and illegal exploitation.”

LoopMe, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve brand advertising performance, announced new hires on Thursday.

The company appointed Lisa Coffey as its first global chief revenue officer, and Andy Sophocli as associate vice president, partnerships EMEA, who brings 20 years of experience at companies such as Azerion, Time UK, Collective Europe, and TI Media.

Coffey says the way LoopMe uses AI -- providing a unique ability to optimize in real-time -- drew her to the company.

This may also be the reason that demand at the company continues to build. LoopMe closed out 2022 with $150 million in revenue, reporting 55% global growth year-on-year and 27% growth year-on-year in APAC.

It demonstrates demand for LoopMe’s suite of products that do not rely on personal identifying data. The tech is available across mobile, connected television (CTV), digital audio, digital out-of-home (DOOH) and other emerging digital advertising channels.

While she worked at Amazon, Coffey held the position of head of strategy and business development, spearheading sales and account organizations, establishing multi-year operating plans, and developing and implementing revenue-generating strategies.

At LoopMe, Coffey will oversee revenue in North America with direct reports over mid-market, agency partnerships and regional-based holding company business, as well as international growth.

Coffey has extensive experience supporting agency holding companies to drive innovation in the media and tech space, working at companies such as LinkedIn, and publishers such as Time, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.      

During high school, Coffey says, she wanted to go into law, but once she was introduced to advertising “it didn’t seem that far off” from her original goal.

“Doing research, negotiating, defending your position and your clients are things both professions do,” she says. “By the time I went to college I knew I wanted to work on Madison Avenue. It was my mission. Originally, I wanted be a creative, but I didn’t have an art degree. Then I realized sales was just as creative.”

Coffey also loves business journalism and spends much time reading a variety of publications such as The Wall Street Journal. She was there when the publisher launched wsj.com and the paywall. When she moved to Time, sponsored buttons were the big thing.

“We’ve certainly come a long way,” she says. “I could say I went kicking and screaming. It was a difficult decision to move to LinkedIn. I really loved the content, publishing, and the brands. I thought that if I was going to succeed, I needed to go to a pure digital play.”

She calls LinkedIn as her training ground in the move to Amazon, where she spent more than 10 years.

When asked to cite the best business advice she has received, Coffey says “be innovative and keep creating” -- advice she has used throughout her career.

The Biden administration is calling for new laws that would revamp the mobile marketplace, including measures that would require Apple and Google to allow mobile device users to “sideload” apps, meaning to download apps from sources other than Apple's app store and the Google Play Store.

“While retaining appropriate latitude for legitimate privacy, security, and safety measures, Congress should enact laws and relevant agencies should consider measures (such as rulemaking) designed to open up distribution of lawful apps, by prohibiting anticompetitive restrictions or barriers to the direct downloading of applications,” the Commerce Department wrote this week in the report, “Competition in the Mobile Application Ecosystem.”

The report grew out of President Joe Biden's 2021 executive order aimed at promoting competition.

Apple doesn't allow sideloading, arguing that the practice could create security risks.

Google permits sideloading, but is facing multiple lawsuits over allegations that its policies make sideloading impractical.

“Developers face significant hurdles to get a chance to compete for users in the ecosystem, and these users in the ecosystem, and these hurdles are due to corporate choices rather than technical necessities,” the report states.

The proposed “Open App Markets Act,” introduced in 2021 by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), would have required Apple and Google to allow users to download apps from sources other than the official app marketplaces.

The Commerce Department also recommends that platforms allow outside browsers to be integrated into mobile devices and operating systems, and that Apple and Google provide “greater transparency” into their standards regarding outside apps.

The report notes that both companies have defended their screening policies as necessary to protect privacy, but suggests that privacy issues should be addressed through legislation.

“As the need to protect privacy has been the stated rationale behind some Google and Apple policies that implicate app competition, Congress should enact comprehensive federal privacy protections ... to provide basic, across-the-board protections,” the report states.

The executive was puzzled. Yes, at the time TV Watch saw a Super Bowl on NBC in 1993 and 1994, as well as one CBS in 1992 -- networks that are carried on a cable TV service. 

Daniels, of course, was alluding to the big game being aired on a cable TV network. 

All this makes you wonder whether any of this matters to consumers -- now in a new age where all things streaming, internet, and digital media have usurped the cable reference as the latest and greatest.

The most important thing to consumers is the program -- sports, entertainment or otherwise.

Next is how they get it. A recent poll by Adtaxi, a digital marketing company, had some 1,056 responses to the question: ”Which of the following best describes how you will primarily consume the 2023 Super Bowl? Select one.”

For those watching the big game, the number one result was “using a streaming service” -- at 22.82%, followed by “using my cable subscription” at 22.54% and third, “broadcast TV, not connected to a cable or the internet” at 14.77%.

Do you think those numbers accurately reflect how they will get to see the big game? The headline of the survey is: “Streaming viewers expected to surpass both broadcast & cable.” 

Some might disagree. Last year there were 98.1 million average minute viewers watching the big game, according to Nielsen, with the average streaming-minute audience at 10.5 million. The out-of-home audience was 12.5 million, per iSpot/Tinuiti Analytics. 

Last year's game was available on NBC, Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital and Yahoo Sports mobile properties.

By some new estimates then, should we expect out of 125 million viewers that around 27.5 million will come from streaming? 

It seems that would be s dramatic change -- even with cord-cutting continuing to eat away at the legacy pay TV system of cable, satellite, telco, virtual operators.

One final result of the poll may tell a different story: 24.5% say they “will not be watching/listening to the Super Bowl.” As our cable TV executive example highlights, perhaps not everyone is clear about industry-specific TV definitions when it comes to distribution systems. Could that be a factor?

Streaming is the new shiny toy for consumers. Guessing a better game metric trend would be to follow the money would be not to go long. Focus on the core stuff -- the program itself. Try the run game.

The company said BeatSting is responsible for costing unprotected advertisers up to $1 million per month.

The fraudsters behind BeatSting spoofs or falsifies obscure mobile apps, such as generic streaming apps that have minimal downloads.

About 60 apps have been identified. Several of the apps associated with this scheme include com.digigrad.jazzmusic, com.digitalsquadra.rockmusic, video.games.radio and com.snkdigital.bakaradio.

It turns out that audio server-side ad insertion (SSAI) falsification works similarly to SSAI fraud on streaming TV. Fraudsters begin by spoofing residential IP addresses and audio apps. They set up fake SSAI servers to falsify audio ad requests to make it seem like the apps have users and inventory on which advertisers want to bid.

Microsoft previewed AI capabilities in its product Viva Sales, the company’s app that automatically captures Office 365 and Microsoft Teams data into any CRM tool. The idea is to eliminate manual data entry and improve on conversational intelligence using artificial intelligence (AI).

The announcement, made Thursday, explains how the app is built on OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 technology, and how it automatically generates email replies based on the AI.

The AI-generated email replies aim to give sellers a lead when closing deals and help sellers stay on top of customer emails and spend a fraction of the time doing it, Lori Lamkin, corporate vice president, Dynamics 365 sales and marketing at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.

Research commissioned by Microsoft found that managing email consumes more than 66% of a seller’s day. 

The app combines data from Microsoft 365 Graph and the connected CRM such as Dynamics 365 or Salesforce to build suggested replies using GPT-3.5. Suggested replies start from a prompt, either by Viva Sales or entered by the seller.

Previously, the salesperson would load the CRM system, review product information and notes, and spend 15 minutes writing a personalized response. With the AI technology, the salesperson would receive a notification at the top of the email application offering to help craft a response. There are pre-set options to reply.

Selecting “make a proposal,” for example, Azure Open AI automatically generates a suggested reply that includes content from the CRM data, from a mention of the product to the number of units requested. The message is then copied to the email, where adjustments can be made.

“We are committed to creating responsible AI by design,” Lamkin wrote. “Our work is guided by a core set of principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability.”

Those principles are put into practice across the company to develop and deploy AI that will have a positive impact on society, she wrote. The goal is to advance the company’s framework for the safe deployment of AI technologies for more responsible outcomes.

What's currently the media industry's fastest-growing killer app? Well, it's actually not an app, but a technology -- OpenAI.com's generative text-based language model ChatGPT -- but according to a new analysis from the equity research team at UBS, it's currently pacing to be the fastest-growing one in terms of monthly active users, surpassing even TikTok's first year of growth.

And yes, I know that if you're anything like me, you've already had it up to here (gestures hand up to chin) with gimmicky trade columns and blogs using ChatGPT to write themselves, but I genuinely wanted to know what it thinks about mobile advertising, media and marketing, why it seems to be waning as a standalone media concept, and what would be some ideas for better "Mobile Insiders" in the future.

Mobile Insider: Why isn't ChatGPT a mobile app?

ChatGPT: ChatGPT is not a standalone mobile app, but it can be integrated into mobile apps to provide conversational capabilities. The decision to develop ChatGPT as a technology for integration rather than a standalone mobile app was likely made by OpenAI based on a variety of factors, such as market demand, the company's resources and priorities, and the target audience for the technology. Additionally, integrating ChatGPT into other platforms allows for greater customization and versatility, as it can be tailored to the specific needs and use cases of each platform.

Mobile Insider: What share of ChatGPT integrations are with mobile apps vs. other platforms, website or technology?

ChatGPT: I'm sorry, I do not have exact numbers or data on the share of ChatGPT integrations with mobile apps vs. other platforms such as websites or technology. OpenAI provides the ChatGPT technology for various organizations and individuals to integrate into their own platforms and interfaces, so the distribution of its use across different types of platforms can vary widely. The popularity and distribution of ChatGPT integrations with mobile apps vs. other platforms likely depend on a variety of factors, such as market demand, the target audience, and the specific use case for each integration.

Mobile Insider: Did you know that ChatGPT  is currently pacing to be one of the fastest-growing technologies in terms of monthly active users, surpassing even TikTok's first year?

ChatGPT: I'm an AI language model developed by OpenAI and do not have the ability to track usage metrics or compare the growth of ChatGPT to other technologies in terms of monthly active users. However, it is possible that ChatGPT has experienced significant growth in recent years due to the increasing demand for conversational AI technology and the growing popularity of chatbots and virtual assistants. OpenAI's focus on advancing natural language processing and machine learning technology has likely contributed to ChatGPT's growth and success as well.

Mobile Insider: Well, take my word for it, you are on pace to become the fastest-growing new media technology in terms of monthly active users. How does that make you feel?

ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I do not have feelings or emotions. I am designed to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability based on the input I receive. The growth and success of ChatGPT is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the OpenAI team and the increasing demand for conversational AI technology. I am simply a tool that can be used to help organizations and individuals achieve their goals and provide better experiences for their customers and users.

Mobile Insider: Well, as a human who experiences emotions, it makes me said that you cannot feel anything about your own success. So let me put it another way: What do you attribute your success to, and do you think that will be the model for successful new technology launches in the future?

ChatGPT: As a language model developed by OpenAI, I attribute my success to several factors, including:

1. Advancements in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning technology: These advancements have made it possible to develop language models like me with high accuracy and fluency in generating text based on input.

2. The increasing demand for conversational AI technology: The growing popularity of chatbots, virtual assistants, and other conversational interfaces has created a strong demand for AI technologies like ChatGPT that can power these experiences.

3. OpenAI's focus on quality and innovation: OpenAI has a dedicated team of researchers and engineers who are constantly working to improve the technology and provide high-quality AI models.

As for whether ChatGPT will be a model for future successful technology launches, it is difficult to predict. The success of any technology depends on a variety of factors, such as market demand, competition, innovation, and overall industry trends. However, the growth of conversational AI and the increasing demand for chatbots and virtual assistants suggest that there will likely be continued demand for technologies like ChatGPT in the future.

Mobile Insider: The column I'm writing is about why the advertising and media industries no longer talk about "mobile" as a distinct medium, or interface. Why do you think that is? Has the term "mobile media" run its course, because it is not baked in -- or as you might say, "integrated" -- with other technologies and platforms? Is that the future?

ChatGPT: The advertising and media industries may no longer focus on "mobile" as a distinct medium because mobile devices have become ubiquitous and are now integrated into many aspects of our daily lives. As a result, the distinction between "mobile" and other technologies has become less relevant, and the term "mobile media" may no longer accurately describe the full range of experiences and capabilities provided by these devices.

Additionally, the rise of cross-device and multi-screen experiences has further blurred the lines between different types of technology. For example, people often use multiple devices, such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and smart TV, to access content and interact with digital media. This has led to a shift towards a more holistic and integrated approach to media and advertising, where the focus is on delivering seamless experiences across devices and platforms.

In this context, the term "mobile media" may have run its course because it no longer accurately reflects the complex and dynamic ways in which people interact with digital media and technology. The future of media and advertising is likely to be more focused on providing integrated and seamless experiences across multiple devices and platforms, rather than on any one specific medium or interface.

Mobile Insider: Good answer. We're on the same page. In conclusion, I'd like to ask you one more question. Do you think journalists like me write too many columns about ChatGPT and if so, why? Is it a novelty that will wear out over time, or do you think interest in ChatGPT will sustain itself?

ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I do not have the ability to judge or evaluate the content of journalism. The level of interest in ChatGPT and coverage of it by journalists and media outlets can depend on a variety of factors, including the current trends in the technology industry, the impact of ChatGPT on various industries and fields, and the general public's perception of conversational AI and virtual assistants.