The Tablet Revolution- Performics

The Tablet Revolution:
A Report on Tablet Usage, Tablet Conversation Analysis & How Tablet Users
Interact with Search Ads

RISE OF THE TABLET
According to Gartner, tablets have sold faster than any other consumer technology device in history. By the end of
2011, 24 million U.S. consumers will own a tablet (eMarketer). By 2012, global tablet sales will reach 81.3 million units—
close to 25% of PC units—and 12.8% of the U.S. population will own a tablet (eMarketer). Google found that 68% of
tablet owners use their device at least one hour per day; 34% spend more time on their tablet than watching TV.
The iPad has dominated the global tablet market, representing 89% of all tablet Web traffic (comScore). Apple has
sold over 25 million iPads since launch. Apple is now driving more revenue through iPad sales than Mac sales. The
iPad is particularly strong in the U.S. with a 97% share (comScore). But the iPad doesn’t lack competition—over 20 new
Android-powered tablets will have launched in 2011 alone.

TABLET CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
What’s the big deal with tablets? Performics utilized social listening data—compiled from over 100 million
consumer-generated media (CGM) sites—through April and June 2011 to evaluate, measure and analyze social tablet
conversations. Social conversations included users reviewing and comparing different tablets, as well as chatter on
new tablet launches, tablet apps and tablet accessories. Our conversation analysis revealed who wants a tablet, why
they want a tablet, what people think of various tablets and the key drivers in comparing tablet devices or features. All
insights are based on Performics’ observed conversations:

Who Wants a Tablet?

According to eMarketer, the typical tablet owner is male (61%), has a college degree or higher (56%) and is unmarried
(71%). Performics’ conversation analysis revealed 4 dominant tablet personas:

1. Artists: uses include graphics and drawing (yet we observed a fair amount of conversations referring to graphic
tablets, which are not the same type of tablet as the iPad)

2. Professionals: uses include taking notes, transporting reports, convenience for on-the-go

3. Students: uses include taking notes, converting handwriting to text, reading

4. General Users: includes reading, traveling, shopping, media, work

Considerations When Purchasing a Tablet

1. Convenience: speed, portability, versatility (readers, drawing tablets, work stations), good for travel

2. Robust App Availability: iTunes/music, movies, weather, Skype, etc.

3. Accessible and Portable Memory: SD cards in loading and transferring data

4. Availability of Accessories: Cases, stands, speakers, chargers, etc.

5. Customization Functionality: ability to tailor tablet to the user’s unique style and needs

1 performics.com . blog.peformics.com . @performics

The Most Talked About Tablets

The majority of conversations we analyzed included general tablet discussions on device specs, features, and accessories.
And, of course, the iPad was a popular conversation piece. Although Windows 8 is a new OS—not a tablet—a great deal
of conversations surrounded Windows 8’s compatibility with tablets. People are excited that “Windows 8 can be installed
on tablets, laptops and desktop and will have a touch keyboard similar to the iPads and Androids.” Below, we broke out
the tablet conversation volume based on device:

3% 2% 2%
4%
5%
Tablet
5% 38%
iPad
Windows 8 Tablet
8%
Android Tablet
Thrive Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab
11%
Blackberry PlayBook
Asus Eee Pad Transformer
22% Windows 8
Thrive tablet

Tablet Conversation Peaks

Nearly half of the conversations about
tablets we analyzed included users Refers to product Refers to a new interest
providing a personal review and spec/ details and specs in the market, no brand
capability description on a specific tablet loyalty (yet), or listeners
and then comparing tablet features. waiting for the market to
Despite the popularity of the iPad, mature
people are also talking about new
tablets, and they’re anticipating new
product launches. This proves that
there’s room for innovation in the tablet
market and that the right new tablet
could challenge the iPad. Generally,
most conversations are not focused on
a specific device or brand, but on which
tablet fits the person’s everyday needs
(i.e. shopping, web browsing and media
entertainment). Existing tablet users share
opinions and information to help guide
research and purchasing decisions. To
the right, we broke out tablet
conversation volume based on topic.

Blogs and Twitter account for the
largest amount of people who
repetitively engage in tablet
conversations. Twitter generates the
highest engagement between people
contributing to tablet conversations by
linking to tech, gadget and bargain sites.


Product reviews, product launches, device failures/issues, competitive pricing and user experience tend to drive when
conversations initiate:

Product Review &
Product Launch Competition Experience
Description

• Tablet vs. PC • Launch dates • iPad • Tweeting from
•Unlike a PC, a •Expected tablet competition tablet
tablet is portable arrival dates and •Conversations •“Just testing the
and very versatile tablet news ask, “How will new Acer tablet.
• Reviews • New Tablets Tablet X So far very cool.”
•“Tablets create •New contenders compare/comp- • Versatile
new generation in the tablet ete with the
•Watch movies,
of interactive market iPad?” work docs., use
experiences” • Price • Price & Tablet apps, read
• Features & •Price is wrapped Comparisons books, etc.
Specs up in the •Tablet • Quality
•Tablet make & announcement conversations on a •Tablet durability,
model details of new tablets price-comparison battery life, and
and launch scale. Many overall
dates conversations participant
relate price to experience
tablet specs

Our conversation analysis also revealed what people like (and don’t like) about the iPad:

iPad Props

• User-Friendly: The user experience is simple enough that even the most technophobic individual can figure out the
iPad

• Battery Life: The real-world battery life of an iPad peaks at 10-12 hours

• Apps: The iPad has more apps and accessories than any other tablet

• Price: Apple retains the same aggressive pricing structure even with new upgrades and features

iPad Disses

• Email App Needs Improvement: The email app doesn’t integrate any of the features of popular email clients, such
as Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, and it doesn’t handle attachments very well

• Videos: People complain about the inability to play Flash videos—including everything on Hulu—which leads to
purchasing video strictly though iTunes

• Apple Lock-In: Similar to most Apple products, the iPad is locked into the Apple ecosystem and doesn’t adapt
very well with outside products. All iTunes-purchased content is wrapped in encryption software so that it can run
only on Apple devices


HOW TABLET USERS INTERACT WITH ADS
According to Chief Marketer’s 2011 Mobile Marketing Survey, 56.6% of U.S. marketers use mobile display ads, and 35.4% use
mobile cost-per-click (CPC) ads. Our conversation analysis revealed that your customers own, or will soon own, tablets. Are
your customers likely to interact with display and CPC ads on those tablets? To answer this question, Performics aggregated
paid search and Google Display Network data from our client base. As of June 1st, Google AdWords began breaking out
“Tablets with full browsers” as a distinct device within AdWords reporting. Previously, tablets were grouped under “Mobile
Devices with Full Browsers.” Based on Performics’ mobile paid search data, impressions were immediately high for the new
tablet reporting category, making it clear that tablets have been materially contributing to Google mobile paid search share
in the past few months.

Tablet impressions are largely coming from the Display Network. Tablet clicks—similar to both computers and mobile
devices—are largely coming from Google Search, rather than the Display Network or syndicated search partners:

June Impressions June Clicks
100% 100%
90% 90%
80% 80%
70% 70%
60% 60%
Search partners Search partners
50% 50%
40% Google search 40% Google search
30% Display Network 30% Display Network
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
Computers Mobile devices with Tablets with full Computers Mobile devices with Tablets with full
full browsers browsers full browsers browsers

Time of Day Tablet Searcher Behavior (Content and Search Partners Excluded)

Initial tablet searcher behavior by time of day not surprisingly resembles existing mobile habits. Tablet search usage peaks
during off-work hours. While PC searches peak between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM—while people are at work—both
mobile and tablet usage peaks between the hours of 5 PM and 10 PM. However, while mobile devices also see moderately
strong search usage between the hours of 11 AM and 5 PM, tablet devices are almost exclusively dedicated to the evening
period. This shows that tablet users restrict their browsing to specific times of day (at night). Tablet users are more likely to
multitask between their tablets, mobile devices and TVs at night:

Impressions (Time of Day)
5.0 1.8
1.6
4.0 1.4
1.2
3.0
1.0
0.8
2.0
0.6
1.0 0.4
0.2
- -
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Mobile Tablets


Tablet Paid Search Metrics (Content and Search Partners Excluded)

In June 2011, Performics’ clients drove 12.1% of total paid search impressions (desktop + mobile) through mobile. In June—
AdWords’ first month of separate tablet tracking and reporting—tablets contributed to 14.3% of all mobile paid search
impressions. Based on these numbers, tablets composed about 2% of all paid search impressions in June (desktop +
mobile):

Impressions
25 14.0%

12.0%
20
10.0%
15 8.0%

10 6.0%

4.0%
5
2.0%

0 0.0%

Mobile Tablets % Impressions from Mobile % Impressions from M + T

In June, mobile click share rose to 11.9% of total paid search clicks (desktop + mobile). Tablets contributed 13.3% of all
mobile clicks:

Clicks
18 14.0%
16
12.0%
14
10.0%
12
10 8.0%

8 6.0%
6
4.0%
4
2.0%
2
0 0.0%

Mobile Tablets % Clicks from Mobile % Clicks from M + T


Mobile and tablet cost-per-clicks (CPCs) also track significantly below PCs. Even with the rise in both mobile and tablet
usage, initial expectations of mobile and tablet CPC inflation have not yet occurred.

CPC

Mobile + Tablet Computers

TABLET IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVERTISERS
12.8% of the U.S. population will own a tablet by 2012. Our conversation analysis revealed that users are highly engaged
with their iPads but open to innovation in features and functionality from iPad competitors. Thus, brands must assume that a
significant number of their customers either already own a tablet or will soon own a tablet when they find the right one.
Performics’ data also show that your customers are using their tablets to search for your brand—especially during the
evening hours.

Google now allows for mobile devices and tablets to be targeted separately. Performics advocates that advertisers
separate tablet campaigns from mobile campaigns. Brands must think of tablets as a “third” (or hybrid) device. Tablet us-
age patterns do look similar to established mobile usage patterns, with people searching in the evening from home. How-
ever, tablets are unlike mobile devices because they’re bigger and feature advanced user scrolling and scaling
functionality. For example, initial data suggests that tablet users are far more likely than PC and mobile users to click on
search results lower down the page (in positions 2-10). Tablet users can scroll down with a gesture, meaning that they’re
more likely to peruse search results, as well as landing pages. Once tablets are targeted in distinct search campaigns,
brands can employ tablet-specific copy and sitelinks like “buy X accessory for your iPad” or “buy now from your tablet.”

It would also be wise for marketers to create a tablet strategy based on the leading personas of their brand. This will ensure
that brands are meeting the needs of their specific audiences (i.e. artist, professional, student, etc). Additionally, traffic
should be driven to desktop—not mobile—landing pages as tablets have bigger screens. Over time, marketers should
redesign the tablet landing page experience to accomodate differences in tablet and desktop browsing.

The tablet revolution is just beginning. Brands that embrace this trend—and tailor advertising campaigns towards it—will
realize a first-mover advantage. The more tablet searcher data that brands can collect, the better (and faster) they can
optimize advertising campaigns to tablet users.


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