The rapid adoption of iPads and other tablets is speeding up the growth in travel bookings on mobile devices, opening up a fresh market for mobile advertising, according to a new survey.
Expedia Media Solutions, the advertising unit of the global online travel agency, commissioned comScore, a digital usage survey firm, to conduct a study (opens as a PDF) on mobile advertising.
The study estimates that 61% of tablet owners made a travel purchase on their device in the first half of the year.
Some key points, according to the study’s authors:
- It’s not too late to infiltrate mobile and become a vertical leader in a growing sector.
- No other medium lets you reach potential customers at scale at the precise moment they’re most open to travel content. More than one-third of mobile device owners are already using their gadgets to plan trips while on the go.
- Apps are best for incremental reach and driving brand engagement.
- Multi-device ownership poses a challenge for brands looking for a cohesive voice across platforms.
The study claims that nearly half of respondents (48%) have used a tablet or smartphone to plan their trip this year so far.
Among travellers who own a mobile device, 61% have made a purchase (usually related to hotel bookings or air travel) on a tablet in the last six months while 51% have made a purchase on a smartphone, giving larger touchscreen devices an edge.
Deals and promotions (64%), photos (55%) and recommendations (38%) were the favourite types of content.
Expedia led in popularity for its apps for smartphone and tablet because of “ease of use” and “familiar interface” across platforms. (Note: Study was funded by Expedia.)
While Delta Air Lines’ Fly Delta app clearly had a lead in popularity with users in terms of “minutes used,” according to comScore Media Metrix June 2012 results.
All of these stats help paint some of the picture of mobile usage, along with other recent data, such as the most popular air travel apps by actual iPhone usage and data usage for travel booking apps in general.
Related posts:
About Sean O'Neill
This article is probably a good opportunity to share with you a link to the new free iPad application launched by Amadeus some days ago in the US: Travel Seeker HD.
> https://extranets.us.amadeus.com/travelseekerhd/index.html
Travel Seeker HD enables users to conduct “inspiring” travel searches from 100 city origins in the U.S. and Canada to 150 destinations in the U.S. and 350 destinations worldwide.
Through an intuitive graphical interface, the app provides rich information about destinations and activities based on a wide range of travel search parameters such as budget, flight options, points-of-interest, weather, geography, friends living close to the destination and more.
Thanks, Nicolas!
I’d be interested in knowing how travel purchases made by tablet owners is split between app-driven purchases vs. web purchases on a tablet browser. Any idea Sean?
Hi, Pete,
Thanks for your question. Of the owners of tablets who booked travel through their tablet, 56% used an app to book lodging and 58% used an app to book plane tickets.
So, a slim majority is using apps instead of web-native solutions.
Fewer than one in five tablet owners are using their tablets to book either air or lodging on their devices, however.
Hope that helps!
Sean
Also worth noting, In 2011, Booking.com’s customers completed more than $1 billion in transactions on mobile devices. Back then, it was smartphones in the lead. Now it’s shifting to tablets in the lead, especially thanks to its new Booking.com Tonight app.
Market share of booking through tabs (ipad & android) is increasing daily. Web purchase is still bigger then purchase through mobile devices. But…. 2013/14
Thanks for the very specific data – we’ll be sure to include it in our next industry related update. We’ve just launched a free ebook with data relating to the mobile economy. I think it would be valuable to you and your reader: http://www.thinslices.com/resources/why-you-should-think-mobile/
Feel free to redistribute, we’ve worked a lot on the design and content.