Wearable usage will grow by nearly 60% this year. That’s an impressive number considering that just a couple short years ago the term “wearable” was an overhyped buzzword with little practical applications outside of the Fitbit products. Google glasses were downright weird (personal opinion) and few of us had the interest (or guts) to walk around in them.
But today, wearables, defined as accessories or clothing embedded with internet-connected electronics that exchange data with a manufacturer or other connected device, have become less obvious and well…more embedded in everyday things. Wearables are a large part of what is fueling the internet of things (IoT) movement.
The premise behind wearables is to enable sensor-equipped “things” to communicate with one another in meaningful, actionable ways. Giving us real time data we can use. For example, to push me to walk 1,000 more steps to get to my daily target. Fitness is still the single biggest use, but more applications are rapidly developing.
This video from CES 2015 shows some great examples.
Right now, the main barrier for consumer adoption seem to be the lack of a persuasive use case and a killer app ecosystem. Today just 16% of Americans are currently using a wearable device, and most of that is on the wrist. But by 2019 over one-third of the US adult population is projected to be a wearable user. Smartwatches are leading the adoption curve and the Apple iWatch will likely impact growth of these numbers. While Apple won’t release specifics about unit sales, US sales of traditional watches have taken a hit of some 14 percent decline in unit sales – the biggest drop in 7 years – according to this Bloomberg report.
At this point, advertisers haven’t fully embrace this technology and most likely won’t until penetration reaches a more critical mass. But we need to be thinking about possible applications now, because this future is only quarters away, not years.
As marketers we need to think beyond traditional mobile ad formats, because these will not port over to wearables.
Sponsorships like computer repairs by PC Doctor in Edinburgh are already happening (Under Armor, Nike) and native ads will likely follow. A number of companies including Nike are already moving towards coach-enhanced apps that learn from your performance outputs and adjusts your next workout accordingly. Apple’s health and fitness app will tell you when you need to stand or move more (two keys to cardiovascular health) based upon real-time information from your Apple Watch. A number of other companies are hiring teams of exercise physiologists, data scientists, and physicians to help move data from descriptive to prescriptive.
Because wearables are typically tethered to a smartphone or another web-enabled device via Bluetooth, tracking behaviors between wearables and other digital devices could open doors to completely new types of triggered opportunities. Atul Satija, vice president of global revenue and operations at mobile advertising network inMobi described one possibility this way “A fitness band is streaming data into an app but the band doesn’t have a screen to display an ad. So, the app on the phone, which has gathered enough data to show the person something relevant, borrows a nearby screen to serve the ad. At the gym, that screen would be on the person’s treadmill.”
While wearable devices are still in their infancy, the growth and excitement around them will ensure the technology matures rapidly over the next few years.
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