b2b trend report telecom - media

B2B Trend ReportTelecomMay 2020

2

Executive Summary

• Solid intent growth YoY for China Mobile, EE, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and Century Link

• Companies of all sizes are still surging on digital content across the competitor set, with the majority of the share of voice claimed by T-Mobile, Vodafone and Verizon (70%)

• Number of Enterprise size companies surging on Telco brands is close to pre-Covid levels

• 5G is surging as a critical topic for businesses (+102% increase)• Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile

being the companies most associated

• COVID-19 is now associated with 10% of all mentions

• IoT is also surging as a critical topic for businesses (+1% increase, over 2.5 M Searches)

• Dominated largely by Vodafone followed by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile

• There is positive sentiment across the board with increased intent on key topics such as IoT, 5G, Networks, etc.• Businesses are feeling optimistic

and beginning to re-engage with digital transformation efforts.

• Research and Innovative responses to the COVID crisis is giving businesses trends and stats to drive decisions

Bench Strength Exists in the B2B Telecom Market Despite the

Pandemic

COVID-19 is Pushing the Digital Transformation

Agenda

Finding a New Normal

Brand Category Analysis

3

Competitive set chosen from BrandZ’s largest telecommunications brands in the world 2019Plus, specific requests have now been added after our April report

4

Brand Jan Feb Mar Apr TOTAL INCREASE

Flat 22% Flat 22% 10%

Flat 22% Flat 22% 10%Flat Flat 23% 11% 8%

22% Flat Flat 11% 8%22% Flat Flat Flat 6%Flat Flat Flat 22% 5%

Flat 22% Flat Flat 5%-32% Flat 30% 31% 4%Flat Flat Flat Flat Flat

Flat Flat -18% Flat -5%-18% -18% Flat 11% -7%Flat Flat Flat -9% -7%

-18% Flat Flat -9% -7%Flat Flat -18% -18% -10%

-18% Flat -9% -9% -12%-33% -18% -33% Flat -23%

Category Remains Robust YoY as the Coronavirus Progresses (Flat %Change )

Source: Google. Please note that the rounding of the percentages here is a result of the same in the Google Keyword Planner

platform. Specific business brands have been included where intent allows

% Growth in Google Brand Searches: Feb-April 2019 vs Feb-April 2020

27%

25%16%

12%

10%

4%4%

T-Mobile VodafoneVerizon AT&TSprint EECenturyLink TelefonicaVerizon business China Mobileat&t business T-Mobile businessEE business Sprint Business

Volume of Google Brand Searches: Feb-April 2020

Overall category has seen a 102% increase MoM (March – April) indicating increased interest in tech as

concerns for Covid-19 decrease. Sprint likely skewed by the merger

5

Company Surge Numbers Are Strongly Recovering 84% Increase MoM in Unique Companies Surging on Telecom Topics (March-April)

53,099

22,963

107,415

42,169

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

Companies Unique Companies

March April

• Significant increase MoM—back to pre-Covid levels. This is due to:• Increased demand for digital transformation• Increased prioritization of digital first experiences• Digital selling enablement

• Education (+67%), Software (+59%), Hospitals & Clinics (29%), and Construction (+23%) have seen large MoM increases in number of surging companies.

• Software, Healthcare and Manufacturing are seeing the highest volume of companies surging on Telecom Topics.

Volume of Unique Companies Surging on Telecom Topics: March-Apr 2020

Source: Bombora Global company intent analysis April 30th, 2020

Company Surge Activity YTD

6

Strong Increases in Companies Consuming Brand Related Content for China Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile, EE, Verizon and More

79%

65%

56% 56%47%

40%27%

-318%

Source: Bombora Global company intent analysis April 30th, 2020 *Graphs not to scale

This graph represents the % increase in interest from companies in online content which is related to these brands. It does not necessarily mean brand owned content.

Vodafone had a large media effort throughout March. Large decrease can be attributed to a subsequent drop in promotion.

% Increase In The Number of Companies Surging On Brand Related Content

Topics: Feb-Apr 2020

7

Companies Continue to Surge on Telecom Brands, the Majority On T-Mobile and Vodafone

7Source: Bombora Global company intent analysis April 30th, 2020

*Graph not to scale

23%

45%

32%

37%

35%

28%

37%

35%

28%

Vodafone drop in company surge is reflective of the drop in paid

promotions during April.

Flat 27%

From 26%

Large Enterprise Surges (1000+ Employees)

Medium Business Surges (200-999 Employees)

Small Business Surges (10-199 Employees)

25%

Flat 17%

8

Companies Continue to Surge on Telecom Brands, The Majority On T-Mobile and Vodafone

8

34%

41%

25% Spread of business sizes indicates interest across the board in Telecom solutions.

Sprint surges are up 10% MoM, due to news around the merger

with T-Mobile.

From 11%

34%

43%

22%

49%29%22%

From 9%

12%

10%

Flat 5%



Small Business Surges (10-199 Employees)

Source: Bombora Global company intent analysis April 30th, 2020*Graph not to scale

9

Companies Are Surging Less on EE And Deutsche Telekom Content Due to the Smaller Size of Their Market Coverage

9

Flat 4%

Flat 1%



Small Business Surges (10-199 Employees) Source: Bombora Global company intent analysis April 30th, 2020*Graph not to scale

EE is predominately UK, Deutsche Telekom DE, China Mobile is

Chinese, and Telefonica is Spanish.

39%

37%

24%

43%

37%

21%

65%

21%

13%

50%27%

23%

Flat 1%

Flat 1%

Telecom Brand ActivityHow Telecom Brands are Addressing COVID-19Activity from past month

12

The Global Telecom Industry is Contributing to the Covid-19 Effort

• T-Mobile looks to keep veterans in contact with the support they need

by powering the VA’s telehealth app, along with expanding their

network and offering discounts to military families

• Dedicated a feed on their site to report on T-Mobile responses to

COVID-19

• AT&T continues to find ways to find support synergy with first

responders and local organizations. In West Virginia, AT&T purchased $20,000 worth of cookies from Girl Scouts of America to send to first

responders, assisting the struggling organization while continuing to

support first responders.• Launched a learning academy to

assist students who no longer have access to internships, by furthering education and preparing them for

life after graduation

• Verizon was named #1 top corporate responder by Forbes for

their response to COVID-19. Verizon instituted one of the largest expansions sick leave policies and

avoided lay offs for any of their roughly 135,000 employees. They have also committed over $54MM

in donations to non-profits.• Ensured customers that they will

not be penalized with fees or termination of service for late

payments in any way if they are experiencing hardships due to

COVID-19

Solutions Analysis

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Solution set chosen by profiling solutions provided by the brands in the brand category analysis

14

Overall Telecom Solutions Are Seeing a Strong Intent Increase YoY (+11%), with Key Trends Being 5G and IoT.

5G MessagingNetwork Unified Comms

2%

63%

-3%

2%

Source: Global Google Searches: Jan-Apr 2019 compared to Jan-Apr 2020*Terms for IOT include general IOT, but then also mobile & edge terms specifically related to the Telco category

-10%

49%

IOT Business Mobility Security

2%

-7%

Asset Managemen

t

“5G” intent has increased by +63% YoY, and IOT intent specifically

related to Telco* has increased by +49% YoY

15

5G Deep Dive

Source: Global Google Searches: Jan-Apr 2019 compared to an-Apr 2020

MessagingNetwork Unified Comms

2%

63%

-3%

2%

-10%

49%

IOT Business Mobility

Security

2%

-7%

Asset Managemen

t

5G Value Propositions will include speed, range, device energy consumption, connections, and latency & reliability.

Use cases of future 5G use include autonomous factory systems, smart cities, smart energy, connected offices,

smart security, and connected health. (Source: Mckinsey “The 5G Era”)

5G

16

Infrastructure Intent Remains Steady YTD, with Largest YoY Increase from HCI

16

50%

20%

16%

4%4%

2% 1%1%

1% 1% 0%0%

5G Architecture 5G Latency5G Smartphone, phone 5G Innovation5G Hardware 5G Software5G Performance 5G Strategy5G Operations 5G Analytics5G Transformation 5G efficiency

Volume of Google Brand Searches: Feb-Apr 2020

• All the topics we have analyzed within 5G have increased intent YoY, with the largest increase with 5G AR (+91% YoY)• 87% of the overall intent is driven by 5G search term

• 12% of the overall intent is driven by 5G Smartphone and 5G phone search term• There has been a significant YoY increase in 5G Infrastructure related keywords such as 5G Software (+69%), 5G Analytics (+66%) and 5G Operations

(+67%)• Performance related keywords such as 5G Latency (-10%) and 5G Performance (-6%) have shown a YoY decrease. While these keywords had strong

performance at the start of 2020, the subsequent decrease is indicative of the elongated sales journey we are seeing during Covid-19

87%

12%

1%

5G5G Smartphones/PhoneOther 5G Keywords

“5G” and “5G Smartphone” keywords represent 99% of total 5G related searches. The remaining 5G

keyword are broken out in the second chart.

Source: Global Google Searches: Jan-Apr 2019 compared to Jan-Apr 2020

17

5G, 5G Software, 5G Analysis, and 5G Architecture Lead the Intent Gains YoY

69 68 67 66

42 41 4034 36 34

19

0 0

-6 -10-20-10

01020304050607080

5G Software 5G

5G Analyti

cs

5G Architec

ture

5G Transfo

rmatio

n

5G Innovat

ion

5G AR, Mob

ile AR

5G Hardware

5G Smartphon

es, pho

ne

5G Hardware

5G Strategy

5G efficien

cy

5G Ope

rations

5G Perform

ance

5G Latency

% Google Intent Uplift : Feb-Apr 2020

• Many of these enterprise applications will rely on 5G’s ability to enable edge computing. Edge Computing including keywords like “cloud switch, edge computing, IoT edge devices, and mobile edge computing” have seen an overall category increase YoY of +37%

• 5G Software (MoM +30%) , 5G Analytics (MoM +16%) , and 5G Operations (MoM +28%) have seen both YoY and MoM increases


18

When Looking at 5G Conversations That Are Connected to a Telecom Brand, Vodafone Has Overtaken Verizon and AT&T

10%13%

28%

14%

23%

Negative: 6%Positive: 9%Neutral: 82%Not Rated:

1%

Negative: 30%

Positive: 7%Neutral: 56%Not Rated:

5%

Negative: 19%


0%

Negative: 16%Positive: 13%Neutral: 69%

Not Rated: 1%

Negative: 28%


4%

Negative: 12%

Positive: 10%Neutral:75%Not Rated:

1%


Not Rated: 1%

2%

Vodafone have been pushing their 5G credentials through Q1, and we are seeing that impact here. Vodafone are resonating on a global scale at a greater level than Verizon and

AT&T – Vodafone competitive %SOV related to 5G is now 28% for this group of companies.

EE has the most negative intent associated with 5G at 30%, closely followed by Vodafone at 28%.

Source: Meltwater research : April 2020. “5G” AND “Brand name” * Graph is not to scale

2%

From 35%

From 10%

From 34%From

7%From 7%From

5%From 0%

10%

19

Google Searches and Online Conversations Are Up YoY Around “5G” Terms

Source: Meltwater research : Jan-Apr 2020* Graph is not to scale

84.4K250K

January February March

“5G” mentions“5G” AND (“Covid-19” OR “COVID-19” OR “Coronavirus” OR “Pandemic” OR “pandemic”) mentions

2.38M2.79M

3.94M

16.7K

913K

April

5.6MDiscussions

related to 5G have exploded

in recent months, with a 47% increase from Feb to

March and an additional 42%increase from March to April

Covid-19 related mentions are

also dramatically increasing and now make up

16% of the total, compared to 6%

in March.

5G NR launches commercially in H1 2019. The Covid situation has

increased demand for reliable/fast networks, leading to increased

interest in B2B 5G solutions. (Source: Qualcomm “5G Timeline”)

20

Sentiment for 5G Has Flipped MoM to Become Predominately Negative, with Much of The Conversation Focusing on Conspiracy Theories

38% Negative Stories 11% Negative Stories

“5G" Mentions97.8% of the total volume

“5G” + Business Mentions2.2% of the total volume

Customers are engaging in consumer driven conversation online, which is skewed negatively in April,

which is a complete flip from March where the stories where much more positive (37% positive vs. 13% negative

in March)

It is tough to segment business only mentions, as businesses are using consumer language - however there has been a significant increase in what we can

see MoM (March showed 0.07%)


21

IoT Deep Dive


5G MessagingNetwork Unified Comms

2%

63%

-3%

2%

-10%

49%

IOT Business Mobility Security

2%

-7%

Asset Managemen

t

22

Investigating Which Brands Are More Associated with IoTBy measuring combined Brand + IoT intent, and comparing that to IoT product intent

There are two ways that people typically demonstrate intent for IoT Telecom solutions:

1. By combining a search for a brand with an IoT qualifier, so for example “Verizon IoT”

2. By looking direct for a product or service related to IoT (e.g., “Sprint Curiosity IoT”)

30%

70%

30% of intent is for a brand and an IoT qualifier

70% of intent is directly for an IoT product or service

Note: when we go back and compare ALL IoT intent volume that is associated with a brand, to the total agnostic Telco IoT

volumes, we can see that brand or product related IoT intent is only 2% of the total volume

23

30% of IoT Brand Intent Is For Brand + IoT Qualifier, and This Percentage Is Shrinking YoY

Volume of Brand Association with IOT (%SOV): Feb-Apr 2020

• Insight Info goes here• Customers are most associating Vodafone, AT&T and T-Mobile with branded IoT intent, at 41%, 19% and 12% respectively• Verizon is 5th at 9%• Intent volume YoY has fallen by -25%, which indicates that customers are more likely to demonstrate intent direct for a product. This is likely due to

increased promotion of IoT specific products and services in the Telco space

41%

19%

12%

9%

9%

6%

2% 1% 1% 0%

Vodafone IoT AT&T IoTT-Mobile IoT Telefonica IoTVerizon IoT Sprint IoTEE IoT China Mobile IoTCenturyLink IoT Deusche Telekom IoT

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Deusch

e Teleko

m IoT

EE IoT

Telefon

ica Io

T

Sprint Io

T

AT&T IoT

Centur

yLink Io

T

Vodafon

e IoT

Verizon I

oT

China M

obile Io

T

T-Mobile

IoT

%Change in Volume YoY: Feb-Apr 2020

69%

-10% 13% -18% -21% -26% -31% -37% -41%

N/A as no

volume


24

70% of IoT Intent Is Specifically for Products, and This Percentage Is Increasing YoY

24

Volume of Product Association with IOT (%SOV): Feb-Apr 2020

• Insight Info goes here• Vodafone V products have the most intent share with 81% of the volume, suggesting that their 2020 paid activities are really pushing the agenda in this

space• Other brands hold fairly equal share, with the exception of AMOC dashboard which is part of the AT&T Marketplace• Intent volume YoY has increased by 155%, again mainly driven by Vodafone. Increase for products without including V is still significant at +26% YoY

52%

29%

5%4%

4%

3% 3%

V Mult i Tracker V by VodafoneLive Objects Kite PlatformThingSpace Curiosity IoT, Core, OSM2M Connect AMOC Dashboard

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

V Mult i T

racker

Live Objects

M2M Con

nect

Kite Platfor

m

V by Voda

fone

Curiosi

ty IoT

, Core, O

S

ThingS

pace

AMOC Dashbo

ard

%Change in Volume YoY: Feb-Apr 2020+4030%

44%41%

37%

27%

17%

Flat Flat


25

Of Digital IoT Mentions That Are Connected to a Telecom Brand, There Is Very Little Negative Intent

10%

6%

9%

18%

28%

23%


0%


1%


0%


Not Rated: 0%


4%

Negative: 0%Positive: 3%Neutral:95%Not Rated:

0%


Not Rated: 0%

2%

AT&T and Verizon have more share related to IoT on the web than Vodafone.

T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom are receiving the most positive intent at 7% and 6% respectively. The next closest brands with

positive intent are Sprint, Vodafone, and AT&T, all at 3%.

Source: Meltwater research : April 2020. “IoT” AND “Brand name” * Graph is not to scale

6%

26

Overall Telecom IoT Intent Remains Steady Across YTD, With Largest YoY Increase With Smart Devices (+67% YoY)

70%

12%

5%

13%

IoT M2M Narrowband IoT Other IoT Keywords

Volume of Google Brand Searches: Feb-Apr 2020

• General IoT intent represents the largest volume (70%)• M2M represents 12% of total search intent volume, however YoY this term has decreased in volume by -11%• Overall volume of category searches (2.6+ M 2020) indicates that strong interest across IoT topics

• IDC predicts that in three years, 45 percent of IoT-generated data will be stored, processed, analyzed, and acted upon close to or at the edge of networks. (Source: Deloitte “2020 Telecommunications, media and entertainment outlook”)

37%

35%

15%

7%4%1%

1%0% 0% 0%

IoT Devices Smart Devices Connected DevicesLTE-M Mobile Edge Computing IoT Edge DevicesSatellite IoT IoT Marketplace IoT RoamingIoT Smart Solut ions

Volume of Google Brand Searches (Other Keywords): Feb-Apr 2020


27

Smart Devices, IoT Roaming, and Satellite IoT Lead the Intent Gains YoY

64%

47% 43% 39% 34%

16% 13%5% 3% 0%

-8%-11%

-20%-30%-20%-10%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

Smart Devi

ces

IOT Roa

ming

Satellite

IoT

IoT Devic

es

Connect

ed Devic

es

Mobile Edg

e Computing

IoT Smart S

olutions

IoT Edg

e Device

sLTE-M IoT

IoT M

arketpl

ace M2M

Narrowban

d IoT

% Google Intent Uplift: Feb-Apr 2020

• The largest YoY gains in search intent are around Smart Devices (+64% YoY)• While Narrowband IoT (-20%) and M2M (-11%) categories have seen a decrease in Search Intent YoY, both categories still have large search

volume YoY


28

Online IoT Mentions Dipped Slightly in February and March During the Beginning of Coronavirus, However We Are Now Seeing This Recover


11.8k 58.7k

January February March

“IoT” OR “Internet of Things” mentions“IoT” OR “Internet of Things” AND (“Covid-19” OR “COVID-19” OR “Coronavirus” OR “Pandemic” or “pandemic”) mentions

IoT mentions linked to

Coronavirus are currently at

10% of the total volume

1.17M

1.08M 1.03M

1.4k110k

April

1.09M

Total IoT mentions are

fairly flat MoM, with a slight

dip in February and March

29

Sentiment for IoT Has Become Predominately Positive, with Much of the Conversation Focusing on what IoT Can Do to Make Life More Efficient and to Improve Healthcare

12% positive stories10% positive stories

“IoT Conversations”86.7% of the total volume

“IoT” + Business Conversations13.3% of the total volume

Conversations in April are focused around advancements in healthcare and overall efficiencies that IoT will help to achieve, which led to positively skewed conversations in in April, and are seeing a slight improvement from March

(11% positive sentiment)

Customers are engaging in less business-driven conversation when discussing IoT online overall, which is skewed more to positive than negative, however there has been a significant

decrease in positive conversations MoM (March showed 0.11%)

30

Conversations Specific to IoT for Business Show Discussion of Market Growth in the Future

New market growth and industry forecast research released. There was an increase in conversations

around security.

Focus on IoT innovations and products before the on-set of Covid.

While Covid stays center stage in conversation, other IoT topics find

breakthrough opportunities

Despite Covid, IoT is still project for major growth over the next 5 years.

February March April

Consistent month to month is large number of conversations centered around IoT education to consumers and businesses.

Partnerships and solutions formed between companies in

response to COVID. Popular topics also include the future

of tech and smart tech applications.

Many conversations around IoT product launches. Additional focus

around security, AI, and blockchain.

Media + Marketing for Technology Companies

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