I've done quite a bit of research on the subject over the past few weeks - via online research, consulting with former colleagues at
Zenith, and my own testing - and have come to the conclusion that they can be highly, highly effective if used properly because they essentially bridge the gap between online and offline advertising in a way that no other technology has done before. With that being said, it's kind of pointless to use them on a website when you can just provide a link. All that does is add an extra step for the target.
Global usage rates increased 20% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. The US increase was 42%. Both are low for a technology that's at such an early stage of the product cycle, but the US number in particular is not that bad when you consider that effective use occurs primarily in densely populated areas like NYC and SF AND that there is no singular company who has enough of a vested interest in the technology to where they have spent or will spend the type of money which companies usually spend when rolling out a new product. Growth has been almost entirely organic.
Anyway, took this pic the other day at Times Square.
