The average number of tweets containing a Vine link has grown from five every second during April to nine every second during the first three weeks of June, according to new data from Unruly.

With earlier research from Unruly showing that branded Vines are four times more likely to be shared than video ads, these results point to the growing opportunity for marketers leveraging the video-sharing mobile app Vine. A growing number of marketers who are looking to extend their mobile reach are giving Vine a close look in light of the significant growth in mobile video consumption and mobile video advertising.

?Video consumption is exploding for mobile,? said Sarah Wood, COO and co-founder of Unruly, New York. ?Mobile video consumption tripled in 2012; video is the fastest growing ad format worldwide and Vine is changing the social video landscape, six seconds at a time.

?We analysed hundreds of our own campaigns run between June 2012 to February 2013 and found that engagement rates for mobile campaigns are much higher than desktop,? she said. ?On average, we are seeing a 24.2 percent uplift in the share rate on mobile devices and a 22.2 percent increase in click through rates.

?Advertisers can take advantage of these high engagement rates, get ahead of the competition, grow their social footprint and extend their mobile reach by including Vine as part of an always-on content marketing strategy.?

Mobile social fragmentation
The Vine app from Twitter enables users to shoot and share six-second videos. It has grown quickly since being introduced earlier this year, already boasting 13 million users.

Recognizing how Vine has tapped into a consumer desire to share more than updates and photos, Facebook recently introduced its own video-sharing app that enables users to share 15-second videos through the Instagram app.

Other mobile social video apps exist as well, pointing to the increasingly fragmented social space that was previously dominated by two main forces ? Facebook and Twitter. As the social ecosystem rapidly develops, it is becoming increasingly complex for marketers to reach and engage their audiences.

?The rate of growth in adoption of Vine has been surprising considering that the likes of Viddy, Keek and SocialCam have been established for a while,? Ms. Wood said. ?Today our data showed that the average number of tweets containing a Vine link had risen from five every second during April to nine every second during the first three weeks of June.

?Interest in Vine has grown exponentially since its launch earlier this year,? she said. ?It currently has more than 13 million users.

?With branded Vines four times more likely to be shared than video ads and mobile data traffic set to increase 13-fold between 2012 and 2017, advertisers have been quick to experiment with Twitter's short-form mobile video platform. ?

Beyond YouTube
To help marketers build a mobile social video strategy, Unruly this week introduced several new tools for creating, optimizing and analyzing Vine campaigns.

While advertisers have been quick to experiment with Twitter?s short-form mobile video platform, one of the challenges is figuring out how to create a video that can deliver results in just six seconds.

One solution is to use Vine to support and amplify longer form content.

Dunkin? Donuts is among a group of marketers who quickly jumped in to test Vine.

The donut bakery chain recently ran a Vine contest that challenges fans to show how its iced coffee puts a spring in their step (see story).

?Brand marketers who are serious about their content marketing strategy understand that there's more to social video success than a YouTube view count,? Ms. Wood said. ?What?s really exciting is that the social video ecosystem is developing so rapidly, creating healthy competition in the market and a range of new formats for content-makers and brands to explore, which in itself will accelerate the adoption of mobile video advertising,? she said.

?Brands need to reach consumers wherever they are discovering, watching and sharing video content and this year could be the tipping point for mobile advertising.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York