The weather is constantly changing, hour by hour, day by day. It's the one thing that can consistently dictate the course of your day or week, from your weekend plans, the transportation you choose for your commute, or even the trip you've been planning for months. It's no surprise then to hear that the leading weather provider, The Weather Channel, provides forecasts for 2.2 billion locations every 15 minutes on their mobile site (yes, that's almost 150 million every minute).

So, you can imagine our excitement in announcing today that The Weather Channel is one of our newest Publishers to join the Button platform. We've integrated a range of new partners into the The Weather Channel mobile site experience, including ridesharing app Uber, activities marketplace Groupon, hospitality and reservations technology company Resy, full-fledged food ordering platform Caviar, and leading food and alcohol delivery service delivery.com. Now, the mobile site will provide complementary services alongside weather data, giving users mobile access to their potential next step— all with the simple touch of a button.

Think about it: You're looking at the weather on your way to work at 8:30am and see it's raining, an Uber Button appears to make that morning commute a little easier; if there's a sunny weekend ahead, a Groupon Button appears to find some fun activity options; you're looking at the weekend ahead and a Resy Button appears to make a reservation for a night out; or the forecast shows it's soon to be snowing on a Sunday morning, so a Caviar or delivery.com Button allows you to order delivery for breakfast in bed— all with a simple tap.

Magic? Not quite— it's made possible by the contextual nature of Button's platform, taking into account the weather forecast being displayed and showing the most relevant Merchant for that point in time.

"Leveraging Button's Marketplace and integrated service partners, we're able to provide an enhanced experience for our mobile web users, helping them make more informed decisions and discover fun daily activities."— Domenic Venuto, general manager, consumer division, The Weather Company

When it comes to being out and about, one of the essentials that people usually take with them (if not always) is their phone. In fact, mobile makes up 68 percent of time spent in a digital environment compared to desktop, proving that these utility-driven devices play a huge part in consumers' everyday lives. Similar to the launch of Hotels.com Mobile Concierge earlier this year, the Weather Channel is one of the latest brands to create a better connected space for their mobile users, acting as a launching point for discovery and commerce. Not only are they enhancing the user experience, but they're able to tap into a new line of revenue with Button's mobile affiliate technology.

Industry leaders such as The Weather Channel are prescient that "transactional revenue" is the future, supplementing ad dollars on mobile platforms. Conde Nast Traveler is another global brand that, through Button's platform, integrated Uber and Hotels.com Buttons on mobile web, the latter seeing a "two percent conversion rate compared to the industry standard .1 percent of mobile display ads," according to the brand's Director of Product, Gina Lee.

Additionally, mobile engineering resources are overburdened at most large companies, and increasingly so as mobile becomes more and more of a focus. Button works to alleviate dependencies on these teams, creating a platform that offers scale and simplicity for launching partnerships.

Look at Ibotta, for example, one of the top loyalty apps. Not only did we launch the platform's Mobile Shopping Category, but we've been able to add an array of new partners to the app since day one, now featuring more than 15 integrated brands. These mobile partnerships have accounted for over $17 million in consumer spending in just three months through partners such as Jet, Groupon, Hotels.com, HotelTonight, and Boxed. There's more to come here later this month, so be sure keep an eye out!

Welcoming The Weather Channel to our platform marks an exciting day here at Button and the company's millions of users. If you're ever interested in making a move to become a Button Publisher or even just have a few questions, check out the site here. Or, if you want to become a Button Merchant like Uber, Resy, delivery.com, and Caviar have done in this case, you can find more info here. And don't ever hesitate to drop us line directly— we're happy to chat further, rain or shine!