2010 mobile advertising predictions from the road

Over Christmas, GoMo News is posting articles written for us by leaders and innovators in the mobile space. Start-ups and established businesses from all over the industry have sent us piece looking back at the year that was, and ahead to 2010. Here’s our third, from Paran Johar, JumpTap’s Chief Marketing Officer. JumpTap is one of the big success stories in the world of mobile advertising.

There have been a lot of predictions about the future of mobile advertising.  My thoughts are going to focus on specific industry changes that I believe will drive the growth of mobile advertising in 2010.  My perspective is not from the point of view of a mobile network but rather from someone who has been on the buy side at several agencies throughout my career. Luckily I’ve had a lot of time to think about the mobile industry as I am on a cross country road trip from New York to LA seeing some of the finest that America has to offer, my trusty phone never leaving my side.

Though we made significant strides in 2009, 2010 represents the year where mobile advertising will need to dot its I’s and cross its T’s to achieve the growth everyone is expecting.

1.    Streamlining.  In 2010 mobile needs integration of third party ad tracking for post click analysis.  Companies like Doubleclick and Atlas that led tracking and measurement of the PC internet have been slow on mobile.  In 2010 they will make this right by enabling post click tracking for advertisers on the mobile device.  While this may seem like a small issue it has tremendous effects on the growth of mobile advertising.  Whereas now an advertiser must use different post click tracking systems with each ad network or publisher, the process will be streamlined and media executives will be able to track the effectiveness of campaigns across different ad networks and publishers.

2.    Targeting is the key.   One of the great promises of mobile advertising has been targeting.  Whether location or carrier data or behavioral or contextual, targeting and relevancy are hyper intensified on the mobile device.  The government and/or industry will resolve the debate of targeting versus privacy with transparency.

3.    Benchmark studies. One of the cornerstones for any media planner is understanding media consumption of their target audience by medium.  Publishers and advertisers alike will finally publish cross media studies that validate the unique reach of mobile advertising and how there is a new breed of consumer for whom the mobile device is their primary access point for the internet.

4.    The truth. Many ad networks have claimed dominance of the mobile internet.  This confusion only makes your average media planner’s life chaos as they have the daunting task of separating fiction from reality.  In 2010 Neilson will develop a standard methodology that will separate fact from fiction.

5.    Buying frenzy. If there was one thing that the Google acquisition of AdMob proved even the most successful media company in the world can’t go at mobile alone.  I believe in 2010 we will see additional acquisitions of mobile ad networks and enablers by companies one wouldn’t expect.  Beyond the usual suspects of Yahoo and Microsoft, carriers, hardware manufacturers and even Apple will get in the game by acquisition.  With a little luck, our company may benefit from this.