Here’s a little gem from Visiongain’s Mobile Advertising & Marketing Awards conference in London recently. Paran Johar, CTO from JumpTap, took a break from his honeymoon (I’m serious!) to come and speak to use about the myths and realities of mobile advertising planning.
He gave us a rundown on what he saw as the major misconceptions held by people who were looking into investing in mobile advertising
Top 10 Myths:
1 – There’s not enough scale
Paran rattled off a series of relevent stats that he felt disproved the idea that mobile advertising doesn’t scale up into the big league. First, there are 63 million mobile web users in the USA alone. Second, smart phones are driving usage – they already have an 8% market share, and 66% of mobile web usage is on smartphones. Third, there are already 35,000 iPhone apps – and they recently passed the well-publicised 1 billon download mark. And finally, he claimed that research shows that using mobile extends a publishers unique reach by 14-22%
2 – Mobile ads are too small
Mobile ads may be displayed on a small screen, but there are advantages to make up for that. There is almost always only one ad per page on mobile, as opposed to the “Time Square” effect on the on-line web. As a result, the ads command more attention. More than that, mobile advertising formats like interstitials can take over the entire display space.
3 – there no creative standards
A common complain is “I’ve got to issue a million different ads for different handsets, browsers, etc.” The MMA & IAB fixed this in 2008, issuing a global standard for display advertising.
4 – there are no tools
Another complaint is “I have no idea how to use mobile! None of the on-line tools work, and there’s nobody in-company with the expertise to handle it.” That is no longer as true as it was. A lot of net tools now have mobile equivalents – transcoding and services like Mobilizer have made it easier to go from on-line to mobile.
5 – you can’t properly measure mobile
Mobile analytics and measuring tools are getting a lot better, and are being integrated more closely into advertising platforms. More than that, exposure is growing better, as a lot of people now recall seeing mobile ads during their day to day usage.
6 – no one clicks on the ads anyway
That’s not entirely true. Mobile display ads see an average of 2-8% CTR. Recent studies also show that 53% of smartphone users click on ads. Relevancy and proper targeting can increase those responses.
7 – nothing happens after the click
Can mobile ads really do something appreciable after the click? Click2Call and Click2SMS services actually make actions from mobile ads more relevant that on-line equivalents. The automotive industry has been taking stong steps in this area as well, with interactive vehicle photos and “nearby dealer locators”, etc.
8 – Cost per thousand is extremely high, especially with the economy underwater
This hasn’t affected things as much as people might think. Despite the economic downturn, almost all of the huge advertising agencies now have a dedicated mobile division. The “tipping point” for mobile advertising has been passed, now is the time to take advantage of it.
9 – mobile advertising it only reaches young adults
Research shows that a huge amount of mobile Web browsing is done by over 40s
10 – none of the big brands are doing it
There’s a prevailing “I’ll wait until other big brands get in there” attitude. Well, the wait is over. Brands from car companies, TV and movies, retail, finance, services and technology sectors are heavily involved with mobile advertising.
What we think?
Overall, I definitely agree with JumpTap – mobile advertising isn’t the mire that many companies think it is. There are some of his points I’d disagree with, though. Transcoding and mobile tools still aren’t quite developed enough to guarantee a smooth user-end experience for websites that are ported directly from on-line to mobile. There may be a set of standards for mobile display advertising now, but it’s a clunk and unsuitable method of advertising on the mobile Web. But those are niggling or technical disagreements – overall, I wholeheartedly agree with the debunking of some of the myths surrounding mobile ads.
