Here’s the deal: it’s hard to measure “impressions” on mobile. You can’t even tell if someone moused over something, because there’s no mouse on a touch-screen. So, more and more, advertisers are only being asked to pay when something really measurable happens. And if today’s announcement from OfferMobi is anything to go by, that’s a popular proposition amongst mobile advertisers.
What’s OfferMobi?
OfferMobi is an “affiliate network” – meaning that the people who host these ads (in this case a mobile website or an application) get rewarded for every customer that the advertiser can count as an impression. But as we mentioned, that’s damn hard to measure on mobile.
So OfferMobi uses the Cost per Action (CPA) model, where the advertiser doesn’t pay unless a specific action is taken by the user. For example: clicking through to a website, filling out a questionnaire, watching a video, etc. Unless this action is taken, the advertiser doesn’t pay the affiliate publisher. OfferMobi claims it has attracted 600 partners (including advertisers and publishers) in its first month, and has 30 campaigns running. OfferMobi launched in April, at the ad:tech Conference in San Francisco.
What we think?
So here we go – eyeballs are no longer enough on mobile. Mobile advertising is moving perceptibly away from on-line models. While the CPA model is taken directly from on-line advertising, it can be used to strongly differentiate a mobile campaign. It’s not about how many people see a banner – it’s about how many of them click to call afterwards. It’s about how many people interact with your advertisement in a meaningful way, like a sent SMS or a downloaded coupon.
Perhaps more importantly, it offers advertisers a way to test the waters of mobile without being too nervous. For those companies who want to give mobile a try, but don’t want to invest too much of a budget, it offers a huge amount of control. For example, that company can invest in 5,000 SMS impressions – no more, no less – and pay for precisely that.
So I’m not entirely surprise that 600 companies have signed on in the first 30 days – however, what I would like to see is what size the campaigns they’re looking at are. They’re probably not all whoppers, and I’d imagine there’s more than a fair share of tiddlers and testers.
Thanks for the post. At OfferMobi we are certainly seeing great interest both from mobile affiliates (we have 600+ already in one month) as well as advertisers.
You commented “what I would like to see is what size the campaigns they’re looking at are. ” Most of the new advertisers in the performance mobile advertising space are smaller to begin with, and mostly those who are familiar with the online affiliate model. But e are seeing some inquiries from larger brands. In fact we have Gamefly and comScore live already as well as several EDU category vendors.
You hit the nail on the head when you observed “It’s about how many people interact with your advertisement in a meaningful way.” Precisely what mobile can deliver. because they are already on a phone, making the call seems second nature. This is why we have seen the greatest success in mobile campaigns coming from the click to call (pay per call) variety.
As the US market adopts smartphones at an accelerated pace, the mobile web will expand rapidly. At present it is only a 1 in 5 ratio but over the next 18 months expect to see that at 50%. In fact as evidence, Android phones have been signing up 100,000 new registrations every single day. That beats iPhone installs handily.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-looks-like-google-is-selling-more-phones-every-day-than-apple-2010-5
Thanks again for the recognition that mobile affiliate marketing is starting to show signs on life.