Upstream survey shows 1-to-many tactics don’t suit mobile

Rating: YouGov poll shows only 14 % have ever clicked on a mobile banner

The tactics used by the broadcast TV industry simply don’t translate into the mobile world shows yet another poll. This one was conducted on behalf of Upstream Mobile by YouGov, which actually polled some 2,198 consumers. It clearly shows that the way to reach mobile users is through SMS/text. For example, an impressive number (15 per cent) claimed would be prepared to respond to an add via SMS. That’s only half the number of those who claimed they would respond to a TV ad (33 per cent). “You can’t broadcast video or banners on mobile—which traditionally work best on big screens—and expect to get the same results,” observed Upstream’s CEO, Alex Vratskides. Somewhat puzzlingly, the percentage of those who claim to have clicked on a banner rose to 23 per cent among smartphone owners. Yet almost half of that same group (47 per cent) said they’d find mobile display ads an irritation.

The most worrying finding for marketeers concerned branded advertising applications.

Despite blowing their budgets on iPhone apps, brand owners will be disappointed to know that just seven per cent of those polled had ever knowingly downloaded an application designed for advertising purposes.

“Even for smartphone owners, mobile internet experiences are typically of a short duration and generate only brief engagement –people don’t spend hours browsing the mobile web the same way as they would with a PC,” Vratskides claimed.

SMS again came out on top when it came to which (mobile) medium would make them most likely to respond fastest to a relevant deal or offer.

Some 15 per cent cited SMS messaging while only three per cent said mobile banner advertising and a pathetically low two per cent cited in-application advertising.

“Marketeers need to be wary of spam-orientated metrics like total reach, or impressions delivered, and concentrate on contextualisation,” Vratskides warned.

“Getting the right messages to the right people at the right time and, ideally, when they’re in the right place,” is the way forward he believes.