A columnist in the Daily Telegraph recently wrote how far mobile content has come in the past ten years – pointing to the big brands receiving recognition for their work to innovate the way they optimise the mobile content they generate. As a subtext to his story, he also discussed whether mobile is truly a ubiquitous part of our lives. For the various innovations he does recognise about handsets’ uses, he also questions whether everything he does will eventually centre around a mobile device – for one, he finds it difficult to believe his music collection will ever have its home solely on his mobile phone.
The mass interest in mobile content consumption has of course been the catalyst behind the mobile development of mobile advertising discussions that become ever more prevalent year on year. More people reading content on their phones, prompts more eyeballs for advertisers to capture. It’s little wonder the hype behind the mobile world in line with this – Juniper Research recently said that global mobile ad spend will break the $39 billion mark by 2018.
The first issue lies not with advertisers themselves, but the lack of space available on mobile to maximise mobile spend.
The industry is abuzz with talk about mobile, and for good reason: sales of smartphone and tablet devices far outweigh those of laptops and PCs. In some regions and demographics, mobile is becoming the primary way to access the Internet. But just as the Telegraph article asks whether mobile content has developed as far as it can by this juncture, the same can be asked about mobile advertising – perhaps more so.
While the consumer has clearly embraced mobile, advertisers have been slow to catch up. Our latest media barometer revealed that from Q1 to Q2 this year, mobile grew from 3% to 5% of all RTB ad spend – a 67% increase to be sure, but still a far cry from what it should be.
So why isn’t mobile advertising taking off at the rate we might have expected? A number of reasons spring to mind. The first issue lies not with advertisers themselves, but the lack of space available on mobile to maximise mobile spend. Some publishers, unsure of how to fully optimise their sites for mobile or to build mobile versions of the site, simply aren’t offering enough mobile inventory to advertising markets. And for those publishers that have the know-how to build mobile versions of their site with the right inventory, there are still a number whose enthusiasm to monetise mobile inventory is tempered by a concern for their readers’ brand experience. They don’t want users to confront highly intrusive ads.
Further to this, while advertisers have tremendous expertise in developing engaging display ads, mobile creatives and formats are still relatively new to them. This means that they are still finding their way with limited templates available to them to best advertise over mobile.
In addition, advertisers and agencies are reticent to invest heavily into mobile performance campaigns until they feel comfortable that the industry has solved the problem of accidental clicks. This is a mass concern for brands in generating true transparency as to the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Perhaps most importantly, with the functionality and usability of smartphones having grown so much, consumers expect the same experience no matter what the channel they are consuming media over. While the parameters of mobile have to be respected, advertisers need to adjust their thinking. Its position in the multichannel mix needs to be tested to gauge its effectiveness and then campaigns run across smartphones need to be consistent with all other marketing initiatives before it can begin to meet the hype it faces.
