Over and over again we have seen reports and predictions about how big mobile will be as a media and as a marketing and advertising platform. Today no Marketing Executive in the world will deny this – however there is still a long way from realizing it, to actually putting it into action.
We know that mobile is growing with a speed eight times the growth of internet 10-15 years ago. Google announced that two years ago. We also know that the internet usage on Android and iOS is growing four times web based internet growth!
This should convince all advertisers!
Gigantic gap between time and money spent
However, a recent study made by mobile analysis expert, Flurry, shows the gap between consumer’s actual time spent on various media types – and the advertising amount spent on the same media…
…and guess what, the gap is enormous!
Not surprisingly there is a huge overspending on print advertising, while TV and Radio is pretty much in balance. There seems to be some underspending on desktop internet advertising – but the really extreme gap is on mobile:
23% of the time consumers spend on media is spent on mobile. No surprise here.
But only 1% of the brand advertising spend is spent on mobile!
So isn’t it time for brand advertisers to wake up to reality and begin spending money on the media types where the consumers actually are?
A recent study by IAN (Interactive Advertising Bureau – the global organization for online advertising) did in fact show that 62% of all major brand marketers have increased their mobile ad spending – and 72% plan to do it.
Same Flurry analysis also gives indications on where it is interesting for advertisers to spend money. It seems the consumers most receptive for mobile advertising is: middleclass females under the age of 35.
In more details the consumers fetching the highest eCPM to Publishers are male and female, age 18-35 (secondly male age up to 55), with a household income adjacent to 60-100K USD per year with a longer education (College, Bachelor or Master degree).
Just get on with it…
Criticisers may say the mobile advertising industry is still in-mature, without sophisticated platforms and that mobile lack the kind of systems that agencies take for granted on desktop web. Some of that is true! It’s also true that mobile inventory has been difficult to buy in volumes, that segmentation and targeting has not been good enough – and there is a lack of standards for ad serving, tracking and reporting.
However with the enormous growth in Mobile Media and with the huge interest and time spent by consumers, it’s time for advertisers to wake up and exploit this fascinating new media and the unique opportunities it gives us.
Once they do that, the mobile advertising industry will mature and offer all the sophisticated platform tools that advertisers and agencies require.