Mobile Advertising Might Just Work
An article in VentureBeat reported today that iOS ads make money whereas ads on Android ads cost more than they bring in. It looks like Wanamaker was right when he said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half” because now we know it’s the Android half.
The article puts this down to the fact that Android users tend to be much less affluent, but a study at Bluebridge Digital reported here suggests it might be a little more complicated. Android users, for instance, are more likely to be pessimistic male introverts, not a demographic that one typically associates with avid shoppers. As it happens, Forbes looked at this question last month and observed that yes, iOS is better for selling product; but if your ads are for some other purpose than to generate an immediate click through and sale – i.e. awareness and brand building – then the broader reach of Android devices are extremely cost effective.
While this news might put a dent in the money being spent serving ads to Android users, there is growing evidence that mobile marketing is going to grow dramatically in the short term. The Nielsen Company, considered a little stodgy around innovative technology, is now tracking mobile ad effectiveness (as reported in Ad Age back in March). The Wall Street Journal reported a study in June that suggests mobile ads are exceptionally good value, and in July Google published its own study showing that most of the eyeballs a company’s site gets through its ads would not have arrived through a regular search (note though that neither of these studies were produced by disinterested researchers).
There is going to be a lot of focus on mobile marketing in the coming years, but a lot of care will be needed to minimize the wasted portion. Companies will need to have a thoughtful strategy to get something out of their mobile ad spend and will need to keep up with and respond to trends as the space evolves. As an example, one big difference with mobile ads is the degree to which it’s necessary to consider the specific device and the preoccupation of its user. You never had to think about that with television ads, because your targets were watching television: it was implicit. Now you need to care about whether they’re at work, in a car, out shopping or sitting at home; are they looking at a tablet, smartphone, smartwatch or Google Glass? There’s the potential to craft the context and timing of your delivery like never before, but effort and creativity is needed to get the maximum value.
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