After many years of being in the “next year” or “experimental” column mobile ad demand appears to be growing in earnest. The latest in a series of indications is survey data from MediaPost and InsightExpress presented at last week’s OMMA Mobile show.
Here are some findings from that advertiser/agency/brand survey:
— 57% of survey respondents had already done some form of mobile advertising
— 40% of respondents plan to increase mobile spending by up to 30% and three in 10 by 31% or more in the next year.
— 50% of mobile ad dollars currently come from online budgets, 35% from cross-platform buys, 27% from funds specifically earmarked for mobile and 8% from TV budgets (the survey also found that dedicated mobile ad budgets are being created)
In terms of areas of greatest interest the survey respondents indicated:
— Branded apps
— Mobile video
— Mobile coupons
In terms of best performing areas/units here was the order that respondents specified:
— Mobile coupons
— Text links (unclear whether this is mobile search or SMS or “all of the above”)
— Mobile Web “banners”
Another unrelated data-point coming out of the OMMA Mobile show, reported by show organizer Steve Smith, was the following: “According to Fandango’s CMO Ted Hong, on some weekends the company sees up to 20% of advance movie ticket sales come through mobile.” A couple of weeks ago InsightExpress separately released findings from 2009 mobile audience research. One of the more compelling findings in that document is that 1 in 5 mobile users (and higher among 18-44 year olds) have some sort of direct “text alert” relationship with brands/stores.
Here’s the InsightExpress list in terms the hierarchy of categories:
- Airlines
- Music groups
- Restaurants
- Food/drink products
- Radio stations
- Weather
- Magazines
- Sports
- Traffic
- Other
Mobile couponing, loyalty and alerts programs such as the above list may prove to be the “sweet spot” in mobile marketing/advertising. This is my suspicion. But alerts and opt-in SMS based offers don’t really count as “advertising” per se.