Mobile advertising is growing, but not as quickly as it may seem.

 When people hear about mobile advertising, they assume it means targeted ads, like ads on sides of websites that cater to the type of things people like based on the websites in the user’s history. A lot of people connect this standard Internet tracking to what goes on in the mobile advertising world. Mobile advertising is simply any advertisement designed specifically for a mobile device. There are many different ways to make money from mobile ads, such as in app add-ons and banner ads, but there are some challenges that mobile advertising faces as well. While mobile devices are very popular, the advertising designed for them is not yet at the level of success it will be in years to come, because of the limited capabilities of companies to come up with a good way to target people in the way that non-mobile Internet advertising does.

Mobile advertising targeted at individuals isn’t as popular or successful as many people think it is.

The most effective way to currently use mobile advertising to target customers isn’t really even that effective just yet, just due to the lack of technology. Texting, or SMS is the most popular way for companies to use mobile ads, accounting for 90% of mobile ad revenue worldwide. Business Professor Jeff Miller talks about mobile technology a lot in class, and many times has mentioned that companies have to embrace mobile advertising in some fashion. No one knows just yet which type of mobile advertising is exactly the best, and Miller describes why below.

If all a company can do is track GPS data from where you have been in your phone, they can do no more than what takes place on the internet with desktop or laptop computers in having tailored ads at the top of web searches a user preforms on their phone. This is basically not necessary, since companies would rather target by seeing where customers are at the current time, but as Miller says, there isn’t a magic answer as how to do  that just yet, especially with the privacy issues of companies tracking you based on your phone's location. SMS advertising, like Miller describes with the bowling alleys, is popular because they often offer discounts or coupons whenever someone signs up for the texting service. The companies generally send out mass texts to all customers at once, and have no way of knowing if a customer who receives such a text is even within several hundred miles of the closest location of the business. That is a huge drawback to this type of mobile advertisements. People who continue to get texts from companies they are not planning on patronizing any time soon can easily get frustrated with the volume of texts, and cancel the subscription to the messaging service very easily. 

There isn’t an answer about how to use mobile advertising most effectively.

Despite SMS advertising being the most popular medium right now, there are a few other avenues that companies are using to advertise on mobile devices, because of the challenges Miller described. One very popular type of mobile ads is called rich media. This includes the videos that come up as ads in apps while users play games, listen to music, or use any app that involves the user looking at the screen. Rich media also includes in app pop up advertisements encouraging users to buy more content from the app. An example of this is the game Angry Birds. This app always asks users to buy special power-ups, or ways to enhance the game for the user. One really big issue with the banner ads and in app 
upgrades is that people accidentally click on them all the time. Mobile phones have screens that are 
tough to navigate sometimes, and people end up clicking on something that they had no intention of clicking on. Companies are  really concerned with these numbers, and they should be.

A percentage of accidental traffic to mobile ads this high shows that a significantly smaller proportion of people actually pay attention to mobile ads than it seems. This doesn't seem much different from television, where people often ignore commercials, or skip them with use of DVR technology. 

Software using Location Based Services need to be developed better in order to help consumers get the most out of mobile advertising. 

The problem with rich media advertisements, while effective if using video advertisements, is that retail companies, or any company that actually has a brick and mortar store as Miller describes it, cannot offer anything to help customers get in the store or purchase anything from them. (Due to technology difficulties, the audio in the following video got very distorted during upload, and is very soft and a bit muffled.) 

Apps like Deal Chicken, Jump on It, and LivingSocial all provide a service to consumers, and is the closest thing we have to this type of tracking. Businesses can sign deals with these services, and the app will provide consumers with coupons catered to the users interests, presumably based on location, or at least close to the city that the app thinks its user is in. Again though, this is not very helpful for people walking around in a mall looking for mobile deals from stores they are right in front of. So until some software like the type Miller described is implemented, it will be very tough to target ads based on where a person is shopping. 

People want mobile advertising to evolve; it is to everyone's benefit. 


It is obvious that companies are in favor of mobile advertising, because of the large revenues and ever increasing presence of mobile devices in the world, and it is another way to reach customers. But it turns out that the consumers also seem to want more mobile advertising. The graphic to the right shows pretty amazing results that people are heavily influenced in purchasing decisions based on mobile ads. It seems as though people will be able to come to terms with the privacy issue involved with mobile advertising in order to gain the advantages that are imminent. So while there are still some challenges facing the mobile advertising world, it seems that the future is bright.  

listen to ‘Mobile Advertising and Focus’ on Audioboo