Mobile Entertainment

Mobile advertising is being hailed as a major opportunity for the future. Strategy Analytics predicts it will generate $14.4 billion of by 2011. But who will be the beneficiaries?  Will it be Google and Yahoo, or will content providers and brand owners reap the rewards? Perhaps this time the operators will grasp the opportunity. I’d like to think that operators will heed the lessons learned by ISPs in failing to exploit the Internet advertising wave and avoid becoming dumb bit pipes.

It’s hard to call. Some operators dipping a toe in the water with pilot projects, and Google is already offering mobile Ad words as a default option to all its advertisers. Meanwhile deals like Microsoft’s acquisition of ScreenTonic, Nokia purchasing EnPocket and AOL snapping up ThirdScreenMedia reflect huge corporate interest in the area. Whatever, it seems advertisers are ready to earmark a significant portion of their spend on mobile and online advertising.

The challenge is to get the user experience right. A Forrester report showed that although 79 per cent of consumers find the idea of mobile ads annoying, they will happily engage when the information is relevant and interesting. A balance needs to be struck between interactive personal messages and the user’s right to privacy.  For example, if the ad spoils the user’s enjoyment of the music track they are listening to, it could actually cost operators’ their customers.  

Until now the main focus for mobile advertising has been text ads and mobile web banners. It’s our belief that other rich media experiences such as video, MMS, rich media WAP or in-game offer the promise of better results.

Such an approach also lends itself most easily to the ad-funded content model, which always crops up in discussions about mobile advertising. From the operator’s perspective, certain services lend themselves better than others to ad-funded. Voice services for are unlikely to be affected, but web 2.0 services offer much potential. Take, for example, mobile TV or ‘You Tube-like’ services on mobile. Users seem unwilling to pay for receive these services so ad-funding is likely to prove more enticing.  

But what about the advertiser?  How compelling a medium is mobile for them? And what will they need to convince them to spend budget on this relatively untried new medium?  Operators will need to ensure the quality of experience is uniformly good for users, and that the brand is portrayed accurately and of a sufficiently high quality to satisfy the most discerning marketing VP. This will be challenging given the huge variety of devices used by consumers.

Another key requirement of the advertiser will be behavioural, geographic or demographic targeting and measurable results. Since mobile doesn’t have the simplicity of the cookie to provide this service, statistics represent a significant challenge. Mobile offers the potential for an interactive dialogue between the advertiser and the consumer and the ability for immediate results.  Yet until the operators can provide the reassurance of real measurement metrics to advertisers the service won’t take off.

From the users’ perspective it’s a little early to say for sure what works and what doesn’t. We believe viral marketing has dramatic potential. Communities like Bebo offer the potential for self-targeted advertising where users forward offers and content on to other members. Recipients are far more likely to react positively to a message from a friend than an operator or advertiser.

So why hasn’t mobile advertising already taken off in a big way? Simply, operators can’t risk getting it wrong. Mobile is personal. They must reassure users that if they opt out of receiving advertising, the promise will be honoured. With no industry regulation yet formed, it is down to the operator to ensure the user isn’t deluged with adverts and that policies governing the regularity of ads are strictly enforced.  

To protect the user experience, ad solutions must leverage masses of operator information with existing CRM solutions and other internal services such as Location Based Services, so that advertising is relevant to the recipient.  The operator also needs to consider the ability to link to off-portal content.

We only hope that the mobile operators recognise the goldmine that they are sitting on and are ready to make sure that they and not the Internet search engine providers are the ones to reap the rewards.