Mobile ad spending, by any measure, is expected to increase considerably in 2012, consuming a much larger portion of the marketing budget. Along with that increase, however, consumer expectations for the format will become higher as well, Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, tells Mobile Marketer.
The Tablet Experience
The tablet ad experience—namely for the iPad—is, not surprisingly, one area where consumers will expect marketers to deliver a stellar experience, writes Amy Vale, VP of Global Marketing at Mojiva.
"We are seeing that advertisers and developers who create ad units built specifically for tablets are experiencing phenomenal user engagement. Developers have really started acknowledging and taking into account the fact that tablet users have a radically different user experience and consume content and media in a very different way compared to other mobile devices such as smartphones."
This year, she concludes, it will be important that advertisers and developers recognize the different strategies and products required for tablets as opposed to other mobile devices, and develop strategies and ads with tablets specifically in mind.
The Other Mobile Format
However as the focus on tablet ads grows, marketers should not avoid other mobile formats—which in many cases have proven to be just as adept in delivering mobile impressions.
Orange County Register Communications began selling mobile advertising services in 2009. Its services include mobile text alerts, mobile-optimized websites, banners within its apps and m.ocregister.com mobile website, and mobile Search Engine Optimization.
According to the ABC Interactive's first m.Audit report, the primary mobile website of the Orange County Register averaged more than 4.5 million total monthly page impressions between July and September 2011. Its mobile app had an additional 2 million stories read monthly.
As the paper's mobile portfolio and subsequent audiences grow, it has become increasingly important to provide verifiable data to advertisers about the mobile audience share and usage patterns, Michael Henry, interim publisher at The Orange County Register, said.
He adds that the m.Audit will facilitate the media buying and selling process.
Mobile Search Ads Grow
Mobile search advertising is another high growth area, according to new statistics from from IBM Smarter Commerce.
Mobile search advertising spend grew 269% year-over-year in Q4 2011, accounting for 14.2% of retailers' total paid search budgets during the quarter, with impressions also up 317%, it found.
