Mobile lacks analytics to jumpstart industry: Ringleader panel

By Giselle Tsirulnik

November 7, 2008

Bring on the analytics

NEW YORK -- How do mobile agencies and publishers make a case for mobile within this fairly new ecosystem? The answer is analytics.

At a Ringleader Digital event in the Financial District in lower Manhattan, a panel of representatives from leading publisher and agency firms talked about the types of tracking and analytics that are necessary to build a case for mobile in the eyes of more traditional advertisers.

"Frequency capping is important for us," said Brian Colbert, director of mobile sales at ESPN, New York. "Identifying uniques would help bring light on the effectiveness of marketing on our network of sites."

He said that 70 percent of ESPN's mobile site users are coming back more than just once a day.

Due to this overwhelming amount of repeat visitors, Mr. Colbert believes it is safe to say that the ESPN mobile site is a great branding tool for advertisers.

"If we could track how many times each unique visitor sees a particular ad we would be able to give ourselves some credit for driving brand preference," Mr. Colbert said.

Privacy is an important issue for publishers, he said.

Brands like ESPN spend time and money to get consumers to trust them.

"In terms of the type of data you have on users, I don't think they mind giving you the information," Mr. Colbert said. "With consumers I think they are more about how a publisher or a brand goes about getting this information.

"Whatever you do don't lose that trust that you've worked so hard for," he said. "Take it near and dear."

Engagement mapping is important to publishers, according to Tim Solt, senior vice president of business development at go2 Media, Boston.

Engagement mapping is basically following the trail a user takes to get from where he or she first spotted the ad, to the last step in the engagements process.

"This type of analytics would help us to enhance the value of our properties," Mr. Solt said. "It's great to know the user's trail.

"In terms of privacy concerns, targeting this way helps to better understand a user base," he said. "The better I understand the user base the more relevant the ads that I serve them become."

Additionally, by knowing your users, it is easier to make a case for your ad space in the eyes of advertisers and their agencies.

Conversion tracking is an important analytics for Toby McKenna, vice president of ad sales at Thumbplay, New York.

"If you can apply ROI and case studies to your sales pitch, it would be good for a publisher and for the industry as a whole," Ms. McKenna said. "It's sort of like making a case for you and for the industry."

Patrick Moorhead, a director at Avenue A | Razorfish, a New York-based agency said it is challenging for agencies to get into mobile.

"Internet analytics allows for granular data," Mr. Moorhead said. "We can't provide this type of data on mobile yet and it is hard to make a case for mobile to advertisers, especially in times like these when marketers want to know what they are getting into."

As the company moves clients into the testing phase of mobile, being able to tell a more holistic story would help, he said.

Advertisers want to know how consumers move through the mobile Web, what they are clicking and what they are passing by.

"Clients putting dollars into mobile want data and confirmation that they are getting their money's worth," Mr. Moorhead said. "It would be great to be able to document what we are doing for other clients."

Jamie Wells, director of mobile at OMD's Ignition Factory, New York says reach frequency is an important analytic to have in the mobile realm.

"A lot of clients want proof and we can give them that proof online and can't on the mobile Web," Mr. Wells said. "The economy is forcing advertisers to scrutinize us for this type of data more now than ever."

He agreed with the other speakers that engagement mapping would be a great addition to mobile analytics.

"A challenge we are facing in mobile is extracting value of the display ad," Mr. Wells said. "There is a lot of fuzziness in that area.

"The time spent with each ad would also make a case for mobile and for the publisher," he said.