Mobile to become linchpin for online advertising surge: Bango
December 5, 2008
Apple is betting that in-app advertising will continue to grow in profitability
Advertising via mobile looks a lot more appealing to advertisers who are tightening their marketing budgets because of the slowing economy.
Bango has made five predictions in regards to trends the company thinks will b center stage in 2009. According to the analytics provider, these trends will truly shape the mobile world.
"In essence, next year mobile will become more and more integrated into mainstream online marketing," said Sarah Keefe, vice president of marketing at Bango, London. "I think that the reason for this is because mobile, as a channel, is so measurable.
Prediction No.1
Tightening marketing budgets demand more controlled spending and better value. Mobile starts to look a lot more appealing, offering attractive costs of acquisition and more precise targeting than offline or PC delivery.
Brands will be able to measure mobile ROI with a very high degree of accuracy and use analytics to better deliver mobile campaigns and understand their consumers.
Prediction No. 2
Bango forecasts that one major ecommerce retailer will acquire a direct-to-consumer mobile content provider to expand its presence in digital content.
The big guns in the online music, video and books markets will have identified mobile as an increasingly important media platform and will want to expand into this area.
One implication is how such a move from a major player would threaten Apple's position as a leading music retailer for mobile devices.
Prediction No. 3
Online music retailers will follow Amazon and Napster's lead and meet consumer preference for DRM free music that can be transferred effortlessly between phone and PC.
Mobile phones will become the dominant platform for listening to music, boosted by their portability, the high storage capability of the latest phones and the ability to play the ubiquitous MP3 format.
Prediction No. 4
Over recent years people have started to cancel their landlines in favor of using mobiles for all voice calls.
Bango predicts users will start to cancel their fixed line broadband subscriptions and upgrade to smartphones and wireless "dongles" to get on the Internet.
This consolidation will happen first in the U.S. where nearly 20 percent of mobile users have a smartphone.
Prediction No. 5
Of the remaining proprietary players, U.S. wireless carrier Verizon will finally open up its Brew platform in 2009, enabling it to further grow its data business with a fully realized, open internet offering.
However, the other closed mobile player, Apple, is likely to remain closed on the back of the momentum it has built around the iPhone and its App Store.
As if replaying history from 20 years ago, the Apple solution will plateau as more mainstream, open and cost-effective content and application environments emerge.
Which will go on to become the Microsoft of the mobile world? While Bango predicts plenty of activity in 2009, it will be too soon to declare a winner.
"The iPhone and other smartphones have affected the mobile interface and people are more motivated to go and see what's on the mobile Web," Ms. Keefe said. "Also the launch of mobile-optimized sites gives users a better experience, also driving them to try out the mobile Web.
"In 2009 more and more people will use their mobile phones to surf the Web."