Mobile consumer mindset key for advertising: IAB report

By Giselle Abramovich

July 22, 2008

All in the mind

NEW YORK - Marketers who want to reach the mobile consumer need to differentiate the technical and market factors of mobile advertising to identify the best opportunities for different brand and campaign goals.

This was one of the main findings of a document released yesterday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Titled the Mobile Platform Status Report, it focuses on mobile display advertising trends and opportunities. 

“Mobile advertising is one of the most exciting new frontiers in interactive advertising in the United States,” according to the document. “As the Internet is reinvented on mobile devices—smaller, more personal and personalized, ubiquitously accessible— established forms of interactive advertising will also evolve as they migrate from PCs to mobile devices.

“This document offers advertisers and agencies a guide to this emerging platform in the U.S.," the document stated. "Mobile advertising opportunities span a broad range from search to messaging to in-game placements.” 

The potential addressable U.S. mobile audience is vast.

According to data from comScore M:Metrics from November 2007, approximately 100.7 million U.S. consumers used text messaging.

The M:Metrics study also found that 34.1 million used the mobile Web, 29 million downloaded content,  14.6 million used a search engine and 9.3 million viewed mobile videos.

Mobile data usage is highest amongst the youth demographic. 

“Marketers should not overlook the fact that substantial shares of older demographics have also started using mobile interactivity,” the IAB report says.

According to the March 2008 Pew Internet Life study cited in the IAB document, 96 percent of 18-29-year-olds with a mobile phone or PDA have used one or more mobile data services.

On the other hand, 85 percent of 30-49-year-olds, 63 percent of 50-64-year-olds and 36 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use one or more mobile data service.

Older segments are becoming more easily reached via mobile marketing.

The other demographic skew around mobile data usage relates to race and ethnicity.

Again, based on Pew data, 90  percent of U.S. English-speaking Hispanics with mobile communication devices have used one or more mobile data services, as compared with 79 percent of blacks and 73 percent of whites.

The IAB report finds that mobile advertising can be compared to Internet advertising.

“Mobile interactivity is in some ways similar to the PC-based internet and these similarities will speed advertisers’ ability to take advantage of the mobile medium,” the report says. “Leveraging accepted Web advertising best practices will facilitate building a successful mobile advertising business.

“At the same time, the user experience, interactivity and expectations of consumers on the mobile Web differ from their PC counterparts, and simply transplanting PC-optimized advertising onto mobile devices is unlikely to yield optimal results.” 

Even though a broad range of use cases motivates consumers to access the PC-based Internet, consumers today typically use mobile interactivity to save or fill time.

Users of the mobile Web are often looking to find information on the fly and then return to what they were doing.

When attempting to fill time, the mobile consumer engages with entertaining or informative mobile applications to fill unexpected slow moments in the day.

“These distinct user mindsets characterize the unique benefits offered by mobile interactivity,” the study says.

“Marketers planning mobile campaigns will need to consider the ramifications of reaching a user in time-saving versus time-filling mode, even if it is the same individual, the messages and offers that resonate may differ."

Please click here to download a copy of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Mobile Platform Status Report.