Video on portable DVD players, iPods and laptops are commonplace now as is video being delivered to your mobile. If you’ve ever crowded round video on a friend’s mobile you’ll know how powerful it can be. This chapter examines how to make the most from your tiny screen.

Introduction

Mobile represents a rapidly growing but still under developed new medium. Agencies, brands, mobile operators and dozens of technology companies are all focusing intently on this area as it promises to become a major revenue opportunity in the next few years.

There are currently around 2.5 billion mobile handsets in the world, roughly the same number as TVs and PC’s combined.

The typical phone can be an excellent advertising channel as it displays graphics and video, plays sounds and music, can determine where the subscriber is physically located, the subscriber’s demographic profile is available to the operator, and commercial transactions can be completed immediately. No other medium can offer this combination of massive reach, location and personal profiling.

Growing market

Today, the amount of advertising in mobile is fairly low, around $871m globally according to Informa. Yet the capabilities of handsets are improving - in terms of display, sound, input, 3G - and the speed of the networks is increasing. This combination will lead to a richer user experience, and is expected to drive mobile ad growth rocketing to a global estimate of $11.35bn in 2011. Yet even today, studies have shown that mobile advertising can be very effective….

Consumer experience

There has always been a strong concern that ads on mobile phones might come to be viewed as spam. Already in some parts of the world the number of un-requested push ads is so high that it has caused a negative reaction. This is especially a concern of the mobile operators, as they view themselves as the “guardian” of a subscriber’s mobile experience.

However, a number of recent studies have shown that consumers are actually very willing to receive ads on their phones as long as certain conditions are in place:

• They can opt-in or opt-out;
• The ads are relevant to them;
• They get something in return for watching the advertisement.

What the subscriber gets in return for watching the ad can vary greatly. There are now several “ad-funded” propositions on the market. In some cases a subscriber will get free or reduced price video content, ring tones or wall paper; sometimes free minutes of talk; sometimes free levels of a mobile game (or the entire game); and there is even one mobile network due to launch soon in the UK where the entire service will be free as long as you are willing to watch ads.

There are already many types of mobile video ads available including banner ads, text ads, search ads, short code response numbers in print and TV and ads inserted between levels of a game. Essentially, the choice available to advertisers is as large as that of internet advertising and it is recommended that - in the same way as internet – marketers select only the forms beneficial to their brand and campaign.

Implications for advertisers

Although growing rapidly, mobile advertising is still a relatively small part of most ad campaigns. Most agencies are actively building their expertise in the area, and many major brands are running mobile trials to learn how mobile can best be used and integrated with existing advertising campaigns.

There are at least 4 major benefits of including mobile in a marketing
campaign:

• Reach - the installed base is huge, and goes across essentially all population segments. Mobile may often represent the best way to reach certain groups that are difficult to market to on other media.
  
• Presence - the mobile is an essential item that is always with the targeted subscriber. This gives the advertiser many more opportunities to reach the consumer throughout the day.
  
• Engagement - the mobile can be excellent at engaging the customer at close range!
  
• Profiling/targeting - there is, potentially, a wealth of information available about a mobile user to help target the ad or personalise the message they receive. For example demographic data and media consumption habits (held by the operator) , location (determined by the network), and type of device being used.

Case Studies

There are many ways that mobile can be used in advertising, here are 3 representative examples:

Toyota, Yaris, Prison Break – the popular TV series Prison Break releases a summary of each episode as a 2 minute “mobisode”. Toyota has been advertising on these mobisodes in multiple ways.

• Before each mobisode there is a 20 second video spot
• Toyota is listed as a sponsor on the main title shot
• During the mobisode the actors often drive Yaris cars, and the Toyota emblem is prominently showed each time.

Celebrity Big Brother, Channel 4 UK – in the 2005 season, mobile phone users could download video clip highlights from the house at a cost of £0.50 each. For the 2006 season, Channel 4 decided to make the clips free, but they showed pre-roll 15 second video ad from brands like Domino’s Pizza or Pot Noodle. The result was a 10x increase in video clips downloaded.

New Yorker magazine cartoons – the New Yorker magazine was always famous for its print cartoons. Recently a production company has taken many of the cartoons and turned them into short animations for mobile phones. After each cartoon there is a short, 10 second advertising video, which provides the revenue so they offer the “cartoon every day” service for free.

Planning and measurement

Measurement of video on the internet is going to be far more complex than the current means of measuring traditional online advertising. The main reason for this is that video is a linear format – it has a start, middle
and an end. This means that it will no longer be enough to log the fact that the ad has been served (as in traditional online advertising), but to log that the entire duration of the ad has been delivered. ABC Electronic has been working with the major broadcasters in the UK, the IPA and BARB to develop an entirely new measurement tool for video. On the measurement side, mobile actually offers excellent capability to measure and report on advertising in terms of how many viewed, who they are, when they viewed, where they were, did they interact, what device they viewed it on, etc. What is missing is a common industry standard and agreement on what information should be reported. Both of these aspects - planning and measurement - are rapidly developing at the moment. Having consistent, industry wide data that can help plan a campaign in advance and judge its effectiveness afterwards will be one of the keys to help mobile advertising realize its full potential.

For additional information about mobile advertising, including industry news, company profiles, and examples of mobile campaigns, please click here.