Mobile Ads Rank a B- For Effectiveness

Are mobile ads working? Eh, not so much, according to the marketing and digital experts who are placing them.

Adding to the lack of stellar performance is the growing disparity between time spent on mobile (which continues to climb steeply) and time spent engaging with mobile ads, according to a new report from eMarketer.

“Looks like brands, agencies and publishers still have some studying to do,” notes Rob O’Regan of emedia as he chimes in on subject.

“Location-targeted ads received the highest ranking, with an A-minus – the only A grade of the 16 subjects offered,” says O-Regan. “Pulling up the rear, with grades ranging from C-plus to C-minus, were the mobile reporting process, mobile creative, mobile measurement and analytics, and mobile static banner formats.”

According to eMarketer, the major issues with the current state of mobile advertising center around four key areas:

1. Standards: Guidelines for creative development, user tracking and results reporting, along with benchmarks to help compare ROI on mobile ads to other media.
2. Measurement tools:  Better analytics and measurement solutions are needed to gauge ROI and lifetime value.
3. Improved creative:  Moving away from static banners toward interactive formats and integrated experiences.
4. Data integration: Improved ability to tie mobile users back into other data sets.

Clearly there is vast room for improvement in mobile advertising best practices. And no doubt there are “solutions providers” out there working hard to close these gaps. Yet we find it interesting that in the discussion, little thought it given to the mobile users themselves.

Smartphone owners are making it pretty clear that mobile users don’t want ads on their phones. Until marketers can close that gap, all the tools in the world won’t solve the problem.