Market Summary - Mobile

At a Glance

Mobile advertising is growing quickly as is mobile media consumption, the charts below give you some idea of the key trends

Hot Topics

Adspend doubles in 2008:
Expenditure on mobile advertising in the UK exceeded market expectation in 2008 to reach a total of £28.6 million, as found in the study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) – the trade body for digital marketing – and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

A bigger audience than ever:
Mobile internet usage grows in 2008 from 8.6m in Dec 2007 to over 11m in Dec 2008, and people on unlimited data plans (unlimited access to the mobile internet as part of their contract) has grown by a massive 109% in 2008

Mobile offers a great user experience:
Advertising on mobile phones has generated a positive response from consumers - they like this form of advertising. According to the Orange Exposure 2 study, 70% of mobile media users find innovative ad formats actively appealing. Operators and site owners have been careful not to annoy consumers with interruptive formats, in order to build trust in their services and help mobile adspend to grow.

Social networking driving growth of mobile internet usage:
People using social networks on their mobile phone grew by 180% in 2008. According to recent research from the IAB, 44% of 16-24's have checked their social network profile via their mobile phone.

Better, smarter handsets:
The 3G iPhone launched and has transformed usage. iPhone users for example are around 7 times more likely than average to browse on their phones daily for news and info. It is not the only phone to do this, with penetration of 3G handsets overall increased in total by 36% in 2008.

Growth in mobile departments:
More and more media agencies in the UK are appointing dedicated heads of mobile, charged with working full time on the medium to educate teams and promote the channel.

The industry is working together to move things forward:
The IAB is working with operators and the key mobile advertising players to educate the market place. As knowledge grows it is becoming much easier to plan and buy successful mobile advertising campaigns.

What is it?

Mobile is the most personalized and targeted media. There are a variety of ways you can use mobile to engage and interact with people, from mobile display advertising, to sms shortcodes on your ads to communicating to your customers via text.
Customers see mobile phones as being very different to other media

Perception map – Adjectives which users associate with different media

How Does it Work

There are a range of ways you can use mobile to engage customers. Some examples include:

Banner advertising:
Banner advertising can raise awareness and encourage users to interact, visit www.iabuk.net for tips on how to make banner advertising successful

SMS:
SMS can be used in a range of ways, from shortcodes on ads to give consumers an easy an instant way to interact, to a way to maintain dialogue with your customers

Video:
Mobile video is a rapidly growing area, where brands can add pre/post-roll ads to add another aspect to their campaigns

Search:
Mobile search differs from online search – if you want your brand to appear in search results you need to optimise specifically for mobile. Both Google and Yahoo! are the main providers of mobile search.

Key Features & Benefits

Mobile Marketing is the only personal channel enabling spontaneous, direct, interactive and targeted communications at any time and in any place, its benefits include:

• Highly targeted down to individual level
• Ability to indentify location
• Personal device
• Can be used as a payment mechanism

Key Audience Strength

Mobile offers brands an audience that is highly engaged and highly receptive. No other media has such a high penetration, with more phones than people in the UK.