What If This Isn’t The Year For Mobile Advertising?
Now that we’ve gotten all excited about the potential revenues iAd could reap, and big giants like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) have acquired start-ups for hundreds of millions of dollars, what happens if mobile advertising doesn’t end up taking off this year — or any other year?
That thought must creep into the minds of industry executives, especially when a guy like Kevin Ryan, the former CEO of online-ad company DoubleClick, tells the WSJ that he is skeptical about the potential of mobile advertising.
Ryan says the small screen sizes and the inability to create much demand to date for mobile ads are bad signs. Despite that evidence, he says he’s learned quickly that
The problem is that you have online advertisers porting online thinking to a mobile space. Or, those who’ve been in mobile advertising have remained stuck in the same mind-set for 5+ years (push, push, push, deliver one message, etc.). It’s a bunch of dullards.
There will be pockets of innovation in mobile advertising that engage Users in a manner that is unique, instinctive AND specific to mobile. Those new ad platforms will win. Those who merely port- “what worked over there” to this space will lose. Anyone who has contextual, location, personal and extended engagement features stands a chance of creating a successful place for both Brands and Mobile Consumers that is uniquely mobile.
But, there will not be a windfall of instant dollars and value in mobile advertising from these early M&A activities. Really, they are too dull and uninteresting – they don’t really work for mobile consumers. We’ll see a big shake out over 12-24 months, then when the dust clears, see who’s left standing. So, yes, 2010 won’t be the Big Deal many are hoping for. But, some new players will emerge and that will be fun to watch.
It obviously is very different, where it is more easier to make usage reports on mobile users rather than show a one on one response using any medium other than SMS.
So yeah… go ahead and use the internet for the cool creative interactives .. and use the mobile to guage the responses!
Yes I agree with Dan. The advertisers who are still carrying old values won’t be able to survive in the new mobile market. Mobile ad is altogether a new avenue. It is more personalized and something which we engage with all the time. This new ad platform is for creative minds who explore and excel in this field.