Comments on: Study: In 5 years, 4.4% of all ads (not just digital) will appear on a phone screen

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:16:15 +0000

I can’t speak for Leadbolt, but there is a difference between Airpush and regular ad networks. Airpush hides within an app and once it starts sending you ads, there’s no way of detecting which app is actually pushing you the ads (You have to get special software to identify the culprits). Airpush ads are not only intrusive but they’re not transparent about who they’re coming from. In fact, Airpush seems to make a point of hiding which apps are pushing ads so consumers can’t take the obvious action of uninstalling their apps.

If that’s the future of mobile advertising, then it doesn’t have a very promising future.

By: Rebecca Vega

Rebecca Vega — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:32:56 +0000

Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate the opinion but disagree with the assessment on mobile ad networks like Airpush, Leadbolt, and others that basically try to do the same thing. If you don’t like ads (most people don’t) all ads are pretty much unwanted spam, but as they grow more efficient, and better-targeted, the ads may become more palatable as they become more profitable for publishers and advertisers. I look at things in the industry from a people-first standpoint. And I really think that the growth we’re seeing across the mobile landscape today is going to be beneficial to everyone in the long run – even mobile consumers who may presently view mobile ads as annoying or otherwise.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:33:34 +0000

Hi Rebecca,

Taking you comments at face value (sorry, we get a lot of Airpush promotional comments on these boards), I think you can’t use AirPush as a predicator of growth. Airpush ads are basically spam bordering on malware. They may be doing well now, but I think there is limit to their upside. The more devs that use Airpush, the more cluttered notification bars will become with ads that consumers have no idea how to get rid of. Eventually consumers will revolt and start disabling push notifications entirely.

By: Rebecca Vega

Rebecca Vega — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:39:46 +0000

I think Berg’s estimates for mobile ads and marketing will be shown to have been much too conservative in the long run. Look at the mobile ad market’s growth in the last twelve months. AdMob and iAd are referenced here, but look at other ad networks like Leadbolt, Airpush, etc. The amount of revenue being generated by advertisers and developers today is so powerful that these individuals are going to dedicate even more time, money, and energy into the industry, which will fuel growth at a rate much, much faster than anything we’ve seen or could expect. Another factor we have to consider is innovation in the mobile ad arena. Six months ago, as one example, Airpush’s SDK 5.0 wasn’t here. Today, it’s responsible for industry leading CPMs. If one ad network can start to prove itself to be superior in this competitive field almost overnight, who knows where we will be in another five years. It’s impossible to predict. But it’s exciting to consider the possibilities, I will definitely tell you that!