Operators will have a big role in mediating between brands and their customers by helping provide targeted advertising, said Harry Hobson, a partner in the consultancy firm Fathom Partners. “Operators are, quite rightly, losing their grip about what content is watched and what’s offered. Advertising is one way the operator can retain some kind of control and some way to make money.”
— He said something like two thirds of all TV advertising is mis-spent because it is watched by the wrong demographic. Mobile offers an overlay between the same kind of content association but with more information about the customer and their preferences. “It’s providing targeting that makes mobile advertising so exciting and distinguishes it from TV and the internet. So mobile offers the opportunity to be targeted for zero wastage, and it depends on operators providing that targeting.”
— This is in the context of providing a better environment for consumers where they don’t have to pay for every piece of content at every step – games, ringtones, wallpapers. That’s something consumers would never tolerate on TV, said Hobson. With the proportion of mobile subscribers regularly using content still in single figures, advertising might be the way to get more people to use mobile content. “Removing the onus on paying and buying could make a real difference,” he said.
–Mobile advertising is about entertainment more than utilitarian functions like shopping. Hobson said that in the same way brands like Adidas set up their own WAP portals during the world cup with games, video and interviews, there will be huge opportunities for advertisers to provide entertainment services for consumers.
— Patrick Parodi, chief sales and marketing officer for Amodbee, said that mobile is currently the only medium in the world that attracts “pretty much zero level” of ad funding. He said that the industry can’t expect users to keep paying for games, video, user content services and the rest: “We’ll be reaching the point of saturation of people’s dispaposable incomes.” Parodi said it could change the face of mobile games if publishers looked to make money not on downloads, but on the number of times a game was played. That model needn’t replace the download model either. A trial at Amodee found that for every person prepared to pay $5 for a game download, another 50 would download the game if it was free.
This article originally appeared in MediaGuardian.
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