2008, not the year of mobile (yet)
For something like the last 10 years, every year mobile advertising has been considered the next big thing, supposed to happen in the following two years. Shall we renew the tradition this year too?
Definitely, 2008 hasn’t been the year of mobile advertising going mainstream. Despite a substantial growth of mobile ad revenues, it is still far away from being mainstream, and is more relegated to an experiment.
There are a few reasons for this to have happened, despite the good potential, the interest and big investments from many big companies.
- adformat standardization
- the devices (hundreds of different devices!)
- the economic situation
The iPhone, and soon the increased penetration of similar smart devices like the HTCs or the new Nokia X1 and the Google-phone, are changing the scenario for the better. Users of these devices are very engaged online, and tend to consume 10x or 20x page-views than any other user. Couple that with flat data plans, and you have got quite a killer. Despite the still low penetration of the iPhone, the account for quite a big chunk of mobile internet traffic. Sure think it will take a while, but it’s only getting better. This will help format standardization as well.
The economy hasn’t been helping in 2008. Mobile advertising, although interesting and potentially powerfull, is still an unknown and untried thing for the majority of advertisers. They tend to see it more like a test, a trial, and they are definitely less willing to pour money in uncharted territory during economic downturns. Shame this bad economic environment is probably going to last for another while. I doubt 2009 will be any better than 2008, and possibly even worse.
Finger crossed, but it looks like we’ll have to wait another couple of years (at least) before mobile advertising really kicks off and becomes mainstream.
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