A research agency eMarketer works in this area. It expects mobile app advertising to reach $ 100 billion worldwide in market spend by 2016. By 2019, it may reach $ 200 billion. By 2018, in India mobile app ads are likely to reach $ 1 billion. Marketers have to focus on the effectiveness of such ads. In digital and later mobile advertising, various technique have been put forward as per the advances of technology.
To begin with ads were purchased by their placemats on a weekly basis. This was not efficient and transparent. It was difficult to measure ROI. Later, digital advertising was judged on the basis of impression basis, or cost per mille ( CPM ). It was judging ads on the basis of performance. Later, a still more refined method on cost per click method ( CPC ) was adopted.
Thus the payment flow to the publishers of advertising, was on the basis of the number of impressions/ views or clicks on the website. Even this method was not considered efficient as there were issues of conversions.
On mobile now the latest method is mobile cost per install ( CPI ). Advertisers here pay for the installs they receive, and there is no conversion risk. What is the guarantee that these installed apps will be used ? A user may not use it at all. It is what happens after the install that is crucial. It is a challenging task.
These days post- install activity is tracked, to determine whether the traffic is useful for the advertiser. The actual purchases can be counted. Advertisers track the proxy events too to get the clues about the quality of the traffic. Proxies could be retention of 3 days, engagement or vitality, say Facebook shares. Post-install user engagement is emphasized.
The future of mobile advertising is its focus on real time. Apps are seen on the basis of the location, action and search. It is the use of algorithm that makes this possible.
Advertising on mobile is considered intrusive, but if you want free media, there is going to monetization through advertising. In China, a consumer can exercise choice by clicking on a banner/sticker that he wants to opt out of this type of advertising. Media owners too would learn what the likes and dislikes of the traffic are . It can be applied to videos too.
Marketing and advertising strategy on mobiles is planned on the basis of consumer behavior. We rather consider mobile as an additional screen, and neglect consumer behavior. Soon the mobile screen may dictate the TV screen, e.g. Chromecast and other such devices.