Mobile advertising

Advertising is witnessing a paradigm shift over the years. While traditional advertising methods such as newspapers, television and radio commercials, etc., are slowly falling behind, digital advertising is erupting as the next big thing. Mobile advertising occupies a central role in digital advertising and is throwing open many opportunities for marketers to explore. 

In the last few years, smartphones have managed to become the leading digital device for ads.  It has managed to become so popular that according to the projections of BIA Advisory Services, smartphones might replace mails completely as the most suitable mode for digital ads in the U.S. It is also speculated that around 2023, this gap will further widen. 

But how did we come to this situation, and what’s next? In today’s post, we’ll be looking at some of the factors responsible for this popularity of mobiles in terms of advertising and what more does it have in the bag to offer in the future.

What to Led to the Evolution of Mobile Advertising? 

Mobile advertising has come a long way since marketers started using it. Here are a few factors that led to the boom of mobile advertising. 

  • The rise of online virtual consumer channels that provide delivery and curbside pickup in the most popular categories such as retails, CPG, and restaurants led to a decline in the footfall of retail stores.
  • The COVID pandemic forced everyone to stay indoors during the major part of last year and this year, leading to a significant increase in content consumption through mobile devices. From work from home, online classes to accessing OTT platforms, mobile devices became the go-to medium for any digital service, giving rise to a fertile ground for businesses and brands to find customers.
  • Traditional media has been on a downward movement for quite some time now, and this has led to mobiles winning a more significant share of revenue in the media time.
  • The pandemic also made people dependent on mobiles to get hold of essentials, which gave rise to the popularity of several e-commerce channels as suitable alternatives. 

Further, the rise of gaming, social media, podcasting, short video platforms like TikTok, etc., has also increased the average duration a user spends on a mobile device.  According to data, the current screen time of an adult is 4 hours and 23 minutes(non-voice activities) on average, a decent increase from 3 hours and 45 minutes in 2019.

All these reveal that mobile devices, especially smartphones, have become the perfect place for brands and businesses to find their potential customers and start indirect or direct interaction. Marketers, too, are trying their best to grab this opportunity by allocating a significant marketing budget to mobile advertising because of successful lead conversions.

Now that you have understood why brands spend their resources on mobile advertising, let us look at what the future holds for this digital media and how marketing can evolve with the onset of future technologies. 

What Holds the Key to The Future of Mobile Advertising? 

As technology continues to evolve, three emerging trends are expected to define mobile advertising of the future. 

5G Technology

Viewers are no longer fond of the buffering on their screens. Though 4G is way better in terms of speed and connectivity compared to the 2G and 3G of old times, it is still not enough. 5G will let us stream content seamlessly and make it possible for consumers to consume digital content in an interactive way.

Businesses can, therefore, easily integrate ads with videos to advertise on their phone while streaming. Some reports also suggest that it will also help enhance the functioning of Artificial Reality and Virtual Reality on websites. 

Already some e-commerce sites allow their customers to check out any product through these technologies before placing an order. 5G technology will enhance the experience due to its low latency and might let the advertisers show the ads about related products through AR and VR technology.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is truly the future. How many times has it happened to you that you’ve searched for a particular product on an e-commerce site and ads of similar products started popping up on your social media news feed? This is just a very small example of what AI can do. 

Mainly designed to understand and learn new information about a consumer from the response, A.I can easily get to know what are the preferences of the individual and suggest options based on the information. 

For example, suppose two people are traveling by cab, and both of them are watching different things on their phones. Due to AI, both of them can be shown different ads based on their content preferences which will be more targeted than the generic ads for all. 

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is yet another big thing for mobile advertising. Unlike earlier times when the publisher of a website or app and advertiser could directly interact for a deal, now ad spaces are sold to advertisers through different agencies. 

To put it this way, if an advertiser wants to showcase their ads in an app, they have to buy the slot through DSPs in auctions by bidding for the slots. The most important benefit of this process is the simplicity and low consumption of money and time. 

As a major part of the process is done in real-time through programs, there are fewer chances of mistakes, and the advertiser gets a more targeted audience who’ll connect better with their Ads. Not only that, but it also reduces the work the advertisers and publishers need to do to conduct the deal manually.

Conclusion

Considering all the factors listed above, it can be rightly assumed that we’re going to see some major changes in mobile advertising. No doubt, it has the potential to grow into the biggest media for advertising if the right technologies are used with the right strategies. This would benefit not only the brands or businesses but also the consumers.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to gain a competitive edge. Contact our team for expert assistance.