“Just under half of people surveyed in five Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) who said they have clicked on or read a mobile ad in the past month say they did so by mistake,” Mumbrella recently reported.
Ouch.
Apparently, a study by Omnicom Media Group (the parent group of media agencies OMD and PHD) and research firm Epinion revealed that though 77 percent of survey respondents admitted they’ve engaged with a mobile ad, 48 percent “said they were unintentional clicks.”
“However, respondents said they don’t mind ads on the whole, as long as they get something in return; 60 percent said they prefer entertaining ads or those that reward for watching,” notes Mumbrella .
The polling showed that respondents said they rely on their phones to ease boredom, but it’s not all about entertainment. Those polled expressed a desire for content with functional and practical value, including self-improvement tips (43 percent), motivational or inspirational quotes (30 percent) and recipes (27 percent).
Interestingly, email was isolated as the most effective ad channel on mobiles, beating Facebook newsfeed content, animated content, or video ads.
“Fully 60 per cent of respondents said they use their smartphones while watching TV,” reports Mumbrella. “This behavior is more pronounced in Thailand (66 percent) and among younger people aged 15 to 24 (63 percent).”
According to Guy Hearn, chief innovation officer of Omnicom Media Group, acknowledged that mobile advertising is critical for today’s marketers, but that “many of us have no clear idea how to capitalize on it.”
“One of the reasons is that while there is a lot of data available on consumers’ mobile usage, data on mobile advertising is still limited,” he said.
Thue Quist Thomasen, head of group sales and marketing at Epinion, advises brands to consider more seriously marketing that is useful to mobile users.
“There is a huge opportunity for brands to enhance the utility and functionality of their campaigns by leveraging mobile advertising as consumers have gone beyond using the mobile phone as a means of entertainment and communication,” Thomasen explained. “Brands should move away from the fixation of content equates entertainment or information, and reconsider or redefine what does content mean to consumers from the perspective of utilization.”
