The Skweezer Blog

Over the past few days there have been several columns published regarding the public’s perception of mobile advertising. What’s striking to me, as somebody who follows the news closely on this subject, are two things:

1. The frequency with which studies are coming out pertaining to the social impact of mobile advertising
2. The diametrically opposed findings of these studies

Take for example several headlines from the past few days:

9/14 - Users Of Smartphones More Sympathetic [to] Social and Mobile Advertising
9/12 - Mobile (And Particularly iPhone) Users Not Keen On Clicking Ads
9/11 - Mobile Ads See High Traction Among Youth
9/11 - Consumers Want Nothing to Do with Mobile Ads?

One of the difficulties with measuring public acceptance of mobile ads is the diverse nature of the mobile advertising platform. For instance, advertising on mobile devices can take the form of CPM banners, text-based CPC ads, and opt-in SMS/MMS alerts or coupons. And these ads can be delivered to the user via downloaded apps, mobile browser, or SMS/MMS. Not to mention behavioral differences by age group, economic status, and geography.

One thing seems probable however: we can eventually expect free, ad-supported content to be the norm in the mobile environment just as it currently is in the more mature desktop environment. Given the choice between free apps, ringtones, Web services, etc. with advertising and paid content without advertising, consumers will in all likelihood choose the former.

Posted by Mark Sieve