The majority of UK consumers are left dissatisfied with the mobile advertising experience, according to new research.
The report, from mobile platform Unlockd, highlighted that less than half (47%) of consumers consider their mobile advertising experience to be positive.
In contrast, almost all advertisers (84%) and mobile operators (82%) believe they are delivering a positive experience, highlighting a major disconnect between the industry and consumers.
The report finds:
· 39% of consumers think mobile ads are irrelevant to them
· BUT 84% of advertisers and 82% of mobile operators think the experience is positive
· Half believe it’s because products advertised are relevant to the end user
In a bid to understand this divide, Unlockd surveyed 100 mobile operators, 100 advertisers and 1,000 consumers in the UK. The breakthrough report found that over a third (39%) of consumers think mobile ads are irrelevant to them, highlighting the lack of understanding by the industry of the consumer experience they’re providing. Key contributing factors leading to the negative experience were volume (40%) and irritating format (39%) of ads.
The report also found that half (50%) of 16-44 year olds would accept advertisements on their mobile phones in exchange for incentives or rewards from a mobile operator. In fact, more than two-thirds (64%) of 16-29 year olds would be at least happy if they could pay a lower monthly price plan or receive reward points to upgrade their phone in exchange for receiving advertisements.
“The disconnect between consumer experience and the mobile advertising industry highlights both the opportunity for mobile operators and advertisers to start to live up to the expectations of today’s mobile savvy consumers”, comments Matt Berriman, founder and CEO of Unlockd: “Operators, publishers and advertisers need to work together to ensure consumers are offered value in exchange for receiving ads. Whether that’s valuable content relevant to the individual, or value in terms of discounts, deals or offers.
The future of the mobile experience
Part of the challenge that mobile operators face is around how to best monetise the user experience, a challenge felt across the industry, with one-fifth of mobile operators referencing a lack of measurement and ROI as limiting factors around the growth of mobile advertising.
However, two-fifths of mobile operators are hopeful that mobile advertising will be a main revenue driver for them in the next five years with this value exchange model being touted as the solution in helping achieve this.
Berriman concludes, “Our recent Tesco Mobile partnership in the UK is an example of how mobile operators and advertisers can deliver exclusive offers to customers who’ve actively signed up and programmed in their preferences, so they receive relevant content to them. Our data shows consumers want this value exchange – and the success of this product launch certainly further supports this.”
To view the full report discussing the mobile advertising experience in more depth, click here.