Just on the heels of survey results from Compete indicating that many smartphone owners are open to targeted ads, Chitika has shared some findings of a study that suggests mobile users are “extremely ad-wary.”
Chitika conducted a study of mobile vs. non-mobile Internet usage, and based on a sample of 92 million impressions, found that mobile users are approximately half as likely to click on an advertisement as non-mobile users.
– Of the 92 million impressions cited in the study, approximately 1.3 million (1.5%) came from mobile browsing.
– non-mobile held steady with a 0.83% clickthrough rate
– mobile as a whole pulled a mere 0.48% – just over half of the average
“While the recent growth in ‘smartphones’ has sparked a renewed interest in mobile advertising, it appears given the numbers that mobile Internet users are not receptive to advertising – a phenomenon that is not surprising, given the mobile users’ propensity to be searching for quick answers or directions,” says Chitika.
I would agree that it is not surprising that mobile users aren’t thrilled about mobile ads. However, I also believe if an ad is targeted well enough, a user will find it acceptable, a theory that accounts for Compete’s findings.
Of Android, iPhone, Microsoft’s Windows CE, Palm OS, and BlackBerry, iPhone ranked the worst for clickthrough rate at 0.30%. “iPhone also accounted for the bulk of mobile hits, at 66%. The group which clicked on ads the most is the “Other” group, comprised mainly of BlackBerry users and a small handful of other phone operating systems (including Symbian, Nokia, and HTC),” says Chitika.
Chitika maintains that mobile users do not want to be served ads. Perhaps that is why Mobile Marketing Association President Mike Wehrs has said that if you do it well, it doesn’t become an advertisement. It becomes information that they were looking for anyway.
For more on mobile marketing without being annoying, read this murdok interview with Tom Foran from Crisp Wireless.
