The mobile advertising market looks like a ground floor venue that is starting to rise, and Google has advice on following it upwards.
Search advertising was once a novel little concept. Placing contextual ads, in text form, next to search results looked so boring in comparison with bold graphical display ads.
Then Google moved forward with the idea, as originated at GoTo.com, and ran with it all the way to a market cap of $216 billion.
Mobile advertising could be the next big mover. Hundreds of millions of people have cellphones. The capabilities of these mobile devices include various Internet services. Wireless networks in the US have been moving toward speeds seen in Europe and Asia, making those web services more appealing.
And of course there is always the GoogleNet possibility now that the company has entered the auction for 700MHz spectrum.
While not referencing that strategic corporate move, Google’s AdWords blog has ideas for advertisers seeking to seize the mobile market. A free offering from Google can generate a mobile web page through a wizard, as part of the AdWords Business Pages for mobile ads service.
On a broader scale, Google now offers carrier targeting in more countries. The advanced targeting option allows the advertiser to limit the carriers where an ad may be shown potentially.
Google cited research from eMarketer that pegged the current mobile search ad market at a middling $13.5 million. It’s growing rapidly, and as the various fights between the parties related to mobile advertising begin to shake out into winners and losers, advertisers should win with better services becoming available over time.
