Are Mobile Ads More Effective Than Online Ads?

We know mobile advertising is effective. The question is: how effective? Recent studies suggest pretty solid results for both direct response and branding metrics, better, in fact than some online ads.

The lead article in yesterday’s eMarketer newsletter, for example, reported low ad recall but high response rates for location-based service ads, based on results of a recent Luth/Mobile Marketing Association study. On the other hand, the same survey indicated fairly high recall rates (and correspondingly lower response rates) for display ads seen while browsing or using applications, particularly among mobile users ages 18 to 34.

The 11th installment of InsightExpress’ Digital Consumer Portrait likewise indicates impressive branding and direct response metrics for mobile ad campaigns. In a podcast interview with MobileBeyond, Joy Cicman Liuzzo, InsightExpress’ senior director of marketing & mobile research, noted that banner ads on mobile websites generate the highest click-through rates and the lowest annoyance factor, although among “mobile intensives,” 68% of whom have smartphones, app banners (appearing in both the top and bottom of the application) also generated favorable results.

In an earlier interview with Mobile Marketer, Ms. Liuzzo discussed how, in some cases, particularly where brand favorability and purchase intent are concerned, mobile ads can be five-to-six times more effective than online ads. Overall, mobile display ads outperformed SMS and mobile video in every category other than aided awareness and brand favorability.

These findings add weight to the interviews eMarketer conducted last fall with executives from Razorfish, JumpTap and Admob, who indicated that response rates to their display campaigns were as much as 10 times as high as those on the desktop Web. Patrick Moorehead (then with Razorfish but now VP and director of mobile platforms at Draftfcb) told eMarketer he had seen click-through rates for sponsored SMS campaigns go as high as 10%. Note that full versions of these interviews are available to eMarketer Total Access clients only.

One of the main points of last fall’s “Mobile Marketing and Advertising: Change Is in the Air” report was that the lack of on-screen clutter (relative to the desktop) and the ability to reach people at their point of interest contribute to mobile ad effectiveness. Higher response rates and better branding metrics, in turn, help make the medium more appealing to advertisers. As indicated by studies cited here, these trends—along with the ongoing mobile app frenzy—continue to drive the market forward.