Value for marketers in mobile?

Dianne Bayley
11 November 2008

According to AdMob, said to be the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile advertising network, South Africa looks set for a massive move to mobile marketing.

Jason Morse, AdMob's director of international operations, says the impending explosive growth in mobile advertising will be driven by increasing consumer reliance on the mobile internet and advertiser demand.

"AdMob research shows that mobile penetration quickly surpassed PC/internet penetration years ago. What is key is that our traffic stats - together with market research conducted with local mobile publishers - show that there are now more mobile internet users than there are PC internet users in South Africa," Morse says.

Speaking at the recent Africa Media and Broadcasting Congress at the Sandton Convention Centre, Morse said South Africa has a strong base of active mobile users and leads the continent in terms of mobile web traffic.

"South Africa accounted for 56.9% (450.74-million page impressions) of AdMob's African traffic (791.77-million page impressions) in the second quarter of 2008. In total, South African consumers are generating around 150-million page impressions a month."

AdMob sees a large base of advertisers, both international and local, who are "hungry to find compelling mobile websites to reach South African consumers". Morse says that while many local advertisers are excited about the opportunity, there has been a slow uptake from local publishers with most local traffic stats going to international mobisites.

"This is changing, though, with many of the larger media houses like Media24 (m.news24.com), Avusa's The Times (m.thetimes.co.za), and the Mail & Guardian (m.mg.co.za) launching mobisites," he says.

"DotMobi" domain names were made available for public registration in September 2006. While this is a fairly recent introduction, .mobi has already made headlines with several domain sales in the hundred-thousand-dollar range in the US, including Flowers.mobi, Sportsbook.mobi and Fun.mobi. Proponents believe this success indicates the confidence developers have in this young extension.

Morse believes advertising is proving to be the easiest way to monetise a mobile website. "There are examples of publishers in the US who have used the subscription model, but this is rapidly changing as they look to make content free," he says.

According to a recent New York Times article, studies conducted by researchers for People Magazine found that 30% of magazine readers now use their mobile phone to access People.com. Recognising the need to move to a free model, People.com identified the shift in consumer behaviour and is building a free, ad-supported service to be introduced in November, moving away from its US$3.99 subscription model.

AdMob says this model of free content supported by advertising is also important in the local market and companies looking to launch mobisites must realise that traffic is built through the mobile network.

"Many of the South African publishers with mobisites have looked to promote their mobisites through traditional media channels. However, what we're seeing on the AdMob network is that mobisite publishers are managing to increase the traffic to their mobisites by advertising on other mobisites," said Morse.

This is proving more effective because the advertising is done directly to consumers already on their mobile phones and is generally cheaper.

"Publishers also need to understand that if you advertise on another medium, then users have to literally stop what they are doing and take out their phone to see what you're advertising. The jump from print, TV or online to the cellphone results in the loss of a lot of potential users. If you're engaging directly with mobile uses, your mobisite is a mere click away," he says.

Key considerations for marketers

Marketers should note that the mobile channel is not cannibalising the traditional mediums. While PC internet traffic traditionally spikes during the day, mobile web traffic is seen uniformly during the day.

It's also one of the most measurable of all mediums. "The powerful reporting capabilities of mobile enables publishers to monitor in real-time which content is proving popular, enabling them to make ongoing changes to their mobsites to assist in boosting traffic figures. Increased traffic equates to increased revenue," Morse says.

South African companies have just dipped their toes in the world of mobile advertising and mobisites and are already seeing big growth in traffic figures and advertising spend.

Morse believes the future of mobile in South Africa is explosive and when the majority of the approximately 35 million cellphone subscribers here start using mobisites on a daily basis, the revenue from advertising may skyrocket.

"South Africa stands on the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of both mobile web traffic and advertising investment targeting South African users. Organisations that position themselves for the explosion in growth will reap the benefits," he says.