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Ranking of Key Players in the Mobile Advertising Space
By Deepa Karthikeyan, Current Analysis Analyst, Wireless Data Services
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Issue
As the recession compels advertisers to tighten their purse strings and look for media that will grant them a higher ROI, an increasing number of them are beginning to mull over the benefits of adding a wireless component to their promotional campaigns. This medium promises a high level of targeting and offers the ability to reach the consumer at the right place and right time - a crucial factor for relevancy. For wireless carriers, mobile advertising is an excellent means to leverage their resources and earn additional revenue via profit sharing deals with marketers. The main challenge experienced by mobile advertisers today is the lack of a proper system, as presently too many companies are involved in the process of creating a campaign, making the medium appear very cumbersome. As with any new platform, best practices and standards are still being established forcing wary marketers to wait this option out. It is at this junction where mobile marketing aggregators can help hasten the adoption process. These third-party companies exist primarily to act as a liaison between publishers, advertisers and carriers and have the requisite experience and technology that promises to help fill the holes.
So how do the top marketing aggregators namely AdMob, Google Mobile, Third Screen Media, Yahoo! Mobile and Amobee stack up as they attempt to position themselves as partners for helping marketers and contents providers with their mobile marketing ambitions? To answer this question, we‘ve created a competitive positioning matrix that ranks these players on four critical parameters:
- Targeting - which takes advantage of the personal and mobile nature of the device.
- Tracking capabilities - critical for granular user profile development which in turn enables fine-tuning the marketing message
- Flexibility to marketers and publishers - allowing liberties like the ability to set budget limits or support multiple formats.
- Carrier/handset partnerships - which provides a snapshot of the reach and traction gained by the aggregators.
The matrix operationalizes the positioning statements, claims and product portfolios of each aggregator to create a base-level comparison to rank the overall influence and impact of each company on the mobile advertising domain.
Current Perspective
As carriers and content providers reel under recent developments such as open networks and handset-based application storefronts which threaten to create a severe dent on subscription-based revenues, mobile advertising is increasingly being viewed as a savior that can help make good on these losses. They realize that the cost burden can now be shifted from the consumer’s shoulders to that of the marketer’s, in return for hosting advertisements on their application/decks and also create additional revenue streams via profit sharing deals in the event of successful mobile transactions. Although mobile marketing allows advertisers to take advantage of the potential for accurate insight starting from exposure to persuasion, to in some cases transaction, there is some hesitancy primarily due to the infancy of this medium which coupled with uncertain economic times makes it a risky pick.
To enable them to navigate the uncharted waters better, mobile advertising aggregators, who are basically third-party companies that exist primarily to act as a liaison between content providers, marketers and carriers, are crowding the mobile marketing sphere today, touting their experience and technology, promising smooth sailing for all parties. In the previous installment of this series, we handpicked four successful mobile marketing aggregators namely AdMob, AdSense, Amobee Third Screen Media and Yahoo! Mobile, elaborated on their services and offerings, and highlighted their respective strengths which allow marketers to create a successful campaign provided there is a good match of requirements and capabilities.
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To ease and standardize the decision process for marketers and enable them to pick the right aggregator for their business needs, we have evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the handpicked mobile marketing aggregators namely AdMob, AdSense, Amobee Third Screen Media and Yahoo! Mobile, on four parameters-Targeting, Tracking capabilities, Flexibility to marketers and publishers, and lastly Carrier/handset partnerships in this report. The companies are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being noncompetitive and 5 being outstanding) to create a uniform assessment.
1. Targeting
Targeting is often touted as the holy grail of mobile advertising as no other medium today allows marketers to tailor their advertisements to the extent of matching profiles and tastes down to the individual level. Targeting on cell phones enables them to zero in on willing and potential consumers (improving their ROI in the process) and does complete justice to the concept of contextual advertising, allowing marketers to appeal to customers at the right place and time. Targeting will also keep user complaints at bay as consumers are less likely to view the advertisements as a bother if it caters to their tastes and allows them to get applications at a subsidized rate or free in some instances. The advent and success of social networking sites has further fueled the potential for targeted mobile advertising as these sites use the wealth of personal information stored in profiles to present more-relevant advertisements and also tap the power of peer to peer advertising. For example, user histories from social-networking sites and media-sharing site could be employed to track which pictures and movies users are sharing, signaling an interest in certain products. The growth in mobile search is also contributing to the increased interest in targeted mobile ads.
Because carriers are the keepers of subscriber information and behavioral data, the onus lies on them to provide publishers and advertisers with information that targets users in the most effective way. However, due to the proliferation of family and prepaid plans, carriers can identify and target only about 30 percent of their subscribers, making it imperative for advertisers to look at secondary sources like aggregators to get a better idea of their demographic.
Targeting
Aggregator |
Commentary |
Ranking |
AdMob |
AdMob targets advertisements using several parameters ranging from geography to handset capabilities. Its proprietary ad serving optimization algorithm ensures that consumers receive the right ad on the right site by using relevancy factors as well as experience from past ad inventory performance. It also conducts primary research to collect demographic information on users and constructs targeting profiles using the same combined with factors such as gender, household income, education and age. |
5 |
AdSense (Google) |
AdSense for mobile ads are matched to the content of a mobile webpage via crawlers that scan the page to determine its content and then serve ads that are relevant. AdSense also keeps track of user search history to create individual user profiles. It recently began offering section targeting that allows advertisers to suggest sections of text and HTML content that they would like to emphasize or downplay or mute when matching ads to a site's content. |
5 |
Amobee |
Amobee’s ad server allows for contextual and behavioral targeting across all handsets. It provides a single point of, reporting, contextual and behavioral targeting and commercial policy enforcement which is beneficial to advertisers whose inventory is distributed. |
2 |
ThirdScreen Media |
For targeting purposes, mobile sites are grouped into 26 content channels, which ranges from automotive to science to ensure a good match. The platform also offers five premium channels which feature the most-trafficked sites in the mobile Web. Third Screen Media’s targeting technology further serves ads specifically optimized for viewing on an iPhone and it has also partnered with Hovr, a free mobile social game network, enabling advertisers to target mobile subscribers while providing free, ad-supported mobile games. |
3 |
Yahoo! Mobile |
Yahoo! Mobile offers behavioral, demographic, geographic, carrier and device targeting options. It targets mobile display ads using the same tools as traditional Web banners (e.g., context, demographics, etc.), plus features specific to mobile such as carrier and handset targeting making it easy for its online marketers to extend their promotional campaign to the mobile space. |
3 |
2. Tracking Capabilities
Tracking the results of a campaign is pivotal for marketers to ensure that their advertising dollars are well spent, to realign inventory where needed and also to keep track of their ROI. In the case of a new medium like mobile advertising, tracking becomes even more crucial as the absence of precedents makes it difficult for marketers to determine the right course of action. Advertisers need to monitor the progress of their mobile ads closely to ensure that objectives are being met and also to ascertain that mobile is a good fit for their overall marketing strategy. Marketers who are new to the medium should educate themselves on basic mobile marketing measurement terms and learn how to apply it to their business. The basic rule of thumb is that a high click through rate (CTR) could mean a well executed campaign, but only if it is associated with a high rate of cost per acquisition / action (CPA; calculated as total amount spent divided by total number of downloads registrations or leads).
The high level of interactivity that is characteristic of mobile phones is an engagement breakthrough for the consumer and opens a big window of opportunity for marketers (to test the impact of their campaign). Features such as click to action modes and mobile coupons, which offer instant gratification, are also essential tracking components as their redemption rate offers a quick insight into the performance of the campaign. However, due to the proliferation of handset models, operating systems and application types, it becomes tricky for new mobile marketers to keep track of all their campaigns without investing in complicated and centralized tracking solutions, which might not be worth the hassle, especially if one is in trial mode. To help them circumvent this issue, several mobile marketing aggregators and third party companies (e.g., Bango, M:Metrics) offer high level analytical and monitoring tools to help marketers assess the impact of the mobile marketing campaigns on their bottom line and brand image and gauge the success (or lack thereof) of their initiatives.
Tracking
Aggregator |
Commentary |
Ranking |
AdMob |
AdMob offers Mobile Analytics, a free analytical tool enabling marketers to better understand and evaluate their campaigns. The AdMonitor product shows live data of who is viewing mobile ads around the world, the phone they are using and the network being used. Free reports with market level data are also available for potential mobile marketers. Its new iPhone download tracking tool enables marketers to track the percentage of AdMob ad clicks that result in an app download from the Apple App Store for free. |
5 |
AdSense (Google) |
AdSense offers resources to track the success of campaigns via access to impressions statistics, CTR, eCPM and total earnings figures. Integration with Google Analytics lets publishers see their revenue and impression data alongside their site traffic data and have access to in-depth user activity reports. Marketers also have access to granular reports that break down ad performance both by page and by referring site. |
4 |
Amobee |
Amobee provides a single point of reporting, which is beneficial to advertisers whose inventory is distributed among several channels/publishers, applications and handsets. Its HAPI interface for the iPhone and Android devices promises data analysis metrics on specific interactions such as click to call, click to SMS and click to browse. |
2 |
ThirdScreen Media |
ThirdScreen Media offers survey-based products such as MediaEffect and TargetProfile, which offer insights into audience’s reaction to ads. The survey products also provide customers with incentivized links to take the survey, which should help with the response rate. |
3 |
Yahoo! Mobile |
Yahoo! Marketing offers reports that provide costs, clicks and impressions at the keyword, ad group or campaign level. |
2 |
3. Flexibility to Marketers and Publishers
This metric mainly refers to the freedom or options granted to marketers in terms of formats (WAP, messaging and video), handset OS, programming languages and application types etc. supported to ensure that they can reach a wide segment of their audience base without having to alter their message several times in the process. As mentioned earlier, due to the nascent nature of this medium, flexibility is all the more important to parties involved as standards and best practices are not firmly rooted within each program. By customizing services and solutions to suit the products, services and marketing messages of marketers, aggregators can help make the space seem less daunting to prospective advertisers and help make the end user experience more appealing.
Flexibility to Marketers and Publishers
Aggregator |
Commentary |
Ranking |
AdMob |
AdMob supports banner, text, video and click to call ads. It also offers a landing page creation tool called Landing Page Builder. Marketers have three formats to choose from - Brand Ads (priced on a cost per thousand impressions and support only image banner ads), Performance Ads (cost per click basis, support text plus image ads and can target ads) and iPhone Ads (optimized for the device). AdMob also offers interactive ads, which increase the user’s involvement. |
4 |
AdSense (Google) |
Publishers can enable text, image, video, click to call and link based advertisement on their pages. For publishers with unique content, AdSense provides an option to display default ads of their choice. Marketers are only required to pay if the users call the marketer or buy the product, increasing their overall ROI. |
3 |
Amobee |
Amobee supports every mobile media format ranging from WAP sites to video applications. The platform is compatible with all handsets and data services. |
1 |
ThirdScreen Media |
Third Screen Media supports mobile advertising in WAP, video, SMS/MMS and downloadable application formats such as mobile games. It allows marketers to partition their mobile inventory and distribute it across multiple networks on any combination of ad network, subject area, location and more. For marketers that want a fully outsourced monetization solution, it provides an end-to-end support campaign management in return for a percentage of revenue earned. |
2 |
Yahoo! Mobile |
Yahoo! mobile advertising supports most standard formats like WAP, banner, video, in-gaming advertising and calls to action options. Yahoo! also provides resources to build a mobile site. For its publishers, Yahoo! offers Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services, to enable them to increase the discovery, distribution and monetization of their content on mobile phones. |
4 |
4. Carrier/Handset Partnerships
As the name suggests, the last metric essentially tracks partnerships forged by the aggregators with carriers and handset manufacturers in the U.S. to obtain a sense of the traction and visibility gained by them (in the U.S. market) till date. Partnerships with top tier carrier and popular handsets (like the iPhone) are likely to expose their services and offerings to new parties, furthering the growth of mobile advertising while increasing their customer base, creating an overall favorable situation for the industry.
Carrier/Handset Partnerships
Aggregator |
Commentary |
Ranking |
AdMob |
iPhone, Verizon Wireless (via alliance with Medio), T-Mobile (via alliance with Medio) |
3 |
AdSense (Google) |
Sprint via its search partnership with Google Search, G1 phone |
2 |
Amobee |
Boost Mobile, Motorola devices, iPhone, G1 Phone |
3 |
ThirdScreen Media |
Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile, iPhone |
3 |
Yahoo! Mobile |
AT&T,T-Mobile, Nokia S60 platform devices |
4 |
Overall Ranking
Aggregator |
Combined Score |
Ranking |
| AdMob | ||
| AdSense | ||
| Yahoo! Mobile | ||
| ThirdScreen Media | ||
| Amobee |
Recommended Vendor Actions
• AOL’s Third Screen Media should improve its tracking capabilities and provide sophisticated tools such as live data reports as determining the impact of the campaign will be of paramount importance to marketers who are just venturing into this space. Marketers currently only have access to basic survey-based products such as MediaEffect and TargetProfile courtesy Platform-A.
• Although Amobee can tout impressive partnerships with Qualcomm’s Plaza and handset vendors Motorola, iPhone and the G1 phone, it has yet to forge alliances with the major U.S carriers (it partnered with Boost Mobile in 2008 in a minor deal). It should highlight the fact that its solution is created with mobile carriers in mind and that its business model is based on a revenue share agreement with carriers on the media sold and delivered on their network, which should appeal to them.
• AdMob should highlight its new ad targeting user interface, which boasts of an extensive device database (featuring more than 4,500 devices), allowing advertisers to target ads to specific handsets. This new targeting capability is especially useful for game and application publishers who have developed for a specific selection of mobile devices. It should however remind advertisers that taking advantage of these new targeting options will decrease the total traffic available to them, but raise their CTR.
• To improve upon the capabilities of its advertising solutions, Nokia should add comprehensive tracking and targeting elements to its advertising solutions - Nokia Media Network and Nokia Interactive Solutions. Although advertisers using Nokia Media Network can now target their mobile campaigns, the Metro Targeting feature only supports ten major metro areas of the U.S., rendering the feature useless in other cities. The company should also highlight its 40% share of the handset market which translates to a wide global reach for marketers.
• Google should remind marketers that its AdSense service only charges marketers when a user clicks on an ad ensuring a higher level of ROI than other competitive services in the market. It should also actively seek out partnerships with carriers and handset manufacturer, advertise the capabilities of AdSense and make a conscious effort to go after bigger advertisers lest it meet the fate of the now defunct Google AdWords for Mobile service.
• Bango Analytics, a mobile Web technology company should tout that its third party analytics platform will provide marketers with live data feed, provide a unique identifier to each visitor and most importantly can independently measure the effectiveness of different campaigns, which should appeal to marketers using the services of more than one integrator.
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