Mobile Advertising Spend will Increase
As 2015 enters into the fourth quarter, experts are predicting that for the first time, mobile ad spend is expected to surpass desktop spending by a mere 2% by year end. This will be the benchmark year as the trend toward increased mobile ad spend over desktop ad spend begins. Mobile ad spend is predicted to grow in leaps and bounds through the year 2019 while desktop ad spend is expected to decline.
Given today’s society, the increased mobile ad spend should come as no surprise. You would be hard pressed to go anywhere without seeing people with their head down focusing on their mobile devices. As more consumers enter into the “mobile generation”, they are becoming very comfortable with performing a variety of tasks on their mobile device. Where once people were leery about inputting any personal info, consumers are now not only purchasing items on their mobile devices with their credit cards but completing delicate tasks like banking as well.
The market is wide open for mobile advertisements. Paid Ads pop up everywhere, whether you are searching for a particular item or service or browsing through your favorite website or app. Consumers are being marketed to constantly by companies hoping to win their business. Many ads are very relevant to the consumers based on search history and cookies; however, there are always those annoying little ads that pop up in the middle of whatever task you are performing that may have no relevance to you. With that said, while the mobile ad spend is up over desktop, I think we have to allow a margin of error based on who is actually clicking. Is the person who clicked on the ad a potential client or just someone trying to find the tiny “x” on that pesky ad to close it out and ends up accidentally clicking on the ad? However, if you are fortunate to be working with an ad agency who fine tunes your ad demographics, you won’t be receiving those types of unwarranted clicks. Regardless, consumers are indeed using mobile devices to perform search tasks, including reading reviews, clicking on Sale or Special Promotion Ads and ultimately purchasing. With this type of behavior, businesses are smart to continue to move advertising dollars toward mobile ads to capture these consumers as they begin the buying process. One area that will experience the biggest shift in ad spend will be small businesses and local stores with tighter budgets who must choose between traditional and mobile advertising. Many local businesses already see the benefit of mobile advertising by using it to attract people who may be in their immediate area during the research or purchasing phase.
Due to consumer’s increasing use of mobile devices, combined with the improvements in targeting of paid ads and the tracking of ROI, the rise of mobile ad spend should be inevitable for most businesses. So now is the time to jump on board with an increase in your mobile ad spend as consumers continue to search, click, and purchase on their mobile devices. Let’s just hope they pick their heads up every now and then and take a look around at life!