With the proliferation of mobile devices especially smart phones world over and more specifically in China, consumers have taken to using them like nobody’s business. So much so that now smart phones have overtaken traditional desktops and laptops as the No 1 device for accessing internet.
With this constant access to the internet comes the need to stay connected, do shopping, find information etc. All this focus on their smart phones by consumers also means marketers want to get a slice of their attention. We therefore now see digital media budgets of marketers grow exponentially.
A consequence of this explosion of spends on digital media is that consumers are constantly bombarded with advertising on their mobile devices. IFOP Asia along with media powerhouse OMD China conducted a survey on Chinese people’s attitude towards mobile advertising and found that consumers on average are exposed to 8.5 mobile ads a day. As a consequence, nearly 90% of consumer’s feel mobile advertising is an annoyance with a common refrain being that the ads are not relevant or a waste of their mobile data.
But this doesn’t mean they are completely against this form of advertising. In fact near universal numbers (94%) feel it’s a fact of life / necessity and even 3 out of 4 respondents feel some of these ads are interesting. This study has also found that ads on smart phones have the biggest influence on purchase intent ahead of devices like PC, Tablets and Phablets.
So the question is how to make the ads relevant to consumers. The study found that consumers connect to mobile ads that are practical, entertaining and unique. Themes that are not completely exclusive to mobile advertising.
In a nutshell, marketers would definitely need to invest in mobile ads, better target with those ads and make the ads more relevant or specific to individual consumers needs.
