Q2 2009 Mobile R.O.I. Report for Brands

Today we released the first Mobile R.O.I Report for Brands: Results and Objectives Indexes for Mobile Advertising. You can access the executive summary Download Quattro Wireless Mobile R.O.I. Summary October 2009, and receive the full data set by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

We analyze more than 10 billion mobile actions each month – ad requests, served impressions, and user actions (page views, clicks, video plays, etc.) – to target and optimize ad campaigns and provide insights to marketers and publishers on consumer behavior.  For this first look into how brand marketers are using the mobile medium today, we analyzed over 4 billion ads sold and served to mobile devices globally per month in Q2 2009.

As the largest data set available for analyzing the premium mobile market, this report can be used to benchmark campaigns and understand trends in usage of mobile devices in a rapidly changing space.

The report shows that mobile advertising, once thought of as the medium of mobile personalization advertisers – such as ringtones -- has become an effective strategy for brand and premium direct response marketers. Industries that want to reach a broad audience, such as CPGs, Autos, Finance, and Entertainment, are embracing the medium by integrating mobile into their marketing mix and developing innovative and engaging creative, thus driving more consumers to click, respond and buy.

The findings also make it clear -- by illustrating that animated ads are twice as effective as text ads, and that expanding ads also drive higher click-throughs – that those marketers and agencies that provide an engaging experience and take advantage of consumer behavior will make the most of their mobile investments.

The data here is provided as indices (100 is the average and performance is judged either below or above the average).  Representing the numbers this way gives brand and premium direct response marketers and agencies valuable insight into their relative performance and prevents data in a rapidly changing marketplace from being taken out of context. As this is the first quarter this data is being reported, there are no quarter-to-quarter comparisons or what ultimately will be most relevant, year-over-year comparisons which will take into account seasonality of marketing initiatives.

Key findings include:

Mobile advertising as an effective strategy for brand and premium direct response marketers is not coming – it is here NOW.

• Q2 was a critical tipping point as marketers fully embraced the medium
• Growth of rich media ads across the mobile web and in-app led to high click-through rates and engagement

      Device impacts behavior: Devices with touchscreens drive a disproportionate volume of media usage and thus generate the highest volumes of ad impressions.

• iPhone and iPod Touch devices drove the highest percentage of ad requests for the quarter.

Click rates vary by device type, ad format and media: Rates are highest on touchscreen devices, for animated ads and tend to be higher than average on optimized WAP sites and when placed within apps

• iPhones generated the highest response rates, at an index of 135, followed by gaming devices at 105.
• Engagement with the device and quality of the overall experience impact response. As BlackBerry improves browsing and more Android devices launch, we expect an increase in their overall CTR.

Animated ads are the fastest growing ad format

• Usage is growing among both brand and direct-response focused advertisers as they offer the ability to tell a more complex message without the necessity of a click

CPMs vary by the level of targeting used and by the ad category

• Brand marketers such as CPGs, Auto, Finance and Travel tend to use higher levels of targeting and thus pay higher CPMs, but also generate higher than average click-through rates

The Direct Response marketer base has grown beyond mobile-related products to encompass industries such as CPGs (click to coupon) and Auto (click to dealer locator)

• Growth is also driven by m-commerce through ads that link to iTunes and Amazon.com for categories such as Entertainment and Consumer Electronics