Mobile TV ads could be the next big thing in mobile marketing?

A few days back I came across an interview of the president of a famous market research firm in the U.S. He made some interesting points about the emerging trends in the industry of mobile phone advertising and marketing.

So far, advertising through text messaging has been the most sought-after form of marketing in mobile phones. It could soon change and advertising via mobile TV could be the most prominent form of advertising in the coming days. The reason is very simple. Any show on TV, by definition, is supported by ads and we watch ads day in and day out on TV. In fact, we’ve got used to ads on TV so much that we even look forward to our favorite ads on TV. Some of the ads are so well made that viewers actually look forward to catching those ads during the break. I for one can vouch for this fact as I’m a sucker for Nike ads. Watching a Nike ad is like watching a 30 second movie. So much of style and so much of effort gets put into the ad that viewing it on TV becomes an experience in itself. Since ads on TV don’t put the viewers off, ads on mobile TV could have a similar impact on them.

Just imagine, you are watching your favorite show via mobile TV and you get a couple of ads during the ad break. Does that sound atypical to you? No way. Ad breaks during a program has been the norm for such a long time that we don’t seem to mind watching a few ads during the break at any time. Also, if the ad break is going to be a short one, people don’t really get a chance to skip the channel during the break as they might miss the continuity of the show they are watching. This makes it perfect for the marketers as they stand a fair chance to reach out to a lot of people through mobile TV ads than through text messaging or banner ads.

If explored, this could be a huge opportunity for mobile marketers and might have a very good reach among customers. But the only obstacle is that there are not a lot of people who have handsets that support facilities like mobile TV. So, if the technology becomes affordable, we can soon find a lot of handsets in the market that support facilities like mobile TV and it might soon become the most successful and sought-after medium for mobile phone advertising.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Mobile TV.

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