Mobile Advertising Startups Attract VCs Despite Rough Economy

We already saw how bad economy has managed to make a lot of companies interested in mobile advertising. It does not stop there. It keeps getting better and better. According to the latest reports, a lot of VCs (venture capitalists) are interested to invest in mobile advertising start ups as they show a lot of promise despite the rough economy.

Two examples come to my mind right now.

1. Blyk, one of the most popular companies in the market right now, recently managed to raise more than $50 million in private investments in its third round of funding. Considering the growth it has had so far, I would have to say that the investors have made the right choice.

2. AdMob, yet another famous U.S. based company, managed to raise around $16 million a few months back. Again, considering the numbers we have seen so far, this does not sound surprising at all.

If you notice carefully, you can see that there has been a paradigm shift in the advertising industry lately. The money spent on traditional advertising methods like TV ads, radio ads, and print ads has come down significantly. At the same time, mobile advertising is slowly becoming a lot more affordable than it used to be in the past. And thanks to the state our economy is in right now, businesses cannot afford to spend money on ads that don’t deliver results.

The biggest advantage with mobile phone advertising is that it delivers terrific results. The average CTR (click through rate) of a mobile advertising campaign is in the range of 1.5% to 2%. In some cases, it has been unbelievably high thanks to specific, targeted advertising campaigns. For example, the average response rate of Blyk’s mobile ad campaigns is a whopping 29%. So, even if you spend a little more money than what you usually spend, you are bound to get very good results. This is what makes mobile advertising so good.

Research firm eMarketer says that mobile advertising market will grow significantly in the next few years. It says that the proliferation of high end phones has made things easier for mobile advertisers as these smartphones open a lot of possibilities for ads.

In summary – I just have to say what I always say. Mobile advertising is here to stay. Don’t you guys think so too?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Mobile ads becoming popular

Seems like 2008 could be an important year as far as mobile advertising is concerned. Apart from the large number of start-ups that have come up with innovative mobile marketing ideas, there has been a significant increase in the number of mobile ads served and most importantly, the response has been pretty good.

Take this for example. Mobile users are slowly realizing how useful mobile ads can actually be and as a result, the response rate for mobile advertising is getting better by the day. A lot of credit, though, should be given to Apple. It can be said that it made mobile browsing both fashionable and easier with the ultra cool Safari browser in its iPhone. As a result, mobile browsing in high-end devices has become common with users and if mobile advertising could cut down their data costs, they are ready to say yes to them by all means.

With encouraging news coming from all over, carriers like AT&T have something revolutionary in their mind. AT&T actually has plans to subsidize its wireless service with mobile ads in future. Though it may not be possible in the near future, I think it would be viable if the mobile advertising industry keeps growing at this rate.

Just curious! How many of you would actually say yes to mobile ads if they cut down the rate of your data plan by half? I know I would say yes for sure.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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