More mobile ads seen via WiFi

This story seems almost inevitable to me, although it's been covered in fairly excitable terms elsewhere. Mobile advertising company AdMob says 8% of all advertisements it delivered to UK mobile devices in November were served via WiFi rather than over a conventional mobile network. That's up from 4% in August, with over half of the ads coming from Apple iPhone users. It's a similar story in the USA. [AdMob report (pdf)]

T-Mobile launches free ad-funded games

T-Mobile has become the first network in the UK to offer free games that are funded by advertising. Customers can access at least one new game per week by watching two advertisements before starting the game and two adverts after the game has finished. [Press release]

Apple iPhone TV ad banned by ASA

Following T-Mobile's knuckle-rapping last week, Apple is the latest company to have its mobile phone advertising criticised by the ASA. TV advertising for the Apple iPhone 3G described the handset as offering the internet "really fast", showing pages loading in a fraction of a second. The ASA said the on-screen visuals, in conjunction with the repeated use of the claim "really fast", were likely to lead viewers to believe that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the ad - but it doesn't. [ASA adjudication]

Mobile TV worth $10 billion by 2013?

Last month we mentioned a study from Juniper Research that said most people with mobiles capable of receiving broadcast TV would only use free-to-air broadcasts and wouldn’t pay for premium services. They estimated revenue from mobile TV users in 2013 would be $2.7 billion. But the latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media says mobile TV revenue could hit US$10 billion in 2013 because we’ll see on-screen advertising taking over from the current subscription model. As you’d probably expect, the strongest growth is anticipated in South Korea and Japan. [Source: Telecoms.com]

T-Mobile ad criticised by ASA

T-Mobile's "You won't find more minutes for £30. Guaranteed." press ad and brochure have had complaints upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority following an objection from Hutchison 3G, which has a tariff offering up to 1100 voice minutes for £27. A similar complaint about T-Mobile's TV ads was not upheld because it challenged consumers to "See if you can find more minutes for £30". [ASA adjudication]

Most mobile users would view ads to cut bills

Business software company Transverse has published new research that says 61% of mobile phone users (in the USA) would view advertising on their phones if it meant their monthly bills were less. The figure varied according to the level of discount, with 56% happy to view ads for a discount of between 25 and 50%. In addition, 46% of users said this level of discount was enough of an incentive to provide access to their usage patterns. Users under the age of 35 were most receptive to the idea of discounts for viewing mobile advertising. [Press release]

Sky to run own advertising on mobile TV

In a contrast to the recent story about Channel 4 dropping its mobile advertising, Sky is to start selling its own advertising on its mobile TV channels offered via T-Mobile and Vodafone in the UK. [Source: NMA.co.uk]

Mobile Marketing Association finds increased interest in mobile marketing

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has published its Annual Mobile Attitude and Usage Study, which shows there's increasing interest in - and usage of - mobile marketing services. It says a quarter of mobile users in the US and Western Europe are interested in mobile marketing, with interest levels even higher in Asia Pacific and Latin American markets. In all regions, text-to-win and interactive voting campaigns are the most common examples of mobile marketing in which mobile users have participated. [Source: MarketWatch.com]

Channel 4 drops mobile ad sales

Channel 4 is shutting down its mobile advertising sales business at the end of the year. The company, which is also closing its interactive TV advertising at the same time, produces a 20-minute mobile TV compilation of popular shows. This compilation currently includes commercials but, from 31st December, will no longer carry any advertising. [Source: BrandRepublic.com]

Mobile advertising awareness up 33% this year

A study from social networking site Limbo.com in association with research company GfK has revealed that mobile advertising awareness in the USA grew 33% since January (compared to a 6% growth in mobile phone usage). Nearly four out of ten Americans with a mobile - 104 million people - recalled seeing advertising on the device between July and September 2008. [Source: MarketWatch.com]

Mobile advertising claims are inflated, says report

Researchers at CCS Insight say the success of mobile advertising in Europe is being exaggerated and advertisers will only spend a fraction of their budgets trying to reach people through their mobiles. It says mobile advertising revenue in Europe over the next two will total less than 430 million Euro. However, it points out that people take more notice of mobile ads than advertising on TV or PC, which means the potential market is huge. [Source: TelecomTV.com]

10% of mobile broadband customers say they were mis-sold

In the week that Vodafone was criticised by the ASA for its "light years ahead" mobile broadband advertisement and 3 admitted problems with its mobile broadband service, O2 has published research that says over one in ten mobile broadband users feel that they were mis-sold. The main source of irritation is the cost of the service, with nearly a third complaining that the ongoing cost was higher than expected. One-fifth were upset that they were unable to use mobile broadband where they wanted it despite being told that there would be coverage - and 13 per cent were frustrated there was no returns guarantee if the service wasn’t right for them. Needless to say there's a sales message in here. O2 has revamped its mobile broadband offering by cutting costs, creating a new coverage checker and offering a 50-day Happiness Guarantee. [Press release]

Vodafone and Visa reveal ad trial results

Vodafone and Visa Europe have revealed the results of a recent mobile advertising trial. The trial involved sending 150,000 text messages to Vodafone subscribers in eight countries during May. Customers were reminded to use the +44 UK country code when calling home and were offered a promotion to win tickets to the Beijing Olympics if they used their Visa credit card abroad. 86% of customers remembered the promotion and 74% read the message. Vodafone says the trial was a success, although only half of those receiving ads said they were interested in receiving further relevant and targeted messages. [Source: Mobile News]

Nokia N95 is UK's favourite mobile browser

The latest AdMob Mobile Metrics report, which analyses the company's mobile advertising, says the Nokia N95 is the UK's leading handset for web browsing. 9.7% of all the company's UK advertisements were displayed on an N95 in September. Last year's leader, the Sony Ericsson K800i, has slipped to second place. Worldwide, the Motorola RAZR V3 is top (with 4% of traffic), followed by the Nokia N70, the Motorola KRZR K1c, the Apple iPhone and the Motorola W385. [September 2008 pdf report]

Vodafone marketing man moves to LG

Dominic Chambers, who left his role as Vodafone's head of brand and marketing earlier this year, has been appointed by LG as its European Marketing Director. [Source: BrandRepublic.com]

Mobile networks work with Internet Advertising Bureau

The Internet Advertising Bureau has been chosen by the UK's major mobile networks as the trade body to work with when it comes to mobile advertising. Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 will provide funding to the IAB, which is expanding its remit to cover the mobile market. [Press release]

Mobile user-generated content to be funded by ads

A new report from Juniper Research says advertising-funded social networks will provide most of the money for mobile user-generated content sites by 2013. It says the total value of the user-generated content market - social networking, dating and personal content delivery services - will rise from nearly $1.1 billion in 2008 to over $7.3 billion in 2013, with social networking overtaking dating by 2009 to become the largest revenue-generating segment. Advertising will account for more than half of mobile social networking revenue by the end of the forecast period. [Press release]

Mobile users will pay to avoid ads

Market research company TNS says a growing number of mobile users are so averse to advertising that they are willing to pay a premium in order to avoid it. Although 56% of users believe that content downloads to mobile phones should be free of charge, 25% of respondents said they would rather pay for a download if it guaranteed them immunity from advertising. Younger users are more prepared to pay: 35% of 16-to-24 year olds are happier to pay for downloads than receive them with advertising, compared to 17% of 35 to 44 year olds. The company says mobile providers risk losing customers if they don't offer chargeable but ad-free downloads. [Press release; pdf]

Over 25% of mobile browsing is done on smartphones

The latest AdMob Mobile Metrics report, which analyses mobile advertising to produce a snapshot of browsing patterns, says internet traffic from smartphones now accounts for 25.8% of worldwide traffic. Worldwide internet traffic was up 12.8%. Nokia had 62.4% of worldwide smartphone traffic in August, followed by RIM (BlackBerry devices) in second place with 10.8%. In the UK, 9.2% of mobile internet customers were using the Nokia N95. [August PDF report]

Vodafone's radio ad banned by ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority has said a Vodafone radio advertisement cannot be broadcast again because the terms and conditions were read too quickly to be heard. "Subject to status, availability and connection to 18-month contract. Unlimited calls to landlines or Vodafone Mobiles only. Fair-use policy, terms and 60-minute call cap applies." was read within eight seconds, which the ASA said was not clearly audible and could mislead listeners. [Source: ASA.org.uk]