Initially I wanted to discuss some of the limitations with measuring mobile ad performance, but while digging into the subject, I uncovered some very interesting info. Before today, I was under the impression that we could only track clicks and that was the furthest engagement we could track. However, I’ve discovered that we can actually track much beyond that. With traditional display, we have the ability to track post click and post impression activity, which provides us insight about brand awareness and brand engagement. I came across a company called InMobi and they have a solution called “InMobi Ad Tracker” which is a conversion tracking platform that helps you track the post-click conversions of your mobile web and app campaigns across all your advertising channels.
This enables marketers/advertisers to track: downloads, leads, registrations, purchases, and so on. You can even track multiple conversion events for the same campaign, and across ad networks. Below is a visual on how it works in both mobile and apps:

Based on “The State of Mobile Benchmark” (Adobe Digital Index) report released by Adobe, below are some key highlights:

• Globally, websites are getting more traffic from tablets than smartphones.
• Internet users view 70% more pages per visit when browsing on a tablet vs. a smartphone.

While tablet and smartphone consumers are both mobile users, they behave very differently. Tablet users actually behave more like PC users in the way they browse and engage.

• Smartphone traffic is similar between the U.S. and the U.K., but tablet traffic is much higher in the U.K.
• U.K. Internet surfers are more likely to browse through both a tablet and smartphone than their German and French counterparts.
• In Japan and China, smartphones remain the browsing device of choice.

Consumers use their various mobile devices differently. Marketers need to optimize their site for both the smartphone and tablet experiences.

• Retail websites get the most tablet traffic followed by auto and travel & hospitality sites.
• Conversely, consumers prefer their smartphone when visiting both telecom and media & entertainment sites.

As tablets get smaller and smartphones get bigger marketers will need to rely less on screen size and more on other cues like connection type (Wi-Fi vs. cellular) and referral source to determine the best web experience to offer.

• Android^TM and iOS account for nearly 90% of smartphone browsing in all six of the countries we observed.
• RIM and Symbian® maintain their strongest footholds in the U.K. and China.
• Android share is largest in Japan.
• iOS is the leading operating system in the U.S., U.K., and France.

As the market consolidates around iOS and Android, focus the mobile experience on these two major players.

Today, iOS accounts for 49% of smartphone browsing in the U.S.
android accounts for 45% of smartphone browsing.
Over the last 12 months, RIM slid from a 5% to a 1% share of visits in the U.S., and Windows® maintained its 1% share.

• iOS dominates tablet browsing with over 77% of the share in the six countries measured, and continues to increase its share of tablet visits.
• In the U.S., iOS grew by nearly 10% year-over-year with the release of the iPad 3 in March 2012, and iPad 4 and Mini in November 2012.
• From August 2012 to February 2013, there was a 200% average growth in readers of digital publishing apps.
• Seventy-five percent of reading sessions occur on tablets, and 23% on smartphones. When compared to smartphone readers, tablet readers:

o   Open their app twice as often per month

o   Read three times as many pages each time they read

• Video starts on smartphones tripled year over year from 2011 to 2012.
• Tablet video consumption slightly outpaced smartphones in video starts.

The growing mobile audience provides incremental engagement and revenue opportunities for advertising. Tablet viewers, in particular, are early adopters who typically spend more money, book more trips, and consume more media content.

• One third of all likes on Facebook now occur via a mobile device.
• After a slight dip at the end of 2012, the mobile share of Facebook “likes” jumped 56% between December 2012 and January 2013.

Mobile and social go hand in hand. Use mobile specific offers on social media channels to reinforce this natural affinity.

• Conversion rates on tablets are three times greater than on smartphones.
• Tablet conversion rates still don’t match those of PCs.

Differences in conversion rates point to the use cases shoppers have in mind when they choose to use a tablet or a smartphone. Retailers should not treat all mobile visits the same. Conversion Rate: Orders divided by visits.

Pretty exciting stuff I say! There is still much to be learned about mobile tracking and what best practices should be considered when doing a mobile campaign. In light of this new info, I guess the question I pose is, why are not more companies doing mobile advertising? Only the future will tell.

Carrie Cooney
Just Media, Inc.