Are Mobile Ads Overrated?

Apparently it has come to the attention of advertisers that they have literally been wasting money in the mobile market because a significant portion of what they’re paying for never actually displays properly on mobile devices. Advertisers found that the wasted dollars are, unfortunately, difficult to measure.  Digital analytics from ComScore recently found that about 30% of desktop ads aren’t viewable and an even higher number on mobile.  This may have something to do with all of the pop-up blockers computers have nowadays. Apple’s iAd is the first major mobile-ad network to be fully accredited by the Media Ratings Council as fulfilling to the standards set forth by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Mobile Marketing Association jointly released this year.  The company reported its accurate information of impressions, taps, tap-through-rate, visits, views, views-per-visit, average time spent, conversations, unique devices and unique device visits.  Apple also stated that it only charges for ads that fully render on users’ screens, something that companies I’m sure are quite fond of. I have a smartphone and can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen or at least noticed an add while using it.  On the occasions I usually see them have either been on Pandora – which I rarely use – or YouTube, and I click out of it after the five seconds have gone by and the “skip ad” option comes up. However, saying this, these mobile advertisers need to find a way to not only make their ad viewable, but to show them in places where they will be seen not as a distraction, but as a complement to what the person is looking up in the first place.  This way they will have a higher percentage of people who in fact look at it and see it as useful to them, which in turn will be useful to the company paying for the ad as well.   More information about this can be read here: http://adage.com/article/news/wasting-money-mobile-ads/241595/