More than three fourths (76%) of brand marketers consider programmatic buying an important development in the mobile ad realm, yet few actually purchase ads programmatically, according to new survey data.
Commissioned by the IAB‘s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, the “2015 Marketer Perceptions of Mobile Advertising” survey analyzes the mobile views of 200 top-level marketers and offers updated findings to the 2013 eponymous survey. The 2015 study shows that 41% of marketers concur that mobile programmatic advertising would behoove their efforts to reach target audiences. However, just 27% of marketers buy inventory in this manner. According to the survey, 18% use private exchanges and 17% use open exchanges.
“It is clear that programmatic advertising is strongly embedded in the minds of many mobile marketers,” says Anna Bager, SVP of mobile and video for IAB. “However, there is still much work to be done before mobile programmatic can reach its full potential.”
The report also shines a light on another nugget of interest for brand marketers—advertising opportunities with new-generation connected devices. Connected TVs (73%) racked up the most interest, followed by connected cars (69%), and wearables (66%); marketers who consider themselves fairly or very experienced at mobile see even greater potential for these connected devices, with 80, 78, and 75% perceiving opportunity, respectively.
“Our efforts on the mobile programmatic front have only just begun, and we look forward to increased adoption as familiarity improves,” Bager says.
Overall, the vast majority of respondents are happy with the performance of their mobile ads. According to the survey, 87% of brand marketers say they’re satisfied or fairly satisfied and 8% say they’re completely satisfied. In addition, 14% say they expect their companies’ mobile advertising budgets to increase by more than half over the next two years; 57% say they expect them to increase by less than half.
When asked to point out the major challenges facing mobile advertising, 37% cited privacy issues as a chief concern—a 15% increase since 2013. The other top five concerns with regards to mobile include:
- Device operating system fragmentation (50% important, 27% very important)
- Lack of standardized metrics to measure mobile advertising (54%, 20%)
- Lack of agency expertise in mobile advertising (52%, 20%)
- Too many ways to source or buy mobile inventory (49%, 18%)
“With mobile taking a more prominent role in consumers’ lives each year, an uptick in marketers’ potential concerns surrounding mobile privacy is no surprise,” says Mike Zaneis, EVP of public policy and general counsel for IAB. “The IAB is in full support of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s work on this front. Its recent release of new user-friendly tools for mobile choice and transparency brings new level of consumer control to the fast-growing mobile medium.”
