Different flavor for mobile ad mkt, says Yahoo!

SINGAPORE: Yahoo! today said the mobile advertising market, expected to touch $16 billion in 2011, will have different challenges, rules and revenues models from that of PC-based Internet advertising market.

Mobile advertising is revolutionizing the industry by allowing advertisers to deliver highly targeted messages to consumers on mobile devices, and providing the opportunity to adopt unique and innovative marketing campaigns through mobile graphical advertising.

Yahoo! enables advertisers to engage a highly targeted demography regardless of whether the consumer is in the home, office, or on the go, said the Sunnyvale, US-based firm.

Speaking at CommunicAsia 2008 here, David Ko, managing director and vice-president of Connect Life, Yahoo! Asia Pacific, said: “there is a big potential for mobile advertising and we will see that turning to a reality.”

Currently, about 10 per cent of the total mobile users – 3.5 billion worldwide – browse the Internet using mobile phones. This is slated for an exciting growth in the near future. Margins, marketing costs and the right trick of making money will be the challenges firms would face in the mobile advertising marketplace.

"If all the partners are not making money, then there is a gap," said Ko.

Upbeat on Asia

A panel discussion on Digital Content and Services took Ko’s views further.

"PCs are going to be expensive and mobile is the device of tomorrow. There would be lots of first-time Internet users and as they get exposed to the Internet on the mobile, they would need appropriate advertising and content," said Niren Hiro, vice-president, Business Development, admob.

Mauro Montanaro, CEO, Fox Mobile Entertainment, couldn’t hide his excitement at the thought of burgeoning Asia markets. He is ready to bet big on avenues like music that will span across ringtones, monotones, video-on-music, etc.

"Different phones, different people, different needs and so different models," gushed Montanaro.

Yahoo has chosen value-creation as its favorite theme in the mobile advertising market, such as creating the right media products for mobile phones.

Services on the mobile platform would range from movies, games and time-centric information (weather, sports, news updates) and innovations coming from the Web 2.0 space.

Prashant Mehta, vice-president and head, Advertiser and Publisher Group, International Emerging Markets, Yahoo!, said later in the day that the need of the hour is to make advertising easy, relevant, target-based and device-agnostic.

"There are many models that are possible: search-based, display-based, CPC (Charge per Click), CTC (Click to Call), or download-and-play-a-game," added Mehta.

Carriers and operators would need to look at the mobile space differently in the current times of flattening revenues, low ARPUs, increasing data costs and the need for more SOW (Share of Wallet).

“They have monetised voice well, it's time now to look beyond the voice terrain. But at the same time, as it turns out, they are not confident of allowing advertisers that could be seen as threats instead of joint partners,” said a panelist.

"Carriers don't want to be just another pipe. They want to keep adding value."

Meanwhile, traditional advertisers like FMCG majors are wary of investing in the mobile area. It's a low base but with opportunities.

However, it's a myth that the likes of Coke or Pepsi would be the spenders in the mobile environment. The advertisers in this space would be companies that can generate revenue on mobile, or the likes of Dell, which conduct commerce on a call basis, noted one of the panelists.

(Yahoo! hosted the correspondent in Singapore)