YouGov recently released a research report for the United Kingdom that shows the promise of smartphone mobile advertising is not as rosy as some may think. The study went through various predictions for 2012 and analyzed customers’ current behavior when it came to smartphones, mobile TV, digital TV, and digital newspapers.
It discovered that more than 40 percent of the population of the United Kingdom currently owned at least one smartphone, and that rate is expected to jump to nearly 70 percent within the next 18 months. This is certainly good news for those targeting the platform for advertising.
However, the majority of smartphone users engaged in the report found advertising on their devices obtrusive or annoying. This stems from traditional advertising, such as a preroll clip on a video, a graphic ad or a banner — ones that have been around literally since the 1950s in various flavors.
Smartphone users felt traditional advertising were not value added or found them to be an intrusion. The study suggests that to engage people in advertising, companies must indeed think differently and offer more interactive options. Using QR codes for special benefits, mixing in advertising as a brief game, offering interactive coupons — all of these engaging options must start to be utilized so customers stay interested in what will be a huge advertising market in the next year.
The study also found that interactive devices in the home are definitely on the upswing, as one in 10 people in the United Kingdom now owns some form of smart TV. That means that there are a large number who have a TV hooked into the Web and can purchase content and interact with advertising in the comfort of their living room.
The report also points out that portable devices will interact more and more with home devices, and that this link will continue to provide a strong path to services and advertising avenues. But the advertising specifically should be interactive and fun. Consumers are not ready for ads that disrupt their seamless entertainment sessions, and, in the United Kingdom at least, the advertising should be as creative and entertaining as the shows themselves.