Tapjoy: New tactics needed for in-app advertising success

Where consumers go, advertisers follow - and right now over 130 million U.S. consumers are on-the-go with their mobile devices. However, as a recent report from Forrester shows, in-app advertising to mobile consumers requires a lot more creative effort to take advantage of mobile users' attitudes.

by Helen Leggatt

A recent Forrester report, commissioned by mobile ad platform Tapjoy, took a look at consumer attitudes towards mobile advertising.

On the face of it, the news for advertisers isn't great. Seven out of 10 said in-app ads interrupted their mobile experience. As for the ads themselves, only 17% found them interesting, 14% found them relevant and just 12% found them engaging.

Perhaps the real stab in the heart for mobile apps is that two-thirds find them annoying - a higher percentage than for television ads.

However, a third (33%) are prepared to endure mobile ads in free apps rather than pay upfront to download.

So, what can advertisers do to improve the ad experience for mobile app users? The Forrester/Tapjoy study, "The Mobile In-App Marketing Opportunity" (.pdf), found that, while in-app advertising is an "attractive advertising environment" it is "not the silver bullet for capturing consumer attention".

Instead, consumer-controlled (opt-in), incentive-based advertising (60% want to be rewarded for ad interaction) was found to better compliment the mobile app experience. When used under the right circumstances it could increase ad relevance, consumer sentiment and attention to an ad.

According to the report, "These tactics contrast with the model of automatically served ads by providing the consumer an incentive to interact with an ad, the option to proactively opt in to viewing an ad, and the option to select from among several advertisers to view the one they want."

Tags: advertising, creative, in-app advertising, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, strategy