Interesting Discussion on Mobile Advertising

Came across an interesting discussion about the value and model of mobile advertisement on MobileCrunch.

I actually agree with both parties to a certain extent. The question is more of a value/cost balance for the end user.

First of all, I completely agree with Omar and Mike Rowell (thisismobility.com) that if we are talking about mobile advertisement at all - then the unobtrusive text-based ads are the way to go. That way they are doing the minimum damage to the user experience.

On the other hand, there is definitely the cost involved in displaying the ads. The main question would be: how high is the cost? The monetary aspect of the cost would be zero in case of a flat-rate plan (which I personally don't have) and pay-per-page-view plan. In case of pay-per kilobyte - still the cost is relatively small unless the user decides to follow the ad link. In terms of user download wait time I would say 60 bytes (if they keep it this way) will not add significant overhead. Especially if we compare this load to logos some content providers place on their mobile sites. This also applies to screen real estate. Based on the phone's User-Agent, the ad could be tweaked in such a way as to be just beyond the initial screen, i.e. you would only see it if you scroll.

Then again, everything depends on the value of the ad, and on the mobile website design practices. If a content provider abuses the page real estate - then people will be unlikely to return to it. Moreover, the value of the site defines whether it will be chosen to be bookmarked by the user. Even on unlimited plan, unless a user is on EDGE, it is still painful to browse on the mobile. In this case the common pattern would probably be finding mobile sites of value (e.g. using the wired web), and bookmarking them on the phone. Therefore, the mobile web usage will be highly situational: on an as-needed basis. If the ad is implemented correctly (e.g. on a second scroll page) or is highly relevant to the user situation (e.g. I'm checking the showtimes and the ad offers to buy a ticket) and the advertised site - the one that would open - would be efficient and valuable, then value/cost ratio will be high. If not - people would be abandoning the site's usage.

The balance is delicate, but the same applies to the wired web. How many of you guys visit certain blinking, flashing, and popup-spawning sites :)))?

Overall, it's an interesting platform giving certain incentive to mobile content / application developers.

It will allow to bypass carriers given users go beyond carrier portal/homepage. It will stimulate content development for the mobile web if, not abused.