Mobile Marketers “Thrilled by the possibilities” of Tablets, Increase Budgets Accordingly
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The average iPad-toting consumer might not be wondering what mobile advertisers are thinking. (We know, you want the iPhone 5 already). But, perhaps we users should care. Advertiser willingness to spend marketing dollars on tablet computers is one way to evaluate the health of the nascent tablet industry. And, according to a survey which the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), recently commissioned showed that marketer’s outlook for tablets is rosy.
Joe Laszlo, Deputy Director, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB echoes this sentiment, “I am amazed at how much excitement I am seeing in the marketplace around advertising on tablets. I can’t remember a time I saw so many marketers and so many agencies so thrilled by the possibilities.”
The IAB surveyed 300 marketers at US companies. There results demonstrated that while the smartphones are still marketers top priority, tablets are rapidly gaining the attention of advertisers.
The survey subjects were asked, “How do you expect your budget to change over the next two years.” The responses show a remarkable trend. Of those surveyed 35 percent predicted budgets would increase more than 50 percent, while 37 percent predicted an increase of less than 50 percent. About one-fourth (26 percent) expected their budget to stay the same. The response to a predicted decreased in budget was negligible.
Of those surveyed, 62 percent considered tablets either high (31 percent) or medium high (31 percent) priority. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of marketers plan to increase use of advertising on tablets over the next two years, while only a mere two percent of respondents plan to decrease tablet use.
Why are mobile advertisers so excited about tablets? One possibility is its features. When asked what features marketers wanted in a mobile device 91 percent responded that “screen size and resolution,” topped their lists. Both of these features are areas in which the iPad excels.
When Laszlo offers his opinion of why marketers are eager to embrace the iPad, his words echo many of the reasons we consumers love our devices:
Up until the iPad came along we lived in a world where you had web advertising, which was interactive and on a big screen, but not so exciting to the consumer. And you had smartphone advertising where you were up close and personal with the consumer. Maybe you could get a higher level of engagement, but you were stuck with a smaller screen. The thing with tablets, iPad included, is that it gives marketers the best of both worlds. If you are an advertiser and you execute well on a tablet you get all of the richness and amazing creative possibilities that you get on the large screen device, and you get the intimate link with consumer that you get on a smartphone. From the IAB’s point of view there are great possibilities ahead.
The world of mobile tablet advertising is still in its earliest days. Laszlo predicts the future of tablet advertising will continue to diversify. “It’s so new that it is tough to speculate. I think that in five years time we will stop talking about iPad ads like they are one thing. There will be ads geared to the kind of content that the user is consuming. I think you’ll see a world where tablet ads are part of any kind of media buy you could think of TV, print magazines, Internet, will likely also include tablets and smart phones as well.”
The IAB wants to harness marketers’ enthusiasm and creativity with a new contest called IAB’S Rising Stars Mobile Contest. According to Laszlo, the contest will, “draw more attention to the creative possibilities on smartphones and tablets. As the Risings Stars project goes on it will help agencies and marketers establish some standard rich media formats that will work across different devices and experiences.”
What does the future of advertising on tablets mean for the consumer? Ads on the iPad are definitely here to stay, but the more creative they get, the more we are likely to embrace them, rather than bristle at their intrusion.
The truth is, just as they have on more traditional media outlets such as radio and television, ads pay the bills. If there is going to be advertising on my iPad I know I would prefer it to be well-designed, and clever. Some of the best ads are so stealthy (think Mad Men’s viral “Mad Men Yourself” campaign) that they don’t seem like ads at all.
