Lucy |
September 29, 2014
The research also suggested that regardless of this fact, many marketing firms are still “addicted to clicks.”
The results of a recent marketing study have now been released, showing that while click through rate (CTR) are still commonly used to measure the success of mobile ads, they are not a very effective metric for that purpose.
The study was carried out by Nielsen after having been commissioned by the xAd firm.
This research indicated that at its best, CTR can provide marketers with an idea of the consumer awareness and interest when it comes to a mobile ad or a brand. However, if that metric is used, the report recommends that it should not be used all on its own. Other measures are also required to actually identify the true success of a given campaign.
This mobile ad performance study was run on the xAd platform and measured a spectrum of campaigns.
Throughout all of the campaigns in this mobile marketing study, there were a total of 80 campaigns examined that were run for 12 individual national brands. Across each of those campaigns, there were a total of 200 million impressions that had been measured for the purpose of this study. These marketing campaigns all took place during the first two quarters of 2014.
A provider of location analytics, Placed, was also used in order to conduct this study so that store visits could be measured as a result of the response of consumers to the mobile advertisements that they saw.
Among the results of the study were the following:
• CTR is not a strong indicator of performance and could be “completely unrelated, or even negatively correlated, to the other measures capturing metrics such as calls, directions and store visits.”
• Since mobile display campaigns are optimized with CTR in mind, secondary actions such as directions and calls are influenced in a negative way.
• Some of the highest offline in-store visit rates were sometimes connected with lower CTRs.
Regardless of the fact that many marketing firms were aware of the fact that CTR does not necessarily provide the most accurate metrics for campaigns, they continued to use them, nonetheless.
The MMA has now released the outcomes of its first ever research focusing on this subject.
The Mobile Marketing Association has now shared the results of its Mobile Video Benchmark Study, which is the first research of its nature that had been commissioned by the organization.
The MMA commissioned the study in order to be able to provide solid insight about the use of video.
The study was commissioned by both the MMA and its Mobile Video Committee. Its purpose was to examine the performance of video in mobile marketing so that insight could be provided to publishers, agencies, advertisers, and third party video servers, among others who could stand to benefit from the expanding popularity of the technique. This appears to be exactly what this benchmark study has managed to accomplish.
The mobile marketing insights are considered to be first of their kind, particularly considering their source.
According to the MMA’s CEO, Greg Stuart, “This collaboration of MMA members to produce a ‘first of its kind’ Mobile Video Benchmarking Study validates that mobile video is beyond the tipping point. We are seeing new behaviors and attitudes develop as mobile becomes validated as the real first screen.”
He also added that it is becoming ever more evident that video over smartphones is becoming a “very powerful too” to be used by promoters, advertisers, and marketers, as they seek to access the “biggest transformation” that has ever been experienced within the marketing industry.
There were four primary topics of insight that were the focus of the study. These included:
• Mobile video engagement
• Mobile video ad length
• Mobile video at midnight
• Ad frequency engagement
Within each category, several statistics, observations, and predictions were made to help to better understand mobile marketing using video and to predict the direction that it could take. The MMA has also stated that it intends to continue in the creation and production of this study, over time, as they continue to pursue a better understanding of the way in which these early metrics will perform into the coming months and years. It also intends to keep the doors open to the evaluation of new metrics that will expand on the insight into the benefits and nature of mobile video.
