M&C Saatchi Mobile has just released a whitepaper to present this concept in greater detail.
A white paper has just been presented by M&C Saatchi Mobile that detailed the tremendous promise that mobile marketing holds in Africa.
The report indicated that the smartphone channel is central to advertising in the continent.
The report showed that Africa is proving to be a very promising emerging region for mobile marketing, driven by affordable smartphones and strong economic growth. This report is only the first in a series that the company intends to release regarding various global regions and the part that smartphones play in the relevance of the advertising there. Many businesses and brands are now functioning under the impression that the best way to reach consumers in Africa is by way of this channel.
This whitepaper has also shown that mobile marketing will play a vital role in the continued development of the region.
It illustrated the way the continent was able to leapfrog over the fixed line telecommunications stage that was traditionally used as a stepping stone upward toward the latest, which is the mobile marketing world of today. Africa has moved straight to the cellular services domain instead of stopping and waiting at telecommunications, first.
According to M&C Saatchi Mobile, the new primary means by way African consumers access the internet is over their smartphones. At the moment, there are 84 million internet enabled devices that are already owned and are being used. This makes the channel a very promising one for mobile marketing and reaching consumers very quickly and directly.
According to the company’s global CEO, James Hilton, “Contrary to popular thinking, Africa is not an under-developed region – it’s the second largest and fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world after China.” He went on to say in the statement that he gave about the mobile marketing report, that “The large numbers of African mobile consumers with web-connected smartphones using their device to surf the internet or download apps shows that the assumption that mobile services in Africa are only about SMS and low-end handsets is seriously out of date.”
Mobile games are getting more attention in the marketing sector
Mobile games have come to represent some of the highest rates of consumer engagement within the mobile sector. Consumers throughout the world have proven that they have an insatiable appetite for mobile games and the popularity of these games continues to grow rapidly. Mobile games are not only growing more popular with consumers, of course, and advertisers are beginning to look at these games as ideal platforms through which to connect with consumers.
Report shows that advertisers are beginning to favor mobile platforms
Advertisers are beginning to focus on mobile games more heavily around the world. A new report from App Annie and IDC notes that as mobile games grow among consumers, so too does the amount of money that advertisers are spending on such games. Advertisers do not typically invest in the development of games, but they do purchase marketing space within that game. Marketing in console games has been tricky due to the fact that consumers can rarely engage typical in-game marketing. This is where mobile games shine for advertisers.
Mobile games could be ideal marketing tools
Mobile games are, essentially, nothing more than applications for mobile devices. These applications are lightweight programs that are somewhat fluid when it comes to the features that they offer. This means that it is relatively simple to include some kind of advertisement into these applications. Moreover, these advertisements can actually be interacted with by consumers, making them quite effective when it comes to consumer engagement. Mobile games, which already involve consumer participation, have proven to be effective marketing platforms due to the fact that consumers will often interact with ads they see in their mobile games.
Advertising revenue in the mobile games sector to reach $12 billion this year
According to the report from App Annie and IDC, the total advertising revenue coming from the mobile games space is expected to reach $12 billion this year. Advertisers are likely to continue focusing more heavily on mobile games in the future in order to engage a new generation of consumers. Consumers have, thus far, been relatively welcoming to the advertisements that they see in mobile games, though some argue that these ads detract from the gaming experience.
