Morse says the impending explosive growth in mobile advertising will be driven by increasing consumer reliance on the mobile Internet and advertiser demand. Mobile penetration in SA is already high and continues to grow rapidly, while PC and Internet penetration is comparatively low and slowly increasing.
Speaking at the congress today, Morse said SA has a strong base of active mobile users and leads the continent in terms of mobile web traffic.
“SA accounted for 56.9% (450.74 million page impressions) of AdMob's African traffic (791.77 million page impressions) in the second quarter of 2008. In total, SA consumers are generating around 150 million page impressions a month,” he stated.
He also said that AdMob also sees a large base of advertisers, both international and locally based, who are hungry to find compelling mobile websites (mobisites) to reach SA consumers. While many local advertisers are also jumping at the opportunity, there has been a slow uptake from local publishers, with most of SA's traffic stats going to international mobisites.
“This is changing in SA, with many of the larger media houses like Media24 ("http://m.news24.com), Avusa's The Times (http://m.news24.com), Avusa's The Times (http://m.thetimes.co.za), and the Mail & Guardian (http://m.mg.co.za) launching mobisites,” he says.
According to Morse, advertising is proving to be the easiest way to monetise a mobile website. “There are examples of publishers in the States who have used the subscription model, but this is rapidly changing as they look to make content free,” he said.
This is particularly true in the US entertainment industry, where publications such as E! Online and People Magazine have registered 1.2 million and 771 000 page impressions recently. According to a recent New York Times article, studies conducted by researchers for People Magazine found that 30% of magazine readers now use their mobile phone to access People.com. Recognising the need to move to a free model, People.com identified the shift in consumer behaviour and is building a free, ad-supported service to be introduced in November, moving away from its US$3.99 subscription model, the article said.
This model of free content, supported by advertising, is also important in the SA market and companies looking to launch mobisites also need to realise that traffic is built through the mobile network, Morse advised.
“Many of the SA publishers with mobisites have looked to promote their mobisites through traditional media channels. However, what we're seeing on the AdMob network is that mobisite publishers are managing to increase the traffic to their mobisites by advertising on other mobisites,” he pointed out.
This is proving more effective because the advertising is done directly to consumers already on their mobile phones and generally cheaper costs.
“Publishers also need to understand that if you advertise on another medium, then users have to literally stop what they are doing and take out their phone to see what you're advertising. The jump from print, TV or online to the cellphone results in the loss of a lot of potential users. If you're engaging directly with mobile uses, your mobisite is a mere click away,” he says.
Another key fact about the mobile channel is that it is not cannibalising the traditional media. Interestingly, while PC Internet traffic traditionally spikes during the day, mobile web traffic is seen uniformly during the day.
It's also one of the most trackable and measurable of all media. “The powerful reporting capabilities of mobile enables publishers to monitor in real-time which content is proving popular, enabling them to make ongoing changes to their mobsites to assist in boosting traffic figures. Increased traffic equates to increased revenue,” he says.
SA companies have just dipped their toes in the world of mobile advertising and mobisites and are reportedly already seeing big growth in traffic figures and advertising spend.
However, Morse said organisations need to understand that a select group of early adopters are driving growth today. The future of mobile in SA is explosive; when the majority of the approximately 35 million cellphone subscribers in the country start using mobisites on a daily basis, the revenue from advertising is projected to sky rocket.
“SA stands on the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of both mobile web traffic and advertising investment targeting SA users. Organisations that position themselves for the explosion in growth will reap the benefits,” he concluded.
The congress was organised by Terrapinn.
Download Morse's Africa Media and Broadcasting Congress presentation (+5BM).
For more information, go to www.admob.com.
