88% of mobile users would watch ads to get free content: 4th screen advertising

 In advertising

Some 88% of mobile users in the UK are willing to receive pre-roll mobile ads in return for free video content, according to 4th Screen Advertising’s Adlndex for Mobile research, conducted by Dynamic Logic. Mobile pre-roll ads, which ran on O2 Active, are “attention grabbing” and increase brand recognition and favorable opinions of advertisers, the six-week study found.

Some 59% of participants said the mobile ads made them more interested in the advertised brand, and 62% said the ads gave a good impression of the brands being advertised.

Other findings:

  • Participants seem happy to view pre-rolls ads, provided the advertising is matched appropriately to the video content.
  • Overall response to pre-roll ads on mobile phones is very positive, particularly among a young male audience, considered to be early adopters.
  • Video content that accompanies the pre-roll ads is important in determining the effectiveness of the advertising, demonstrating that people who enjoyed the content are more likely to respond positively to the accompanying advertising.
  • Respondents seem to be happy with the trade-off of watching a mobile pre-roll ad in exchange for free video content, especially males and the younger audience. Some 88% said they were happy to have video ads if it meant they could watch free video.

“It is essential for us as a business and an industry to understand the power of mobile advertising to deliver brand awareness in the UK marketplace, hence the commissioning of Dynamic Logic to research the effectiveness across a broad customer demographic on O2 Active,” said Mark Slade, managing director of 4th Screen Advertising.

About the survey: The survey of UK mobile users ran from March 31 to May 9, 2008 to evaluate the effectiveness of pre-roll mobile ads on O2 Active across a sample of 600 men and women age 16 and older. Brands such as Citroen and LG ran 15 second pre-roll ads using age and gender targeting.

London Calling comment: Interesting survey, and as mobile advertising starts to become more widespread in the UK, we can expect to see more of these sorts of surveys and statistics – which is what brands and agencies want to see – results, and especially when a mobile operator (in this case O2) is mentioned.

The survey concentrates on mobile video ad pre-rolls, which as an end user I have always been annoyed by, however as the survey points out, if the ad is targeted then there is less chance of a turn-off for the consumer.

As other styles of mobile advertising such as idle screen, incoming call presentation and web browsing take off, it will be interesting to see how important targeting and profiling are for cut through and ultimate call to action and purchase propensity – as Blyk has done successfully since launch.

About 

Based in London, The Actionable Futurist and former Global Managing Partner at IBM, Andrew Grill is a popular and sought-after presenter and comementator on issues around digital disruption, workplace of the future and new technologies such as blockchain. Andrew is a multiple TEDx and International Keynote Speaker.