Smartphone users in the UK consider mobile advertising intrusive, and tend to ignore the ads they see on their phones, according to new research from YouGov, based on a survey of 2,082 smartphone owners from YouGov's quarterly Smartphone, Mobile Internet, eXperience tracker (SMIX).
- 79% of smartphone users questioned believe that mobile ads are intrusive
- Only5% think they are a good idea and welcome them
- 88% of respondents say they ignore ads in applications
- while 86% ignore them on the mobile web
Active responses by smartphone users to ads remain low, says YouGov.
- 6% click on a link in a text
- 6% from an email
- 4% from the mobile internet
- 3% from an app
- 2% from an instant message.
Even fewer users have bought a product or service as a result of advertising – 3% from a trusted text and 1% from advertising on an app.
However, some 27% of respondents agree that they would welcome more advertising if it offered money off deals or special offers. 21% agree that they do not mind ads as long as they are relevant to them.
Awareness of ads 'high'
On a brighter note, awareness of advertising on smartphones in the last three months is high. iPhone users and O2 and 3 customers are most likely to have seen ads – 46% of Apple users, 42% of O2 customers and 40% of 3 customers have received ad messages of some sort.
For smartphone users, the basic banner remains the most recognised format – 87% see them while browsing the mobile internet, and 80% while using apps. When browsing, recommended links to search (63%), rollover banners (51%), and special offers (47%), attract the most attention. While using apps, sponsored apps and games (45%), recommendations linked to apps (44%) and a full screen ad before an app is activated (38%) are the most recognised ad formats.
Embedding ads into applications is the most effective way to get messages to smartphone users – with 33% of respondents recognising placements every time they use an app, and 19% recalling ads on apps they use daily. Apple and HTC users are most likely to have been reached via in-app advertising.
Most users 'ignore and delete' adverts
Unsolicited texts, along with advertising in apps, are the main types of advertising smartphone owners remember receiving in the past three months. However, these ads are not acted on by respondents.
- 64% of Orange, 57% of O2, and 56% of T-Mobile and Vodafone customers have received unsolicited texts from advertisers in the last three months, compared to only 33% of 3 customers
- 79% of respondents said that they generally receive these less often than once a month
- When asked how they deal with these messages, 53% said that they ignore the message and delete it
Adele Gritten, head of media consulting at YouGov, says the results of the research highlight the fact that mobile advertising is still an infant channel.
'The findings indicate that marketers and media planners have not got to grips with what mobile advertising can do, and how it might be used as tactical marketing ploy, or as a wider part of the media mix. Those questions have not yet been fully addressed,' she says.
'Marketers need to harness the higher level of personal engagement that mobile users have with their handsets to provide them with something truly unique, relevant and interesting. In particular money off deals and special offers will appeal to consumers. Ad treatments must be more relevant and personal, and advertisers have to stop hoping that spam volume alone will drive response rates.'
