Majority of Asian consumers prefer personalised mobile ads : Inmobi

The Consumer View of Mobile Advertising in Asia Pacific survey done in conjunction with Comscore by Inmobi has revealed that 69 per cent of Asians were comfortable with mobile advertising, and the region is seeing more benefit in mobile advertising than anywhere else in the world.

“Acceptance levels are higher than what I’d expected,” said James Lamberti, vice-president, global research and marketing, Inmobi.

The study was carried out across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Australia to garner a global consumer point of view in the area of mobile advertising, and to provide actionable data that will help educate the market.

Singapore was not one of the markets surveyed. “There is a lot of data on Singapore specifically, as with Hong Kong, China, and it seems like the rest of Asia doesn’t exist," said Lamberti.

"We were trying to fill some gaps in knowledge,” he said, adding also that Singapore is quite a small market compared to the other markets surveyed.

An interesting part of the research reveated that Asian men were more receptive to mobile marketing, while women preferred search advertising on the internet. “This is not to say that marketers shouldn’t advertise to women, because Asian women are more comfortable with mobile advertising compared to women in the US, Europe and Africa,” he said.

Interestingly, the age breakdown suggests that mobile marketing acceptance declines at age 45 plus, with under-25 almost as accepting as under-44.

With 54 per cent of consumers preferring personalised ads, Lamberti said agencies and marketers should focus on creative mobile ads. “The reality is that when mobile ads are done right and creatively, just like ads everywhere else, consumers understand the benefits better, and are less likely to object,” Lamberti said.

46 per cent of respondents said that the biggest benefit mobile advertising is introducing them to something new. "Mobile advertising therefore is a great channel for new launch campaigns, such as a new car, a new film, or a new feature to a product,” Lamberti suggested.

Lamberti also noted that the mobile phone should not be treated as they are on a PC where search dominates consumer activity.

The study found that consumers were more likely to click on mobile ads with call to action (29 per cent), viral (25 per cent) and interesting content (24 per cent). In contrast, only 19 per cent of respondents would click on a search.

The study found that Asia has the third healthiest mobile market of six continents, based on eight factors, including advertiser adoption, telco data plans and billing practices, and smartphone and 3G adoption. Europe ranks first, with South America coming in last.