Advertising has evolved a lot over time. It started out on paper and walls. The so-called advertisers had much less resources and options to create advertisements. Since there was no internet in the 19th century, they used enormous posters, so that everybody could notice and read them. Who doesn’t remember Steinlen’s ‘Chat Noir’ cabaret poster or Pears’ ‘Pears soap’? How about Mucha’s ‘Savonnerie de bagnolet’ or Coca Cola’s 1980’s ad?
Advertising has sure changed a lot since then. Modern advertising lets you reach consumers all over the world with just a click. You find online advertising all over the internet connected devices: PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Although advertising on desktop computers is now being taken over by mobile advertising since everyone now owns a smartphone connected to the World Wide Web.
What is a mobile ad network?
A mobile advertising network is a company that connects advertisers to publishers or web pages that want to host advertisements. These are the most well-known worldwide mobile ad networks:
AdMob
AdMob is one of the most well-known mobile ad networks. It was bought by Google in 2006 and has become since one of the most successful companies in their niche. AdMob monopolizes mobile advertising market and its revenues reached enormous numbers in 2012 and are expected to increase in 2013.
iAd
iAd‘s most remarkable ad campaigns include the 1984 Super Bowl ad and the 1990s ‘Think Different’ campaign. The ‘Think Different’ campaign related Apple devices to renowned social figures. Those are one of the Beatles members, John Lennon, and the Hindu freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi.
Millennial Media
Millennial Media is a mobile ad network that offers tools and services in order to assist app developers and mobile website publishers to increase their advertising income and get more users for their applications. Their worked with CBS Interactive, The New York Times Co, Zynga and Rovio.
Flurry
Flurry is a mobile ad network based in London (UK), Mumbai (India), San Franciso and New York (USA). They worked with very well-known companies such as Sprint, MTV, Pepsi, Warner Bros, T-Mobile, Sega, AT&T, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Skype and CBS.
Inmobi
Inmobi is a mobile ad network based in more than 13 countries, including Bangalore (India), San Francisco (USA), Beijing (China), London (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Sidney (Australia) and Tokyo (Japan). They worked with Adidas, Dove, Ford, Slimfast, Microsoft, Sega, Audi, Sunsilk, Turkish Airlines, McDonald’s, Yamaha, Canon and Levi’s.
Mobile video advertising
Mobile video advertising is yet another innovative form of mobile advertising. Videos and smartphones have individually proven their crucial role in the world of advertising in the last years. Nonetheless, when joined together as an advertisement format in its own right, they form an indestructible and invincible way of mobile advertising.
According to a study from Cisco, mobile video accounted for 50% of mobile traffic in 2012, which shows that there is obviously no shortage of demand for the format itself. When you think that the money invested in mobile video advertising is expected to increase 5 times in the U.S. alone from almost 518 million dollars in 2013 to 2,685 million dollars in 2017, it’s not foolish to think that mobile video advertising will be one of the most important types of the future mobile advertising.
Types of mobile ads
According to Google AdWords, there are 2 main types of ads: the ones created for high-end devices (smartphones and tablets) and WAP ads created specifically for feature phones.
High-end mobile gadgets have full internet browsers and can show web pages exactly like you would see them on PCs or laptops. In order make up for the smaller display, smartphones usually allow you to zoom in to more easily surf their website, although the perfect solution for a mobile website to provide a good user experience is to create a mobile friendly website.
High-end mobile ads are divided into:
- Text advertisements. They look like regular text ads that you would notice on a PC or laptop. The main difference is that when a search is performed from a desktop computer, more ads per page can be shown, but when someone performs a mobile search fewer ads can be shown per page.
- Image advertisements. This kind of ads are similar to regular image ads that you would notice on a PC or laptop. Nonetheless, the most usual size for ads on smartphones is the 320×50 banner.
WAP-enabled mobile phones allow users to browse mobile web pages that are specifically created for small mobile phones. These web pages are normally much simpler than the full-featured web pages you would usually see on a PC or laptop. Below you can find more information about it.
What is a wap mobile ad?
According to Google AdWords, a WAP mobile ad is a text ad or image ad that is created in order to show on WAP-enabled mobile phones. WAP-enabled mobile phones allow users to browse mobile web pages that are made for small-sized mobile devices. This type of web pages are usually much more simpler than the full-featured web pages you would normally visit on a PC or laptop.
You can design a WAP image ad or a WAP text ad. If you’re designing a WAP text ad, you can link it to your mobile web page or connect users directly to your company’s phone number.
A WAP mobile advertisement can include 1 or both of these types of contact information:
- Link to your mobile-friendly web page. Mobile-friendly web pages are created for small-sized screens of mobile devices. Because of the smaller display, websites created for PC screens don’t work well on mobile phones.
- Business phone number. If you incorporate your phone number, consumers can click it to call your company. Phone numbers should be for the country in which your advertisements are placed.
As you can see, you can advertise on whatever kind of mobile phones, so don’t hesitate and get to work. Almost all mobile creators include a free version which includes advertising, so take advantage of it because the future of advertising is mobile.
