If you’ve been reading our blogs, you would know that we are not fans of digital advertising and believe it needs to change, we covered topics from data breaches to the current methods of monetization available to publishers today, including paid media on websites and why they need to change. However today we will open Pandora’s box and talk about what wrong with the world of mobile advertising and how it’s only been getting worse. From gimmicky low res videos to ads where you can’t even make out what you are viewing.

Mobile ads and in-app ads are an evil which serves an important purpose — making money for their developers so that they can keep putting out the content/product/service you love. What is mobile advertising? It is simply a display, video, SMS or textual based add which is shown on a mobile device.

This further breaks down into in-app ads and mobile-based search. In-app ads are ads that you view within an application, for example seeing an ad from your local pizza store while you are watching Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on a streaming app. Mobile based paid media is similar to desktop-based ads, they are just ads with a different size and format placed on different websites, which are shown when you are browsing the web on your phone. While there are other ad types, such as native ads or contextual, we will be taking a jab at In-app ads and paid search for the purposes of this blog.

Most users hate ads or are complacent, with everyone furiously hitting the skip button on youtube, to skipping the video when you come across an ad you cannot skip on Facebook. But when it comes to mobile ads, such intrusiveness and greed lead to bad retention rates and overall less engagement of the application. Why? Several factors; ads displayed on mobiles have less real estate, they have to fit an add into a much smaller screen. Intrusiveness; No one wants to be bothered when playing their favorite mobile game or watching a TV show with a full-screen ad for a 10% discount on woolen socks at Walmart. Gimmicky; Mobile advertisers will usually target users of other mobile games or applications, this had led some of the worst and cringe-worthy ads ever created. Just search “Lords Mobile ads on youtube”.

Even with such disadvantages, the mobile ad industry is estimated to be worth 70 Billion in the US alone as of 2018, even with the rise of ad blockers and user discontent. With the prediction that mobile advertising will overtake other forms of advertising in the near future, it can be safe to say that such methods of mobile advertising are only going to get worse. Users love free and hate paying for things, — ever heard the saying free food tastes better?

While other forms of monetization exist, most of them are not suitable for the average application.

An age-old industry which profits of your addiction to your mobile phone, where your data is stolen and your privacy is not taken seriously. What can you as a user do? — Download mobile ad blockers, stop supporting apps that show irrelevant or annoying ads and report them as well. Better yet, ask them to seek out alternative and newer forms of monetization.

Sources:

Mobile Ad industry worth in the US: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2018/02/23/mobile-advertising-will-drive-75-of-all-digital-ad-spend-in-2018-heres-whats-changing/#1a9e7714758b

Mobile Ad industry worth

An honest review of incorporating Mobile ads:

https://medium.com/@stanleyidesis/i-put-ads-in-my-app-this-is-what-losing-looks-like-3249d34364f8

How much people hate ads: https://www.adweek.com/digital/new-study-highlights-how-much-people-dislike-digital-ads/

945 data breaches in 6 months

https://www.cbronline.com/news/global-data-breaches-2018