Nov/090
The Next Frontier of Online Advertising
Source: unwiredview.com
As has been extensively covered this week by online media sources (see: the New York Times and Advertising Age, for starters), Google is set to acquire the mobile advertising company AdMob for $750 million in stock. According to Jon Fortt for CNNMoney.com, this deal represents a sign of the times. The mobile-display advertising sector is now the advertising market that seems most poised to grow, and with this deal, Google has positioned itself as the current leader.
Fortt, however, is skeptical of mobile advertising's potential. Although the popularity and ubiquitousness of smart phones is undeniable, spending on mobile advertising market was only $416 million in 2009 -- which is nothing compared to the close to $24 billion spent on online advertising overall in 2009.
Fortt is also skeptical of the smart phone user's likelihood to put up with mobile ads. He writes, "If you think online display ads are at best an annoyance on a 30-inch monitor, what about a three-inch screen? Ignoring ads on a PC is easy enough; on something I pay $60 or $80 a month for (especially if serving up the mobile ads slow my wireless network even more) ignoring the ads will be the default mode."
It remains to be seen whether Google can successfully develop a mobile advertising service with the acquisition of AdMob. In my estimation, and Fortt's as well, the difficulty of creating a mobile-display ad that doesn't completely turn off users is a significant hurdle that Google and other competitors must face.
Read the rest of Fortt's article here and let us know what you think of mobile advertising in the comments!
