Mobile search wars

The telecom companies are colliding head-on in competition for control of the consumer mobile search business.
Telecom carriers, handset manufacturers, publishers, directory and yellow pages companies, local search companies, Silicon Valley giants and a foray of start-ups are squaring off to contend for the title of mobile search champion. Each is trying to convince marketers that it is the natural inheritor of mobile search !
“Mobile search is a battle to define perhaps the most important new interface with the consumer,” says a eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new report, Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans. “Whoever cracks the consumer and commercial code for delivering and monetizing relevant answers for people on the go will secure a license to print money, at least for a time.”
Depending on a researcher’s particular bias toward telecom, Web or technology factors, the published forecasts for mobile search vary from $1.5 billion by 2011 to over $11 billion by 2008 according to research.
Forecasts says that the general mobile ad spending market — along with ad spending that supports mobile multimedia — should reach over $13.8 billion worldwide during the same period.

Mobile Advertising Spending

Of that total, mobile search is expected to account for 17%.

Worldwide Mobile Search and Revenues

May be now, the figures might not look very big compared to that of the online search market. But, it carries a promise of radically changing the way people access search information and make buying decisions. If seen this way, the mobile search market goes beyond this specific search industry.
Regardless of its relatively small size, mobile will continue to attract investment and talent because it is one the best platforms for connecting marketers to consumers with short-term or immediate purchase intent.

Mobile entertainment revenue worldwide

For instance, Informa predicts that global mobile entertainment sales will reach over $38 billion by 2011. Of that market, the top three subcategories are music ($13.6 billion by 2011), mobile video and TV ($8.3 billion) and mobile games ($7.2 billion).

“The days when mobile search need only organize a mobile carrier’s content retail store are rapidly drawing to a close,” say experts.
Too much money, talent and technology are moving into the mobile marketing space to expect that users, let alone advertisers, will stay content to search within the walled gardens that predominate today.

Statistics Courtesy :

emarketer report : Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans

Online Marketer and Advertiser – A win-win model (contd)

In my earlier article I had suggested running a ‘test’ CPC campaign which helps the marketer optimize the campaign to ensure that the eCPA goals are met. The key objective of such a test campaign could be for both the marketer and the advertiser to be convinced that the campaign is a performing one.

Speaking of test campaigns, another very effective way of ‘testing’ the waters, is to run a combination of a CPM and a google adwords campaign. This model is best explained by an example. Let’s assume a campaign for sales of mobile handsets. This campaign ideally lends itself to a CPM + google adwords campaign. The way it works is that on the one hand we run a CPM campaign on relevant inventory. And on the other hand, we buy google adwords. Inventory for such a CPM campaign should be chosen very carefully. Likewise, the adwords we use on such a campaign should be thought thru’ very carefully. A balance needs to be drawn between buying the ‘dearer’ more effective adwords and the ‘cheaper’ commonly used – and relatively ineffective – adwords. Admittedly an initially higher outlay might pinch in the short-term, but the long-term results in terms of eCPAs would justify the means.

Where does this all lead to? Our friend the advertiser is still looking at ‘performance-based’ campaigns!

Well the answer is pretty obvious. Whichever route we take, we should ( hopefully) have an effective test campaign. Given the effectiveness of the campaign in meeting the CPA goals, the advertiser should have no complaints rolling out a full-fledged CPC or CPM/Adwords campaign. By the same token, the marketer will not baulk at the idea of converting effective test campaigns to CPL/CPM campaigns.

Is there a better example of win-win for the marketer and advertiser?