The Rise Of Mobile Video Advertising

Every day businesses are trying more and more new ways to get a foothold in their market. Advertising is a key way to gain more customers and as a result, more of a market share. However, advertising is developing at such an alarming rate that any market leader needs to be extremely savvy and keep regularly up to date with any new developments in the world of marketing. Whilst billboard advertising still exists, it is by no means as effective as it once was. Online advertising has been around for some time and is still going from strength to strength, and mobile video advertising is one branch of this which is becoming more and more prominent by the day.

Video Streaming

Video advertising has existed for some time on television, but online is a totally different ball game. Since the advent of video streaming platforms such as YouTube and Daily Motion and other mobile video on demand websites, there has been much more opportunity for online video advertising to take place. More recently, these websites have started showing advertisements before and during their content. With smartphones developing at the rate they are, this means that there is a whole new audience for advertisers to tap into.

Mobile video advertising itself has developed over the past few years, despite only being a new platform. In the earlier days, viewers were forced to watch a random advertisement of a product they may have had absolutely zero interest in before they could watch their chosen video. Some advertisers may still choose to do this, however more recently a lot have taken up the option of embedding the ad into their video or mobile phone app, so that it pops up at some point during the video but doesn’t disrupt their viewing. This way, the customer is less likely to become irritated by the advert, and potentially more likely to pay attention to it.

Need For Speed

The fast development of the mobile video advertising world is partly thanks to the improvements in the quality of mobile signal. Almost every mobile phone uses 3G signal now, and 4G is soon to be rolled out around the world, meaning video streaming on mobile devices is every bit as good as it is on a computer. This hasn’t always been the case however, as video streaming used to be extremely temperamental and jumpy up until a few years ago. It goes without saying that a better quality video is likely to lead to a more effective campaign, as more people are likely to stick around to watch the whole of the content and be exposed to the adverts.

When it comes to actually programming the campaign, this is made much less complex by the fact that almost every modern smartphone uses the Java platform. This makes it a lot easier for advertisers as they can simply roll out one campaign, instead of having to program alternate settings for iPhones, HTC’s, Blackberry’s and so on. This is particularly useful for small businesses, which probably wouldn’t have the time or resources to dedicate to such a task. Another benefit of smartphones is the fact that many have what is known as a “click through” button now, meaning that at the touch of a button a potential customer could be ready to buy your product or service.

Mobile video advertising allows businesses to reach a whole new range of customers, which makes it an avenue worth exploring for many companies looking to widen their catchment. The rise in popularity of smartphones means this is an opportunity that many businesses, especially those in e-commerce, simply shouldn’t ignore.

Written by Jack Oldham
Jack Oldham is a recent BA (Hons) Journalism graduate blogging about a number of mobile technology subjects including mobile video advertising and mobile video on demand .