Comments on: Striking the Balance in Ad-Supported Content http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2009/04/24/striking-the-balance-in-ad-supported-content/ Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: The state and future of mobile applications | News, Mobile news http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2009/04/24/striking-the-balance-in-ad-supported-content/comment-page-1/#comment-127622 The state and future of mobile applications | News, Mobile news Tue, 19 May 2009 08:52:08 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/?p=3235#comment-127622 [...] People simply usually don’t want to pay for mobile applications. Period! See my comment to MobHappy – Striking the balance in ad-supported Content for more on [...] [...] People simply usually don’t want to pay for mobile applications. Period! See my comment to MobHappy – Striking the balance in ad-supported Content for more on [...]

]]> By: Anders Borg http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2009/04/24/striking-the-balance-in-ad-supported-content/comment-page-1/#comment-126986 Anders Borg Sun, 03 May 2009 08:56:12 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/?p=3235#comment-126986 Kalador has an interesting scheme where an ad application is attached to your own app (no changes required on the developer's part) and serves ads via mobile web pages before the application starts. As a user you can choose to pay a fee and that way get rid of the ads. In both cases the developer gets revenue, provided of course the application is at all used. For some applications this will not work, if the burden to go through the ads outweighs the value/usefulness of the application, but for many others this might be the way to go. Frankly, people don't tend to want to pay for mobile applications. I'm actually trying this out right now for a bunch of my MIDlets. They have so far not made me rich and famous. Whether this will make me no more rich but infamous instead is to be investigated. In one specific case, EasyCall, an application that was designed to make calling and messaging extremely easy to young ones etc, this would obviously not be a suitable scheme. The burden/nuisance vs perceived value ratio must be considered when serving ads. Also, one thing never mentioned is that ads cost money for the end-user, unless on a flat-rate sub. That goes for all the AdMobs, Mobvisions etc out there as well. Especially when serving picture ads, that can easily be much larger byte-wise than the content page served. On slow networks, the experience can also be deteriorated. Kalador has an interesting scheme where an ad application is attached to your own app (no changes required on the developer’s part) and serves ads via mobile web pages before the application starts. As a user you can choose to pay a fee and that way get rid of the ads. In both cases the developer gets revenue, provided of course the application is at all used.

For some applications this will not work, if the burden to go through the ads outweighs the value/usefulness of the application, but for many others this might be the way to go. Frankly, people don’t tend to want to pay for mobile applications.

I’m actually trying this out right now for a bunch of my MIDlets. They have so far not made me rich and famous. Whether this will make me no more rich but infamous instead is to be investigated.

In one specific case, EasyCall, an application that was designed to make calling and messaging extremely easy to young ones etc, this would obviously not be a suitable scheme.

The burden/nuisance vs perceived value ratio must be considered when serving ads.

Also, one thing never mentioned is that ads cost money for the end-user, unless on a flat-rate sub. That goes for all the AdMobs, Mobvisions etc out there as well. Especially when serving picture ads, that can easily be much larger byte-wise than the content page served. On slow networks, the experience can also be deteriorated.

]]> By: Andy http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2009/04/24/striking-the-balance-in-ad-supported-content/comment-page-1/#comment-126879 Andy Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:59:46 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/?p=3235#comment-126879 Anyone who's accidentally picked up a copy of American GQ instead of the UK version at the airport will quickly realise that the balance is different in different countries. There were 30, yes 30 pages of adverts in the American GQ before any editorial content was to be seen. In UK GQ it tends to be 3-5 max. The value of advertising to the user still needs some improvement. Moving from passive 'see the ad' to active 'interact with the ad' is critical to the mobile space. If my favorite brand gives me a game/video/competition/voucher/exclusuve/... they can use my mobile screen. If they just want to steal a part of it to show me an ad - I'm not listening (or watching!). Anyone who’s accidentally picked up a copy of American GQ instead of the UK version at the airport will quickly realise that the balance is different in different countries. There were 30, yes 30 pages of adverts in the American GQ before any editorial content was to be seen. In UK GQ it tends to be 3-5 max.

The value of advertising to the user still needs some improvement. Moving from passive ‘see the ad’ to active ‘interact with the ad’ is critical to the mobile space. If my favorite brand gives me a game/video/competition/voucher/exclusuve/… they can use my mobile screen. If they just want to steal a part of it to show me an ad – I’m not listening (or watching!).

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