Road to recovery – Mobile to emerge as the ultimate hero

Covid19 has affected the entire advertising industry. The struggle is not just limited to cut in advertising budgets but there is also a behaviourally altered consumer waiting at the other end of the tunnel. The challenge is going to be real this time. Dynamics of advertising is going to change in a very short span of time. Multiple shifts are happening at the same time, from identity-based marketing to performance marketing, from TV to Digital, from ad supported content to subscription led model, from Desktop to Mobile and so on and so forth.

PubMatic recently released their Quarterly Mobile Index (QMI) report which gives key insights into the mobile advertising industry. The report substantiates this shift from Desktop to Mobile with data. Three key trends emerged from the findings of the report.

During Covid19, content consumption on mobile has increased substantially and mobile advertising is less affected than desktop between Jan-Mar 2020. There is more than ever consumption happening on mobile hence publishers need a better in-app monetisation strategy while the advertisers need more quality and transparency

We reached out to some of the industry experts to take their views on the ongoing accelerated shift of digital advertising to mobile due to Covid19.

Chaaya Baradhwaaj, Founder of BC Web Wise points out, “With the audience so wired into their mobile screens and the 100 per cent SOV and full funnel engagement that is possible through the screen, advertisers today are compelled to shift their spends to digital with mobile device targeting.”

As per the report, in-app viewership substantially increased during the peak of Covid19. “In China, average daily smartphone usage jumped to 5 hours, a 30% increase over 2019.”

Neena Dasgupta, CEO of Zirca Digital Solutions is of an opinion that

overall content consumption has gone up, whether on TV or on digital. “It’s clearly on account of the crisis that creates time and also the need to be updated and informed”.
Dasgupta says, “The device (Mobile) showing the gain is clearly because of its constant use with Work From Home (option). Our desktops are mainly used for our video meetings and the mobile device is for the rest of the consumption and a possible evidence of MULTI-platform usage.”

As per the report, mobile in-app video streaming has reached an all-time high. Global mobile share of video ad spend remained constant at 49% for two quarters in a row (Oct-Dec 2019 & Jan-Mar 2020).

Pratik Gupta, Co-Founder Zoo Media & FoxyMoron says, “What this pandemic has done is taken the digital trends that we may have seen getting adopted widely in the next few years and has condensed them into a time span of three months. What we are witnessing right now is a Mobile Advertising Boom. With a large chunk of the consumer base more active on mobile now more than ever. Mobile Advertising has become an effective platform for brands to drive greater engagement, map quicker ROIs and observe and implement changes in real time. Making it a fundamental aspect of every digital marketing strategy today”.

Hareesh Tibrewala Joint CEO of Mirum India is quite certain of the

acceleration. As per Tibrewala, “..content consumption on mobile has increased dramatically during the COVID period. Users are spending more time on their mobiles consuming content on social channels, messengers and OTT platforms. Brands follow the consumers wherever they go. Which in turn has accelerated the shift of digital advertising to mobile”

Sameer Makani, Managing Director of Makani Creatives lays down, “Given offices are shut, most users who may or may not be using desktops are certainly using their mobile handsets more often than before; for either personal or professional use. Hence marketers and brands are leveraging this opportunity and shifting their focus to mobile marketing”.

Marketers moved their marketing budgets from open markets to PMP. PMP in-app spending roughly doubled but mobile video ad spends declined by 27%.

Komal Puri, Global Marketing Director of FarEye is of an opinion that

this is the time when Marketers should carefully select platforms and spend more dollars to get undivided attention of a larger set of audience available to consume more & more relevant messaging. Puri says, “With consumers being home and preferring to consume content primarily on their mobile phone the content consumption graphs are hitting the roof and are possibly becoming the new normal. The shift from desktop to mobile is definitely accelerated and instead of cutting spends, there is an opportunity for Marketers to capitalise this growth. The current growth could be temporary and there might be a slight decline in mobile consumption numbers post lockdown but overall we see a definitive shift towards mobile”.

Yogin Vora, Performance Lead at HDFC Life sums it up by adding, “Mobile advertising  during Covid19 will be front line warrior for digital sector. The pace of content creation and consumption amongst the users have increased as they are preferring to opt for second and third screen to get afresh content and easy access. There is increase in active users across hand held devices and also increase in internet consumption which has created demand on any platform which will directly correlate the recovery from the loss of COVID by injecting advertisers interest in new active users”.

As per the PubMatic Q1 2020 Quarterly Mobile Index (QMI) report “As ad spend is gradually rising in APAC in tandem with its rehabilitation, mobile is the shining star in its path to recovery — both mobile platform spend and impressions are higher than pre-impact levels and last year by the end of Q1”. We are seeing record level highs in mobile and while there is definitely an opportunity for brands, the publishers also have a chance to optimise their sales volume. PubMatic released a white-paper last month titled, “UNDERSTANDING IN-APP HEADER BIDDING” which can help publishers in evaluating their in-app header bidding options, give an understanding of current mobile ad spends along with latest brand preferences. You can download the white-paper from the link here.