I don’t know about you, but I have heard little positive news about mobile advertising. Most everybody agrees that it simply is not ready for primetime. One of the more philosophical reasons given is that as an industry we are trying to take a web-based model and make it work on mobile phones, which is kind of like putting banner ads on television - it simply doesn’t make sense. One of the more pragmatic reasons people sometimes give for a lackluster mobile advertising market is that it doesn’t work very well: Little banner ads that click off to little WAP pages (with the restrictions in the mobile space against porn, booze, tobacco, carrier competitors, etc.) just doesn’t generate response rates comparable to current expectations.
Intercasting Corp is not ad-driven, so I do not have a horse in this race other than a general curiosity and a belief that a vibrant mobile advertising industry is a future cornerstone to a more open mobile consumer experience. One thing is for sure, compared to the web, mobile consumers represent a roughly sixfold increase in market size; unlocking the potential of such a market will create the next (and bigger) Google.
I am no expert on the subject and therefore have no opinion. Someone who is an expert on the subject (and who has an opinion) is Paul Palmieri, CEO of Millennial Media, the leading mobile ad network.
His latest blog post, “Saying ‘Yes’ to Mobile in 2009″ offers great insight into the mobile ad market and offers some data that debunks some of the conventional wisdom. 2009 may be the start of something big in mobile advertising. Give it a read - it is definitely worth your time.