Location-based advertising and mobile programmatic buying on the rise, but lack of knowledge remains amongst marketers |

An IAB UK study released last week revealed that 50% of marketers surveyed use programmatic for buying smartphone inventory. And location-based advertising is regarded by 66% of respondents as the most exciting mobile opportunity. But many don’t have the knowledge to exploit it, warns Andrew Darling, marketing director at Blis Media

While that’s great news for the programmatic industry in general, the report went on to reveal that 44% of respondents reported having no or little knowledge of it. This clearly demonstrates the need for more education from industry stakeholders and trade bodies.

The study, which was conducted by research agency Circle Research on behalf of the IAB UK, looked at insights into advertisers’ understanding, use and opinions of mobile advertising. The research, which was carried out in December 2015, takes an in-depth look among 301 marketers that are advertising on smartphones (“respondents”), across a range of sectors, including FMCG, Travel, Retail, Finance, Insurance and Arts and Entertainment.

Levels of uptake and understanding around mobile advertising

Almost 29% of respondents feel they have an “excellent” understanding of mobile advertising as a whole, compared to 22% who said they had a “poor” level of understanding.

The benefits and challenges of advertising on mobile

79% of the respondents said that mobile advertising is an important part of their organisation’s overall advertising strategy. The study also revealed that mobile spend in the next 24 months is expected to increase however, a lack of budget at the moment remains a top challenge for nearly 1 in 3 respondents. In addition to budgets, difficulties in tracking and restraints on creativity are also perceived as barriers against increased usage of mobile advertising.

Are wearables the future of mobile?

52% of those surveyed agree that wearable technology is an excellent opportunity for the industry. Furthermore, 56% of respondents plan to start advertising on wearables in the next 12 months.

IAB’s Mobile Manager, Mike Reynolds said: “It’s great to see just how far mobile has come in a relatively short amount of time and it’s even more exciting to see mobile on the agenda for so many advertisers in the UK. Interestingly, the results show that programmatic has established itself as an effective way of buying mobile media, however there is a clear disconnect between this buying technique and knowledge levels. Strengthening this knowledge base across the industry remains a top priority of ours for 2016”

The Mobile Advertiser Snapshot Study is a comprehensive survey of UK advertisers’ perceptions and attitudes towards mobile advertising.

The aims of the study were to;