Attitudes to mobile marketing need to change, says mobile marketing body
09 Nov 2009
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Mobile advertising revenues, which are currently estimated at $25 million in the Indian market alone, are slated to increase faster than online advertising due to the sheer disparity between the penetration figures of PCs versus handsets in this vast country.
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), says India is showing immense potential when it comes to the adoption of mobile marketing. The over 400 million mobile users in the country represent 5 per cent of the entire global population, and is ading 10-12 million new subscribers every month.
Citing recent surveys, MMA says:
- 86 per cent of mobile users have participated in SMS contests initiated by TV shows followed by 50 per cent participating in newspaper SMS contests
- Almost 60 per cent of females and 49 per cent of males have participated in between one and three SMS contests
- 51 per cent of males and 41 per cent of women mobile users have participated in more than four, which the MMA ranks as "very high"
- Unlimited Internet access and SMS value added services are the two most critical factors when Indians decide on choosing their mobile service
- Almost 10 per cent of Delhi mobile subscribers use social networking services from their mobile phones topping the list, followed by Mumbai (6.4 per cent) and Chennai (4 per cent)
- However, MMA says that as a nascent industry, some issues need to be addressed, of which it says three key areas are:
- Getting the support of brands and agencies to address the chicken-and-egg situation where brands claim that the agencies aren't thinking out of the box, and agencies feel brands aren't willing to take a risk on a new medium.
- Building a framework for measurement and metrics, taking advantage of the success that MMA has had in defining industry guidelines for the measurement of mobile advertising campaigns globally and refining these to suit the Indian context.
- Setting standards for consumer best practices and policies, including double opt-ins and no-spamming rules for member companies.
