Location-Based Mobile Video Ads Deliver On The Promise Of Engagement And Call-To-Action

Nearly everyone with a smartphone has used the “reminder” feature on the phone at least once. An Indian TV network cleverly combined this feature with mobile video ads to drive viewership for a movie that it was telecasting.

Crafted by InMobi, the mobile video ad unit allowed users to store telecast timings directly from the ad. The ad registered more than 125K interactions and the number of consumers that added the telecast timings to their calendar was 11.6K. This is nearly 10% of those who actually viewed the ad; the average time spent on this creative video ad was 15 seconds. This might be seem to be a blink for most people, however, in the world of mobile advertising, this is a marketer’s delight.

This campaign shows that brands now not only have an interesting ad format for delivering their message, but can also explore creative ways to drive call to action. The reminder on the user’s phone calendar itself serves as an additional “ad” for the consumer, reinforcing a brand and driving recall.

Video is the largest and fastest growing category within mobile data traffic today. Devices with larger screens and powerful processors, declining prices and faster data speeds are making it easier for people to consumer streaming content on the go.

Mobile video currently accounts for over a quarter of video consumption. According to eMarketer, spending on mobile video ads will increase considerably over the next five years, with spends projected to exceed $1 bn in US in 2014. Mobile ad spend as a whole is expected to reach $12.82 bn by 2018, of which mobile videos will account for around 50%.

Mobile video ads are also more effective than their desktop counterparts, because they can be served as full screen videos unlike on the desktop where video ads are constrained by space. Further consumers can “feel” the ad through tactile interaction, and marketers can take advantage of a consumer’s interest by providing links/buttons to engage with. For example, by adding localized real time messaging to a mobile video ad unit, marketers can influence consumer’s immediate decisions (for e.g. hot or cold beverage), as well as long-term decisions (for e.g. auto or consumer durable).

Recently, Samsung in EMEA ran a campaign with InMobi to promote its latest handset Galaxy 5 that was meant to be water-resistant, strong and robust under a variety of weather conditions. They were also keen to highlight the unique features of the product in a manner that was innately mobile, provided consumers with a personal experience and highlighted key features of the device.

To meet these expectations, a dynamic weather ad unit was created. Essentially a mobile video ad format, this smart ad unit was updated in real-time using location data obtained from the device’s application, providing contextually relevant information to the user and highlighting features of the product. The campaign outperformed the expand rate benchmark by over 30% and recorded more than 25,000 unique interactions with the rich media unit.

In another similar example, a leading QSR restaurant was keen to promote a specific combo from their menu. The ad format included a video ad, a store locator and a map to the store location. These features, along with our audience targeting, helped the brand to connect with their target consumers. The campaign saw 62% video completion rates; 6.8% tapped on store locator and map and 33 seconds was the average interaction time with ad.

Brands can now increasingly tap into consumers' location context and serve ads that are highly relevant to their coordinates. These features help deliver focused targeting by promoting local offers and messaging as well as provide a time window of relevance.

Wondering more about our capabilities with mobile video advertising or how it can work for your business? Please feel free to comment with your question below, or contact us to talk directly at : brands@inmobi.com