Suffering from a devalued proposition and diminished audience via traditional media, advertisers are shopping around for better promotional avenues. For brands that have recently discovered the power of the World Wide Web, the leap of imagination to mobile is not a hard one to make— almost any advertising or marketing activity that has been possible over the Internet is now possible on a mobile handset. Still, the potential of this opportunity, and the business models that would make mobile advertising work remain difficult to fully grasp.

There are four types of mobile media that will enable brands to build presence in a manner that is appropriate to nurturing a stable and long- lasting relationship with mobile subscribers. Some will stay, others will fizzle. SMS currently accounts for 90 percent of mobile marketing revenue; we expect WAP-based advertising to be the largest category for mobile advertising spend in the short-term; mobile TV and video are more longer term opportunities, but will bring in tangible revenue.

Similarly, we expect a disintermediation of the mobile advertising value chain. Even operators are not immune to disintermediation as brands bypass operator portals to go directly big to media WAP sites (e.g., Google). In this report, we analyze which players are unlikely to survive - unless they take action. We also review sample MNO and MVNO approaches to Mobile advertising, from the now-defunct Mobile ESPN model to the far-fetched ad-supported Xero Mobile model.

This in-depth report includes case studies of MVNOs, Operators, Vendors, Portals, and Agencies who are harnessing the power of mobile advertising today.


Table of contents:


List of Exhibits

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Companies Mentioned in This Report

Executive Summary

Glossary

Section 1: Deciphering Mobile Advertising

1.1 The Shift of Advertising Dollars to Digital

1.2 Internet Advertising: A Rehearsal for Mobile

1.3 Is the “Third Screen” Ready for Advertising?

1.4 Mobile Advertising Requirements: Valuable, but Optional

1.5 Mobile Advertising Models: From SMS to Mobile TV

1.6 SMS: Effective, but Not the Real Thing

1.7 Mobile Display Advertising—The WAP Renaissance

1.8 Mobile Search: Google Is Coming

1.9 Mobile TV: A Well-established Advertising Format?

1.10 Applications/Content

Section 2: The Mobile Advertising Value Chain

2.1 The Brand: Looking to Maximize Ad Spend ROI

2.2 The Advertising Agency: Of the Need to Understand Mobile Advertising

2.3 The Advertising Enabler

2.4 The Media Company

2.5 The MNO/MVNO: The Strongest Link

2.6 The Subscriber

2.7 Towards a Value-chain Disintermediation

Section 3: Success Factors

3.1 The Operator Value Proposition: More Risk than Reward?

3.2 The Subscriber Experience: I Don’t Like It, I Don’t Want It (unless you reward me)

3.3 Advertising Agency Volatility: Make Waves, but Don’t Rock the Boat

Section 4: Where and When?

4.1 Handset Evolution/Technology Adoption: Are We There Yet?

4.2 Where Will It Take Off?

4.3 How Large Is the Mobile Advertising Opportunity?