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Mobile Advertising Growth Driven By Finance Industry

By January 13, 2011July 30th, 20236 Comments

A report released by the mobile ad network, Millenial Media, shows that mobile advertising in the United States is growing most rapidly in the financial services industry.

Mobile advertising for finance companies has grown 802% year-on-year. The top 6 sectors that have shown substantial growth in mobile advertising are:

  1. Finance (802%)
  2. Retail and restaurants (745%)
  3. Telecommunications (719%)
  4. Travel (411%)
  5. Armed forces (372%)
  6. Entertainment (315%)

One of the major factors for this growth in mobile advertising spend by the financial services industry could be because consumers who wish to manage their money more closely during the recession are increasingly making use of their mobiles to keep track of their banking, credit and investments at all times.

Within the financial services sector, the leading sub-sectors, in terms of mobile advertising spend on Millenial’s network were as follows:

  1. Banking (38% of Finance sector’s spend)
  2. Car insurance (20%)
  3. Life insurance (15%)
  4. Home loans (12%)

Some may be surprised by the presence of the U.S. armed forces on the list. However, if one considers the facts that teenagers are the most prolific users of mobile technology and that teenagers are also the prime demographic targeted by the armed forces for recruitment, the numbers are not that surprising.

An important factor driving the growth of mobile advertising as a whole is the fact that it allows advertiser the flexibility to choose between various types of customer contact options, including ring backs, form submission, coupon downloads and store locators.

Users thus get a wider choice, and are therefore more likely to respond to the ads  at their convenience without feeling imposed upon. The net result being that advertisers often receive a better response and conversion rate.

Mobile engagement methods used by finance services providers

Reports from Enders Analysis, a mobile and media research company, show that 2011 is expected to be the year when mobile advertising would come into its own. In fact, since the price of mobile ads is even lower than that of online ads, in most categories, the growth of mobile ads may adversely affect the online advertising industry. Enders predicts that by 2015, mobile advertising will account for 9.5% of all online advertising.