New research has shown that app users often accidentally click on ads, but in-app ads keep them engaged.
David Kaplan reported in paidContent on an online survey by lead gen provider Pontiflex and Harris Interactive that showed app users like in-app ads. He said the survey shows “that in-app ads, those which don’t take the user out of the app to a mobile wap site, tend to be more appreciated.”
Advertising is becoming an increasing part of the app eco-system.
The survey showed that app users aged 18-34 are nearly as likely to click or tap on a mobile ad by accident as on purpose. Forty-seven percent of 4,000 respondents said they were accidental clickers.
Of the finding, Kevin Krause said in Phandroid: “This figure shouldn’t do anything to cause ad executives to reconsider their method of deployment. Rather, it affirms something they more often than not attempt to accomplish purposefully. Come on, you don’t really think the placement of ads in Angry Birds wasn’t done to intentionally encourage accidental click-throughs?”
Pontiflex CEO Zephrin Lasker said in-app ads are the solution.
“The real estate of app ads is too small, and it’s too easy to click accidentally,” Lasker told paidContent. “If you are a mobile marketer, why would you run a [cost-per-click] campaign? Steve Jobs was right: keep people in the app. The problem with the approach of a lot of mobile advertising is that the old online model has been transferred to the mobile device.”
Kaplan said: “The online survey…is yet another suggestion that clicks are not necessarily the best measurement of effectiveness, which is notable considering the relatively nascent stage of the app economy.”
Brian Long, Pontiflex VP of Mobile, said, “When a user signs into an in-app ad and shares their information, that’s the ultimate opt-in and proof of engagement.”
Apple (AAPL) founder Jobs isn’t the only one who has noticed. Just the other day, Google’s (GOOG) Android platform manager Eric Chu told the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco that Android will introduce an in-app payment system soon, following Apple’s success with this approach.
