'Insufficient Metrics Is A Huge Challenge Faced By Mobile Marketers In India'

India’s mobile marketing scene is growing exponentially with mobile ad spend currently standing at around $250 million and projected to rise by 85% this year. Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), APAC, speaks on the rise in smartphone adoption, the role of MMA to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing.

As innovation in technology continues to transform the power of mobile marketing campaigns, the mobile industry is gaining ground rapidly, maturing past the era of mobile display ads and push notifications. India boasts over 1 billion smartphone users, and 79% of web traffic originating from mobile compared to 50% globally – the growth of India’s mobile marketing industry shows no sign of slowing down. Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), APAC, speaks on the rise in smartphone adoption, the role of MMA to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing. 

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With the new format in mobile and advanced data analytics, what kind of development can be seen in India’s mobile marketing?
India’s mobile marketing scene is growing exponentially with mobile ad spend currently standing at around $250 million, and projected to rise by 85% this year. Of the country’s total digital ad spend, mobile ad spends now comprises 50.2%, rising from over a quarter last year and taking over desktop ad spend. Backed by developments in advanced data analytics, mobile ad formats have evolved to allow marketers to best monetise their campaigns. Smarter data analytics have spearheaded a move towards AI and programmatic, particularly through the increasing adoption of native ads and programmatic videos. With consumers spending more time accessing content in micro-moments on mobile, marketers are now able to tap into a huge amount of user data and target consumers more effectively through these emerging formats. We have seen more open conversations on mobile strategies and best practices across different industries in India and the wider APAC region, and this is something the MMA aims to continue facilitating. As a global organisation with representation in over 20 countries and a membership base of over 800 agencies, advertisers, technology and service providers, we work collaboratively with the industry to develop best practices and mobile standards. MMA’s white papers, case studies, and research reports deliver actionable insights and encourage mobile adoption among marketers. Our end goal for mobile marketing in APAC is for marketers to have confidence that mobile is as formidable a medium as any other, and elevate the APAC mobile marketing industry onto the global stage.

What are the challenges faced by mobile marketers in India and how can they overcome them?
Insufficient metrics is a huge challenge faced by mobile marketers in India, particularly as mobile advertising budgets grow amidst a cluttered digital environment. Existing mobile metrics such as click-through rate and impressions have proven to be inaccurate, which is why marketers today are calling for more accountability, transparency, and clarity on their return on investment. One way to overcome this challenge is to align metrics with business objectives, and leverage audience analytics and data insights. The industry also needs to collectively agree on a global standard of measurement, one that holistically accounts for the entire consumer journey in order to track the degree of ad engagement from each individual user. In addition, take-up of ad blockers is particularly high in emerging markets in APAC, such as India, where mobile data infrastructure is relatively less developed compared to other cities in the region. As ads become more interactive, page-load time and consumption of data, in turn, will increase. As a result, users may be more inclined to download ad blockers to improve their browsing experience. Marketers should, therefore, understand how best to create sustainable value for users, and make the overall mobile experience friendlier through strategic and less intrusive targeting.

India is similar to the rest of the world, but still very different. Do social factors play a huge differentiator as compared to the economic environment?
What sets India apart from many other countries is the sheer diversity in demographic make-up across the country, which is why social factors certainly play an important role in India’s mobile marketing industry. This is why marketers have to keep in mind socio-economic differences between urban and rural areas. With 499 million mobile subscribers and a higher mobile penetration rate than that of TV, rural India presents a plethora of opportunities for mobile marketers looking to expand their consumer base. However, because of the highly diverse demographics and lack of infrastructure in rural areas, marketers have to approach every market in a unique way. This might mean localising ads by using different vernacular languages and content formats. Low literacy levels among rural consumers also mean marketers should explore ads that are more visual or audio-heavy, as opposed to text-centric ads.

What makes Asia the most exciting mobile market in the world?
Mobile in Asia is at a tipping point, driven by the rapid economic developments sweeping across the region. Heightened internet connectivity is propelling the rise in smartphone adoption and development of social networks (e.g. social media, messaging apps), presenting huge opportunities for mobile marketers. Telco wars are also taking place in countries like India, bringing down service plans and making smartphone ownership more affordable than ever before. China, especially, is undoubtedly the largest smartphone market in Asia, with mobile marketing spend second only to the US. With so much momentum shaking up Asia, I’m incredibly optimistic about the future of mobile in India, and we’re seeing an improving ad ecosystem as more brands discover the power of mobile marketing. The growth of mobile in India parallels that in Vietnam, which boasts one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the region, leading to an uptake in mobile internet and app download.

Trends in mobile innovation
The mobile video takes flight: The time spent on mobile video content in India has increased by a whopping 230%, and this figure is slated to rise over the coming year.

Multi-touch attribution ushers in more accurate measurement: With over 51% of online shoppers in India using two or more devices to shop online, cross-device and cross-screen marketing efforts are on the rise. As a result, marketers are increasingly moving away from marketing mixed modelling and looking to multi-touch attribution to specifically track ROI across all touch-points, both online and offline. It is no wonder that 60% of marketers we surveyed globally identified multi-touch attribution as a top need, and we’ll soon see the same in India.

Optimising ad spend with AI: Marketers in India are increasingly tapping into the predictive analytics of AI to develop innovative mobile campaigns that reach consumers with the right message. Additionally, in a country where the percentage of fraudulent mobile ad clicks stands at 32%, almost twice the global average of 15%, marketers are turning to AI to counter ad fraud. Through analysing traffic and conversion rates, AI identifies non-human behaviour and allows marketers to intercept fraudulent activities in real-time, thereby driving down costs associated with fraud.

Heightened use of programmatic: Education around programmatic is increasing, and more marketers are becoming aware of best practices and equipped with the necessary skills to use programmatic effectively. While there is still a long way to go for the industry in terms of transparency, the ecosystem is starting to collaborate to encourage programmatic adoption among brands and agencies.

Growth in native ads: In India, where ad blocking is a rampant problem, marketers are taking a hard look at why consumers are ignoring their ads. One way in which they are responding to this issue is to explore less intrusive ways of targeting, such as mobile native ads, which are performing up to ten times better than standard mobile display formats. 

Vaishali Dar

BW Reporters Vaishali Dar is a Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld and Editorial Head with BW Disrupt. She writes on corporates, start-ups, hospitality and travel