Programmatic and Mobile: Whats to come in 2017

appdevelopermagazine.com
Posted by RICHARD HARRIS

Programmatic and mobile is an ever growing hot topic, Tim Koschella (CEO and Co - Founder of AppLift), has been at the helm of this industry since it began and has seen the state of the mobile industry rapidly transform into rich opportunities for today’s marketers. Tim believes that with more than 2 billion smartphones and nearly $400 billion in-mobile-triggered transactions worldwide, the opportunities in mobile and programmatic advertising are more promising than ever. 

We recently sat down with Tim to ask about mobile marketing trends to come in 2017, along with programmatic accounting and ad-blocking within mobile apps to get his thoughts and perspective.

ADM: Will the role of audience targeting on mobile increase?        

Koschella: Yes and No. Programmatic accounting for 60% of mobile display ad spending already means that advertisers can use more heuristic and statistical approaches to launch their app, grow their user base, and retain their existing users. Audience targeting is important mainly because it can be achieved by an increasing number of advertisers who are able to leverage their existing data by connecting it with their trading platform.

ADM: What has been the greatest development for mobile marketing this year?

Koschella: The fact that LTV optimization is now a prerequisite is a nice development. The notion of post-install data sharing is no longer fiction, and even the largest, “strictest” companies are regularly sharing data with their trusted providers, both with a clear set of expectations allowing the latter to provide actual value rather than merely “installs.” This is also pushing advertisers and providers to work better together on fraud fighting; and those within the ecosystem who profited from fraudulent activities have or are disappearing.

ADM: What are the two mobile marketing trends that you predict will be most prominent in 2017?

Koschella: We believe that the main two trends for 2017 will be the market further splitting between demand- and supply-side players, as well as increased awareness and action in the field of fraud fighting.
 
The mobile space still features a plethora of networks, but we believe that the network model doesn’t work in a mature market. One cannot claim to be optimizing towards publishers’ eCPM while, at the same time, caring for advertiser ROI. There is an inherent conflict of interest in this idea, and players who disguise as “demand-side platforms” while offering a monetization SDK, as well as those claiming to offer “great fill rates and eCPMs with direct demand” are not serious. You must pick a side, or be gone.

Fraud is another key example - it is suspected that over 30% of mobile advertising goes to waste because of fraudulent activities. A large majority of advertisers already shifted towards performance KPIs, thereby eliminating up to 90% of fraud. With more advertisers sharing post-install data, working with 3rd-party tools, and relying on both statistics and heuristics, it we believe that our industry can become virtually fraud free.

ADM: What impact is ad blocking having on programmatic and mobile marketing?

Koschella: We as marketers must remember why so many users limit ad tracking and install ad blockers. Users want a better experience. Publishers involved in schemes to overly monetize users by activating automated redirects, popups, multiple ads per session and so on have been driving users to recent ads. As users are accustomed to free content, publishers tend to profit from it. The smarter publishers have already understood what needs to be done - they need to come with better monetization strategies at the cost of lowering page eCPMs before losing the users completely. Ad blocking currently has a real impact, but with qualified ads, the impact will actually end up being positive.

ADM: Do you think 360 videos on mobile will become a standard?

Koschella: I personally like the format! As someone who already uses VR occasionally, it’s cool and quite fresh. I see 360 videos as the next big hype. It is, however, uncertain if it will really catch on. What is left to see is whether people won't get weary of having to play around with the 360 videos all the time. Overall, there may be a potential risk of users getting strained by being required to engage too many times with those ads. 

ADM: As video content increased rapidly this year, do you think the media will be as video centric in 2017?

Koschella: Video is definitely a high-impact ad format and currently growing in activity and attention. But video is currently a one-way street. Consumption of media is simply not as exciting for users, and with faster internet, LTE becoming widely available, and phones becoming stronger and had better capabilities. I feel as if the days of interactive HD content are coming. A few companies making playable ads are already out there, but the product is not yet available. I expect a lot more interactivity with the users, maybe not as soon as 2017, but definitely in 2018.