xAd Shares the 2015 Global Location Snapshot, the First Worldwide Look at Location and Mobile Advertising Receptiveness and Use By Region
NEW YORK, NY – To understand the global state of location-based mobile advertising, xAd, the global location marketplace, surveyed ad agency leaders and marketing decision-makers in key regions around the world to understand current media spend, use of location-technology and plans for the coming years. xAd’s 2015 Global Location Snapshot provides a look into the major trends and perceptions impacting location-based mobile advertising around the world and across North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America regions.
Globally, marketers are optimistic about the growth of mobile in both continued adoption among consumers and increased spend from advertisers. In fact, eMarketer reported in March 2015 that mobile ad spending across North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America would reach $67.1 billion this year. Additionally, all regions expect mobile ad spend to increase over the next year with the most growth coming from APAC and LatAm.
Top Global Insights on Location and Mobile Advertising:
• Mobile is a Priority For Marketers Around the Globe: More than half of both ad agency leaders and marketing decision makers view mobile marketing as a significant priority. 1 in 5 marketing decision makers and 1 in 4 ad agency leaders report that mobile advertising is a “top priority,” showing the significant impact mobile can have for both marketers and advertisers.
• Using the Places People Visit to Reach the Right People: Of the 80% of marketers using location targeting for their mobile ad campaigns, the top strategy they use is audience targeting, designed to reach a specific group of people. This surpasses the use of proximity targeting, trying to reach people at or nearby specific businesses and points of interest. What this tells us is that marketers are maturing in their understanding and usage of location, not just to reach people based on where they are, but also to understand a person’s intent and interests.
• Measurement Perceived as Mobile’s Limiting Factor: 3 in 10 marketers worldwide said the inability to measure success was their top concern with mobile location advertising. The greatest challenge for marketers has been only seeing part of the impact from mobile. Online measurements like click-through rates are insufficient for determining the full impact of mobile across the consumer’s path to purchase. In addition to being an important targeting variable, location has the ability to bridge online and physical activity. Location delivers a mobile-first attribution model that effectively demonstrates the impact of mobile in the physical world beyond on-device visits and purchases. However, it appears more work is needed to educate marketers on the availability of this metric and how it can be used to measure mobile performance.
• Retail Dominates Across Regions, While Other Categories Vary by Region Based on Consumer Behavior: Across all four regions, retail is one of the top three industries for location-based targeting, which drives significant results in store visits and sales. In fact, the Mobile Ad Measurement Benchmark released by xAd in 2014 found that 1 in 10 people who viewed a location-based retail ad then visited the store advertised within 30 days. In both APAC and LatAm, where mobile devices are often the primary internet connection for consumers, banking is rated as one of the top three industries for location-based targeting.
“Around the world, marketing and ad agency leaders have realized that the power of mobile advertising lies in the context of the consumer. Knowing the places, brands, and categories people frequent provides an amazing indicator of not only who a consumer is, but also what they are most interested in,” explained Monica Ho, Head of Marketing at xAd, and co-chair of the Location Committee for the Mobile Marketing Association in North America. “With the power of location-based advertising, marketers around the world can now leverage these insights to deliver more relevant, personalized messaging to millions of people, based on the real places they visit everyday.”
Results are from an online survey administered by xAd to ad agency leaders and marketing decision makers across the four geographic regions in May 2015. 574 people responded to questions about the use and receptiveness to mobile and location-based advertising in their regions. To find out more about xAd’s 2015 Global Location Snapshot and see regional findings on location and mobile advertising, download the full report here.
