MMA: Mobile native advertising earns several times more attention than mobile banner ads

The interplay between mobile advertising and native advertising is gaining traction as internet users switch from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets. This is a development that we have written about before and now, a new report sheds light on the improved effeciency of mobile native advertising compared to mobile banner ads and other traditional means of display advertising.

The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) has examined the qualities of mobile native advertising compared to mobile banner and traditional display advertising. And the conclusion is quite simple: Ads that fit in with their surroundings receive more focus and attention.

This was demonstrated by analyzing the results and efficiency of several mobile native advertising campaigns and their banner ad counterparts. Campaigns for such companies as AT&T, MasterCard and Walmart were strutinized and the findings indicate that mobile native advertising leapfrogs traditional display advertising in objectives from increasing awareness, to improving image, to driving sales. The benefits of native advertising are so great that they compensate for the extra costs associated with sponsored content compared to the costs of banner ads. According to the report:

Not only can native ads fit better, according to recent findings that MMA released as part of its SMoX series of cross marketing effectiveness studies, mobile native advertising performs significantly better than mobile display.

When optimized for frequency of exposure, mobile native advertising performed as much as 10 times better compared to mobile display advertising at similar frequency, more than covering for the price premium of native and thus improving the ROI of the campaign overall. 

A screenshot from the report explains the engagement of mobile native advertising campaigns relative to mobile banner ads.

The report defines native advertising as "ads that fit naturally into the environment where they are served". According to the report, this ability to "fit" was found to drive beneficial effects for advertisers:

When native ads appear in a mobile experience there is a halo effect that makes consumers perceive the ad better. When native ads were tested in Yahoo’s premium content streams, they were found to have 23% higher ad quality scores and earn 3X more time and attention than mobile banner ads.

The entire report is an interesting read, one that we can only recommend. You can achieve access to right here.