Digital Publishers Still Struggle To Monetize Mobile Ads

It’s the classic question asked by financial analysts during quarterly earnings reports: How is the company going to monetize mobile?

Well, for the digital publishing world, the latest stats show that — despite the increase in consumers turning for mobile for their everyday needs — there still hasn’t been a definitive answer as to how to actually monetize mobile in a way that makes mobile advertising produce the same results.

The most recent data from the Digital Publishers Revenue Index Report from the Association of Online Publishers and Deloitte shows that the first half of 2015 has been a tough go in terms of mobile revenue. In fact, the first six months of the year produced a drastic industry shift from a 80 percent boost in Q1 to just 21.5 percent in Q2. That’s at a time when Google and Facebook are rushing to soak up the digital ad space, an article by The Drum pointed out in a recent article.

The other factor impacting the mobile ad monetization dip is the fact that more consumers are turning to smartphone screens over computers, which hold significantly fewer ads. Mobile ads also sell for less.

“The Q2 report once again highlights that advertising revenue reflects the increasing consumption of media on mobile and will remain a key focus for publishers during the next quarter. Publishers and advertisers alike need to recognize the impact of cross device, particularly mobile, when planning budgets and understand the value different devices hold along the path to purchase,” AOP Managing Director Tim Cain said in the report.

Still, despite the dip in mobile revenue in the quarter, there seems to be some hope for the digital advertisers. Most digital publishers reported that they anticipate seeing digital advertising growth in the next year, with a quarter of those reporting to see a boom of more than 25 percent.

“Publishers are now aiming to achieve growth through increasing advertising revenue rather than simply cutting costs. The optimism surrounding digital marketing is refreshing to see. This sea-change is largely down to the continuing growth of mobile and video advertising revenue that has been prevalent in the last 12 months and looks set to continue,” Howard Davies, media partner at Deloitte, said in the report.

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