Mobile Ads Catch Fire Among iPhone Users

They are not quite as pesky as pop-ups, but are consumers responding to mobile ads or simply ignoring them?

One in three mobile users who recalled seeing a mobile ad said they responded to it in some way, according to Q4 2008 research conducted by Limbo and GfK NOP. Among iPhone users, that response rose to one in two.

The research indicates that iPhone users are more than twice as likely as non-iPhone users to browse the mobile Web on their phone and more than three times as likely to use location-based services, including maps, restaurant locators and friend finders.

Among iPhone users, SMS, mobile Web and in-game ads were all about equally likely to be recalled, at around 18%, while mobile TV and video ads experienced 6.6% recall and mobile radio 11.1%.

Limbo, a mobile social network, found that 33% of non-iPhone mobile users recalled seeing mobile advertising in Q4. Some 41% of iPhone users recalled seeing commercial messaging. Most of the ads viewed were SMS messages.

"iPhone users do more things with their phones. They're more likely to use SMS, location-based services and networks," said Rob Lawson, Limbo's CMO and co-founder, who attributes the difference to ease of use and the availability of diverse applications. "I think over time we'll see that gap between iPhone and non-iPhone users start to narrow as people move away from pure SMS handsets."

Mobile ad spending is expected to increase in 2009, according to JPMorgan's "Nothing But Net" report, which forecasts spending on mobile messaging will rise 40% to $2 billion in 2009, and again to $2.9 billion in 2010.

As more consumers segue to Web-enabled mobile phones, the prospects for marketers looking to engage them with more than text messages should improve, Mr. Lawson said.