GSMA / comScore Mobile Media Metrics - How Well Does It Help Campaign Planners?

The Mobile Media Metrics launched by the GSMA / comScore focuses on measuring mobile internet consumption and user behaviour. AdMob already did a great job of cracking open the operator’s walled gardens to ensure that not only did mobile internet usage grow way beyond their closed, on-deck portals, but that user behaviour could be measured. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) did a great job of bringing us the app store concept which also has great consumer reach and along with all of the other app stores now available are platforms of choice for many advertisers.

Mobile Media Metrics Needs To Include SMS, MMS and Mobile Video As Well
Before either the mobile internet or mobile apps reached the levels of prominence that they now enjoy, SMS and SMS Short Codes were already being used extensively by marketers. So at the very least, mobile media in the context of mobile advertising and marketing must also include mobile apps, SMS and Short Codes. For the more adventurous, MMS and mobile video also need to be included in the mix.


What Campaign / Media Planners Want
Campaign planners and media planners are genuinely interested in how effective the mobile element of their campaigns are but what they really want to know is, “for a given brand/product/demographic/marketing objective what is the most effective mix of mobile channels and how best do I use them.
This presents a real challenge for campaign planners since the answers require a set of metrics that go way beyond the scope of the current Mobile Media Metrics. Data will have to be drawn from across app stores, some of which the operators have no control over, or visibility of. Third party content providers would need to contribute data where content in the form of ad supported MMS or video was distributed so that the advertisers could measure visibility across these channels also. Of course, for each advertiser all of this data needs to be considered alongside data derived from campaigns directly to consumers who are already opted-in to receiving marketing messages from them.


So whilst brands and media buyers continue to be excited about mobile, the independent statistics that they apparently require before committing large spends may still be some way off. In the meantime mobile as a direct marketing channel will continue to grow and practitioners will, to a large extent, still have to derive and apply their own metrics to get the full picture.