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Technology Digital Skills Gap 614 Group

Media owners still lack the skills and partnerships necessary for mobile monetization

By Sean Larkin, Programmatic Reporter

February 15, 2017 | 4 min read

As consumers’ time on mobile begins to account for half of all time spent with digital media, traditional publishers and broadcasters find themselves lacking in the skill sets, plus number of partnerships necessary to best monetize audiences on wireless devices, according to research.

Advertisers are paying more-and-more for mobile impressions, but are they valuing them correctly?
Despite 50% of their traffic coming from mobile many of the US' leading media owners lack monetization opportunities

Advertisers are paying more-and-more for mobile impressions, but are they valuing them correctly?

Despite 50% of their traffic coming from mobile many of the US' leading media owners lack monetization opportunities

Consultancy outfit The 614 Group has today (15 February) published a series of studies collectively entitled A Journey Into Mobile Monetization, which reveal a surprising gap for online publishers between the resources and skills needed to realize the predicted growth trajectory of the mobile adtech industry.

Among the standout findings in the study are that only 25% of in-house teams at publishers possess the HTML5 coding skills necessary to monetize their mobile inventory, this is despite participants reporting that 50% of their daily traffic comes from wireless devices.

The snapshot also contains other surprising elements, with 614 Group unearthing the fact that viewability has yet to emerge as a strong buying criteria in mobile, despite the ongoing rampant debate over the matter when its comes to desktop inventory. The survey found that well over two-thirds (over 72%) of participant publishers surveyed stated that 24% or less of their campaigns require viewability guarantees, while only 15% say at least half of their campaigns require it.

Similarly, the survey also reveals that 50% of publishers surveyed use two-or-less mobile monetization partners, this is compared to display on desktop, when partnering with a much greater number of third parties is the norm – a large disparity according to 614 Group chief executive officer Rob Rasko.

“Publishers need to see the opportunity in mobile and have to keep working to increase competition for their mobile inventory, which will consequently boost their mobile CPMs,” he said in a press statement.

He went on to explain: “They’ve invested time and resources to analyze and test demand partners for their desktop inventory, and have extensive ecosystems in place to drive yield. Going forward, they need to put the same effort into their mobile infrastructure and inventory since that is where consumers spend their time.”

The conclusion of the report reads: "we saw broad similarities in the way they approached mobile creatives and mobile monetization. More alarming, we see a severe gap in HTML5 skills, which will need to be bridged in order to meet the demands of advertisers seeking to engage their audiences via the mobile channel."

It goes on to read: "And while the majority of publishers rely on programmatic for monetizing their inventory, we believe most should take some time to systematically examine their programmatic strategies to assess if they are fully optimized."

Tier one publishers participating the qualitative study include: Condé Nast; Thomson Reuters; The Weather Company; and AccuWeather.

A full copy of the 614 Group Study can be downloaded for free here.

Technology Digital Skills Gap 614 Group

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