In-app Ads...An exciting new advertising channel!

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1 Voice of Thai consumers from INTAGE (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Issue # 26 December is INTAGE Thailand s regular publishing to our valued clients to inspire them with insightful information about the current issues or topics of interest in the market place. In-app Ads...An exciting new advertising channel! No matter where you look, you re bound to see someone looking down and engaged with his or her mobile phone. So much is this the case that some have coined a new phrase to describe our current world: the looking down society. Nowadays, of course, mobile phones are used for much more than simply making calls. Smartphones are more than just phones as their name suggests, they can make our lives faster, easier, and smarter. Onscreen advertising: a normal part of your smartphone experience. In 2014, the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organization) published statistics showing that the average Thai internet user spends approximately 7.2 hours online during each 24- hour period. That is almost one third of each day! Statistics also show that smartphones are the number one platform for Internet users, with 77.1% of smartphone users accessing the Internet from their phones, spending an average of 6.6 hours per day there 1 Nowadays, almost no one who owns a smartphone uses it just to make calls or send an SMS. They use it for other purposes, including the downloading of mobile apps. Although the number of apps depends on each individual, because Thai smartphone users spend more than six hours on the Internet on their phones each day, it can be assumed that apps are a key access point for marketers to reach consumers. 1 Page 1

2 Advertisers, brand owners, and product owners recognize the opportunity inherent in advertising on smartphone apps. But in reality, how effective are these ads? Do consumers really notice such ads? Do they click on them? Or do they just accidentally click on them? And what kinds of ads are attractive to consumers? Advertisers, brand owners, and product owners are always looking for these answers. In an attempt to answer the above questions, INTAGE (Thailand) Co., Ltd. has conducted an online quantitative survey among 203 male and female consumers aged living in GBKK who are regular smartphone and app users, to measure their behaviors and attitudes. Top 3 popular app categories: social networks, photography & video, and entertainment The most frequently-used app category is social networking applications such as Facebook and Twitter (97%), followed by photography and video applications such as retouch or camera apps (83%), entertainment apps such as YouTube, online TV (65%), navigation apps like Google Maps (63%), and utility applications such as web browsers, Google Search, calculators, and alarm clocks (62%) respectively. These applications form the winning pick for advertisers, as they are the most popular. Social Network such as Facebook, Twitter Entertainment such as YouTube 65% Popular Apps Photography and Video 97% 83% Game 60% , Dropbox 52% Education 40% Music 36% Travelling 33% Weather 32% Food and Beverages 30% Finance 30% Navigation such as Google Map 63% Utilities such as Google (Search Engine), alarm clock 62% Lifestyle 27% News 27% Books 17% Health 15% Magazine/ Newspaper 15% Sports 13% Business 9% Others 2% Page 2

3 On the other hand, health and exercise apps, magazine and newspaper apps, sports apps (for watching sports online) and business apps (such as job hunting), have a relatively lower user base less than 15% of respondents. Advertising placed within these apps would reach a much smaller base of consumers and would be more suitable for a niche target, rather than a mass target. That s why choosing the right apps in which to place advertisements relies on careful consideration of the behaviors and lifestyle of your target group. Ad awareness among digital consumers 99% of respondents have seen ads placed in apps; only 1% have not seen any ads therein. The most often seen ads in mobile apps are the ones placed in social networking applications (79%), most likely because they are the apps people use most often. The second most often seen ads are in gaming applications (64%), even though some users do not play games on a regular basis (60% of respondents regularly use gaming applications). In addition, ads in lifestyle apps are seen by more consumers (29%) than those who regularly use such apps (27%). This could mean that these two kinds of apps account for the most advertising investment among various application types. 79% Intentional 66% Type of apps for intentional clicks Social Network 39% Games 17% None 33% In-App Clicks Accidental 34% 21% (n=202) Type of apps for accidental clicks Games 33% Social Network 27% None 14% (n=161) The click rate is also quite high, with 79% of respondents having clicked on these ads before. However, when asked if the clicks were intentional or accidental, only 66% of respondents answered that the clicks were intentional, while 34% were accidental. More than a third of respondents indicated that they never actually intended to click on any inapp ads; only 14% have never accidentally clicked on the ads. This point is crucial for marketers, since click-through rates 2 may not be an accurate and sufficient way to measure the effectiveness of in-app advertising. 2 CTR is the percentage calculated from number of clicks divided by the number of times the ads appear ( Page 3

4 Types of products When asked what type of ads are clicked, respondents said the most-clicked ads are those promoting other relevant apps (79%), followed by travel (67%) and games (65%) respectively. Recommending relevant apps 79% Fashion products 61% Other apps 59% Restaurants 57% Movies, music 52% News 41% Games 65% Travel 67% Beauty products 38% Banking 16% Home decoration 14% Others 8% Can t remember 9% Type of ads clicked vs. Type of apps Applications Advertisement Financial 100% Banking, Finance Games 93% Games Lifestyle 91% When comparing the responses with the type of apps, the ads that get clicked are usually relevant to the app being used, such as game-related ads being clicked from gaming apps (93%), and fashion and beauty product ads being clicked from lifestyle apps (91%), etc. Fashion, Beauty Music Movie, Music, Shows 83% Food, Beverage Restaurants 80% Magazines News 67% Reaction after clicking on ads After clicking on the ads, 57% of respondents read the content, while 36% proceeded to download the app introduced in the ads. However, some 35% of respondents said they close the ads right after clicking on them without reading or using the information. Read the content 57% Immediately close 35% Download the apps 36% Make use of benefits in apps 21% Purchase products/ services 21% Use benefits in real life 13% Other 4% Page 4

5 Why Click? Why do some users click on the ads? Most respondents found the ads they clicked interesting and relevant to them (61%), followed by wanting to know more details (14%), and accidental clicks (14%) Interesting and relevant 61% Accidental clicks 14% Want to know more details 14% Attractive and appealing ads 10% Get benefits in the app 6% Interesting apps recommended 6% Top 3 most appealing types of ads: banners/pop-ups/ rich media There are 5 major types of in-app ads: banner ads (ads on the top or bottom of the screen), pop-up ads (ads that appear or pop up on the screen), interstitial ads (ads that appear while using the application, such as while waiting for downloads, after games end, or before closing the app), rich media ads (interactive ads) and app wall (ads that list other application names) Page 5

6 When intentional clickers were asked what type of ads they clicked, and accidental clickers and those who never clicked on ads were asked what types of ads are most appealing, the answers were markedly different. Intentional clickers clicked on banner ads most often (62%), followed by pop-up ads (45%). Rich media ads were the least clicked (12%). However, accidental clickers and non-clickers found rich media ads to be most appealing (41%) because the interactivity with consumers makes the ads more interesting. Good types of ads? Intentional vs. Accidental Rich media ads 12% 6% Banner ads Interstitial ads 32% 62% App Wall 38% Pop-up ads 45% Can t remember Interstitial ads 9% 6% Rich media ads Pop-up ads 41% 23% Banner ads 23% None is appealing (n=96) App wall 29% Intentional clickers usually encounter banner ads and pop-up ads fairly often, while they do not frequently see rich media ads. Since rich media ads are more difficult to create, there are less of them around. Rich media ads have the power to attract more clickers once they become more widespread. Therefore, ads should be improved to become richer and more interactive; although the investment may be higher, it is likely to attract more clickers because digital consumers prefer sudden interactions. Video 41% Interactive 16% Animated 61% Appealing types of ads? Intentional vs. Accidental Still 74% Still 26% Video 31% Animated 36% (n=96) Interactive 38% In addition, when intentional clickers were asked about the type of ads they clicked, they responded that the most clicked ads are still (display) ads (74%), while interactive ads are the least clicked (16%); however, accidental and non-clickers notice and like interactive ads the most (38%), and still ads the least (26%). Page 6

7 What s good content? What about ad content? Interesting information (57%), and relevant product recommendations (55%) are the most appealing. Interesting info 57% Relevant to needs and interests 55% Offer benefits in real life 41% Recommend similar apps to the one used 35% Offer benefits in apps 34% (n=203) In conclusion, in-app ads are an interesting and valuable advertising channel. In addition to being easily accessible by consumers, suiting current lifestyles, available all the time, and inexpensive to place, in-app ads can also be directed to the specific target groups of your products. Although effectiveness measurement for this kind of advertising is still in its infancy, this study shows that there are a great number of consumers who can be reached by in-app ads. Provided the ads are interesting, relevant, attractive, and interactive, the study suggests that click rates will increase. Even though some consumers may initially be off-put by the ads, some viewers will be interested, and may even click on the ads eventually. is INTAGE (Thailand) s regular publishing to our valued clients to inspire them with insightful information about the current issues or topics of interest in the market place. For previous issues of please write to: contact@th.intage.com Page 7