Mobile, Video Search Ads Set to Grow?

After digging deeper into the results of its “State of Search Engine Marketing 2006” report, SEMPO has revealed that a majority of respondents in the North American study said they were interested in mobile and video search, but few were willing to pay more for those ads.

That’s not surprising, given human nature — if you ask someone if they’d like to pay more or less for something, I’d assume that most would choose “less.” What’s more interesting is the level of interest from marketers, indicating that these ad models may be farther along than some would think.

SEMPO reports that 66 percent of respondents say they would be interested in contextually targeted advertising attached to video search results. Of those marketers, 53 percent want contextual video ads, compared to 33 percent who want contextual text ads attached to video clips. For mobile, SEMPO found that 60 percent of respondents are interested in contextually targeted ads delivered to mobile search users.

Dana Todd, president of SEMPO, says she’s cautiously optimistic on the future of mobile search.

“Advertisers go where the audience is interacting. In the U.S., the fact that everybody is carrying a cell phone is less important than what they’re doing with it. Right now, they’re using them in rudimentary ways, for communication, and for playing games and listening to music,” Todd told SEW.

Todd pointed to a recent comScore study, which found that cell phone Internet usage is an activity for the young. That study found that 29 percent of respondents in the 25-34 demographic and 23 percent of 18-24 year olds currently subscribe to a cell phone Internet service, while only 13 percent of adults over 35 do so.

“Until users find it’s a useful environment, we’re not going to see significant play, but there’s still a market there,” Todd said. “This is an area where local search has the most promise. We need to look at how users are interacting with their phones, and find a way to engage them there.”