News Limited will take its mobile advertising sales in-house from 1 July due to growth on the platform, parting ways with Big Mobile.
The move to shift its mobile advertising in-house means the News Australia team will manage end-to-end sales and creative ad production for all of its mobile platforms.
News Limited group director – sales Fiorella Di Santo said in a statement: “The potential for mobile is huge and growing exponentially. News is already in a leading position with 16% market share for mobile advertising – the most of any news publisher.
“Together with our online network of sites which attract a total unique audience of 7.2 million and the 11 million newspapers we sell every week, our integrated offering to advertisers is enhanced greatly. For advertisers, to deal with one team for all these platforms will ensure the highest impact for their campaigns.”
Mobile advertising is one of the fastest growth areas in the industry currently. The most recent IAB/PwC figures for 2012 showed mobile revenue grew 220% year-on-year to $86.2 million.
Di Santo also thanked Big Mobile for its work. “It’s been a pleasure working with Big Mobile. This change is in no way a reflection on their service or professionalism, rather it was done to align and integrate our offering. There is no doubt that Big Mobile have played a critical role in building our industry-leading position and I thank them for their efforts and wish them the best for the future,” she said.
Big Mobile group commercial director Graham Christie said in a statement: “The changes [News Limited] are making are common sense organisationally, but also a reflection of the maturity of their mobile advertising business, and their confidence to integrate it fully.”
Christie told AdNews his company was in a good position going forward due to some significant recent business wins including REA Group. “A lot of companies’ mobile business is maturing because the channel is maturing. Mobile’s rise as a mass-market channel means everyone is on the same growth path. Some people are starting from different positions but the one common denominator is publishers are putting it at the centre of their strategies,” he said.
News Limited has also released the results of a panel survey of its mobile users. Eighty-six percent of those surveyed said they researched for products via smartphones while 51% used mobiles to purchase products. Seventy-two percent said they recalled mobile advertisements while 45% had clicked on a mobile ad.
Additionally, it found entertainment, travel and electronics were the three top categories people research on their smartphones.
This article first appeared in the 8 March 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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