Which mobile ads are right for me?

Friday, April 17, 2009 | 6:51 PM

In December, we launched ads for iPhone and Android devices. This feature allows advertisers to target their standard AdWords text and image ads to the iPhone, Android devices, and other mobile devices with full (HTML) Internet browsers. Before that, advertisers who wanted to reach mobile users had to create mobile-specific text and image ads that would only show on phones with mobile Internet (WAP) browsers. Now that mobile ads can be targeted for both full HTML and WAP browsers, some of you advertisers may be wondering, "which mobile ads are right for me?"



Standard mobile ads show on mobile devices with WAP browsers and usually direct users to a mobile website -- most likely written in a mobile markup language such as XHTML, WML, or CHTML. Standard mobile ads also offer a click-to-call feature, which lets you direct users to a business phone number instead of a mobile website. If you have a mobile website or want to collect leads via phone, standard mobile ads may be right for you. You can learn how to create standard mobile ads here.

High-end mobile ads show on iPhone and Android devices and don’t require a mobile website. High-end mobile ads don't have a click-to-call option, but they do allow advertisers to direct users to various other properties such Google Maps, the iPhone App Store or Android Market, or YouTube. If you specifically want your ads to show on iPhone or Android devices, these ads might be right for you. They are also a good choice for new mobile advertisers because they are easy to enable through your campaign settings.

Of course, depending on your needs, you can also use both types of mobile ads. To summarize, here's a table with information on standard and high-end mobile ads.

4 comments:

Todd Vierling said...

It would be interesting to note if some of the more niche, but "mostly full" HTML compatible, browser alternatives are considered "mobile" for this program.

Of note for J2ME platforms are Opera Mini, of course (which supports both XHTML and WML in addition to HTML) and the newcomer Bolt (which favors HTML, but with a focus on text reflowing). These products are popular with BlackBerry users as well as users of lower-end phone type devices.

For more CPU/memory-endowed devices, there are other mobile options, such as Opera Mobile (S60, Windows Mobile) and the emerging Fennec.

I suppose the summary request here is: Could Google's Mobile team publish the User-Agent patterns that constitute different classes of mobile systems?

This would make it possible to target ads properly to specific ranges of device capabilities, while keeping cognizant of device compatibility for the pages to which they link. (This information resource would be useful for more than just AdWords, but that is certainly a good first application.)

Jonathan said...

I think its even more important to think about 'what mobile ads are right for people'. Or better still 'what is right for each individual'.

The term 'mobile' and 'ads' are only really accepted on the trade side. A re-definition of what advertising means is required as traditional becomes digital, digital becomes mobile and mobile is personal.

I am concerned that our over-fascination with technological formats that allow what is essentially a replication of online advertising (that is mostly tolerated at best).

Just because technology exists that allows what is called 'targeting for devices', doesn't IN ANY WAY address what the biggest challenge is, and that is the fact that prior advertising practice does not translate well to ultra-personal media.

Advertising methodology has 'got away with it' for a long, long time and the acceptance of irrelavence is, in my opinion, unlikely to effectively transfer to the individual remote controls to our lives.

Matt Kanninen said...

I second the request that google start sharing the user agent lists it uses. It would be great if google could actually talk about it's whole device detection system :)

As a consumer I'm curious because I find I want to use the mobile version some times, and the pc version sometimes.

As a developer I'd like to know when I link to google content, which version of the content is likely to be displayed.

Borja Ventura said...

Why do you hate the people who suffers Windows Mobile? Please, let us hide its horrible features... it's horrible enough!