Mobile ads reach more online consumers

Mobile advertising dominated digital ad campaigns in the Philippines, while “on target” mobile ad performance outpaced digital ads served via desktop and total digital last year, according to a report by media research firm Nielsen.

The Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings Benchmarks report—which assessed more than 3,000 digital campaigns since its launch in Southeast Asia in 2015—found that, in the first half of 2017, 91 percent of digital ad campaigns were targeted toward mobile devices and these achieved higher on-target success than total digital and desktop benchmarks for all reported age benchmarks in the country.

Digital ads targeting the 18-49 years old age bracket reached their intended audience 81 percent of the time for mobile, compared to 77 percent and 59 percent for total digital and desktop platforms, respectively.

For digital advertising campaigns intended for consumers aged 21-34, those which were served via mobile devices hit the mark 81 percent of the time, surpassing desktop and total digital performance, which reached audiences with only 41 percent and 73 percent, accuracy.

“The increase in mobile advertising reflects the growing penetration of mobile and the mobile-first habits of consumers in the Philippines,” Nielsen Philippines head of media client service Tin Amper said in a statement. “While historically, ads served on desktops have had great success in reaching intended audiences than mobile, marketers have made considerable progress in rapidly increasing mobile’s on-target performance in the past year.”

A closer look at categories also showed that advertisers in the consumer packaged goods; business and consumer services, and computers and electronics sectors had the easiest time reaching their desired audience via mobile devices, achieving an on-target success of 83 percent, 82 percent and 81 percent, respectively.

“Mobile is winning today but tomorrow is a different scenario,” Amper said. “As consumers’ media habits evolve, marketers need to consider all the screens when trying to reach their target audience. These benchmarks can help media planners/buyers and sellers better evaluate and optimize their reach online.”