I spent an enlightening couple of hours this morning at the GSM Asociation's London HQ listening to a presentation from the GSMA and comScore about the Mobile Media Metrics initiative, which aims to help brands and media agencies make more informed mobile media buying decisions by giving them metrics about the numbers of people visiting mobile sites, the types of handset they are using, and demographic information, using anonymised data supplied by the UK’s mobile networks.
It’s a laudable initiative, though as the GSMA's Henry Stevens acknowledged, it doesn’t do anything to simplify the process of actually buying mobile media. He told me that this was the next thing on the organisation’s agenda.
One media buyer I spoke to told me he was “90% happy” with the Mobile Media Metrics initiative. The unhappiness stems from the gaps that still need filling in. There are three key ones. The first is the absence of data relating to mobile browsing done over wi-fi networks, either via a wi-fi-enabled Smartphone, or a non-SIM-enabled device such as the iPod touch. With around 20% of mobile web browsing taking place over wi-fi, this is a pretty big gap. comScore’s Paul Goode explained that this will be resolved as mobile site owners 'beacon' their sites. This is the process of putting in place a tag that will track activity on the site, including activity carried out over a wi-fi connection. Goode estimates that the wi-fi gap will be filled by Q3 or Q4 of this year.
The second is the fact that when brands or publishers want to look at activity on sites by type of device, some devices, including one called the iPhone, are currently excluded, though Goode pointed out that in the case of the iPhone, this is not down to the operators, as it is with some other devices.
The third gap is the absence of data from 3 UK. Goode said that this should become available in April. The fourth gap, which seemed to come as news to a few people in the room, was the fact that traffic from BlackBerry devices is not currently included in the Mobile Media Metrics data. “RIM traffic is encrypted when it runs through the network, so we can see it occurs, but we cannot unpack it,” Goode confirmed.
This, like the wi-fi hole, is another pretty big one, and Goode says it is down to the same issue as the wi-fi problem, so will be addressed in a similar timescale.
For the moment, then, the Mobile Media Metrics initiative is some way from being the finished article. That said, media planners and buyers have been crying out for mobile metrics, and even if it is still a little rough around the edges, the mobile advertising marketplace is a better place with it, than without it.
David Murphy
Editor
It’s a laudable initiative, though as the GSMA's Henry Stevens acknowledged, it doesn’t do anything to simplify the process of actually buying mobile media. He told me that this was the next thing on the organisation’s agenda.
One media buyer I spoke to told me he was “90% happy” with the Mobile Media Metrics initiative. The unhappiness stems from the gaps that still need filling in. There are three key ones. The first is the absence of data relating to mobile browsing done over wi-fi networks, either via a wi-fi-enabled Smartphone, or a non-SIM-enabled device such as the iPod touch. With around 20% of mobile web browsing taking place over wi-fi, this is a pretty big gap. comScore’s Paul Goode explained that this will be resolved as mobile site owners 'beacon' their sites. This is the process of putting in place a tag that will track activity on the site, including activity carried out over a wi-fi connection. Goode estimates that the wi-fi gap will be filled by Q3 or Q4 of this year.
The second is the fact that when brands or publishers want to look at activity on sites by type of device, some devices, including one called the iPhone, are currently excluded, though Goode pointed out that in the case of the iPhone, this is not down to the operators, as it is with some other devices.
The third gap is the absence of data from 3 UK. Goode said that this should become available in April. The fourth gap, which seemed to come as news to a few people in the room, was the fact that traffic from BlackBerry devices is not currently included in the Mobile Media Metrics data. “RIM traffic is encrypted when it runs through the network, so we can see it occurs, but we cannot unpack it,” Goode confirmed.
This, like the wi-fi hole, is another pretty big one, and Goode says it is down to the same issue as the wi-fi problem, so will be addressed in a similar timescale.
For the moment, then, the Mobile Media Metrics initiative is some way from being the finished article. That said, media planners and buyers have been crying out for mobile metrics, and even if it is still a little rough around the edges, the mobile advertising marketplace is a better place with it, than without it.
David Murphy
Editor
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