Arthur D. Little: A Mobile Playground

New Report from Arthur D. Little Forecasts 60 Per Cent Annual
Growth in Mobile Advertising over the Next Four Years
LONDON--(Business Wire)--
As consumer demand for mobile broadband services reaches critical
mass... Arthur D. Little predicts that in the coming years mobile
advertising is poised to be the next major digital media platform for
brands to reach customers, and the key telecoms players have a great
deal to gain from bringing their services to market early. Forecast
figures predict roughly 60 per cent annual growth in mobile
advertising spend over the next four years. The report, "A Mobile
Playground," published today by Arthur D. Little's TIME
(Telecommunications, Information Technology, Media and Electronics)
practice, includes predictions about the size and content of the
European mobile advertising industry, as well as offering both
telecoms operators and advertisers insight into what is driving
interest in mobile advertising and how they can best navigate the
often unchartered waters of advertising to consumers via a hand-held
device. Key findings include:

Online and in hand: mobile broadband and advertising. Unlike
previous reports that have categorised mobile advertising as a new and
different way of communicating advertisers' messages, Arthur D.
Little's study finds that mobile advertising is the next step in the
evolution of the online advertising industry. With the rise of mobile
broadband unavoidable - Arthur D. Little recently predicted 50 per
cent European penetration over the next five years - the report argues
that mobile advertising will grow alongside mobile broadband and build
on the interactivity of IP technology and mobile devices' unique
functionality to develop new forms of online advertising particularly
suited for the hand-held web surfer.

Telecoms operators must act early. Historically mobile operators
have enjoyed a prime position in the telecoms value chain, as the
controller of both the user interface and customer relationship.
However, only 5 per cent of mobile operators' revenue is generated
through advertising, compared to 16 per cent in the wider media world.
If operators do not identify and secure their role in the provision
and delivery of mobile advertising, they risk losing a major revenue
stream to traditional internet advertisers like Google or Yahoo.
Either forming partnerships or through specialist acquisition,
telecoms providers risk falling behind their competition in the
internet advertising space if they do not begin developing the
technology and infrastructure to eventually deliver large-scale,
multi-format mobile advertising to their customers. This report offers
four specific recommendations for how mobile providers can begin
taking action to stake their claim in the mobile advertising market.

"Advertisers prefer to deal with a single broker when launching a
mobile phone ad campaign rather than striking deals with individual
carriers across the markets. Making mobile advertising a true success
requires cooperation among operators - something mobile operators
typically haven't been very good at," says Klaus von den Hoff Global
Head of Arthur D. Little's TIME Practice.

What it will look like. Online and mobile advertising is still
dominated by search and display formats such as a banner, pop-up, or
sponsored link. However, mobile advertising offers the possibility for
more interactive and dynamic formats, such as service call waiting,
idle-screen advertisements, mobile TV ads, games and voicemail ads.
Push ads via SMS/MMS are another traditional option, but one whose
potential has yet to be fully recognised due to operators' hesitation
to cannibalise their core services in order to chase the ever-elusive
advertising dollar. The full report includes Arthur D. Little's
predictions of which mobile advertising formats are most likely to
gain traction, and each format's percentage of mobile advertising
share.

Blyk: a case study. The report documents the results from early
adopters of Blyk, a UK-based virtual network operator, which has
successfully launched large-scale mobile advertising in the UK with a
29 per cent response rate. The report identifies how Blyk used highly
defined target groups and user data to achieve such positive rates of
customer interest - 29 per cent compared with .05 per cent response
rate for a typical online marketing campaign.

"Mobile players that want to take a serious bite of the
advertising market first need to establish how they will deliver
mobile advertising, and prove they have the scale of reach to compete
with the big online players", says Juergen Morath, co-author of the
report and a director in Arthur D. Little's TIME Practice.

To access the full report, please visit
www.adlittle.com/mobileadvertising.

About Arthur D. Little

Arthur D. Little (ADL), founded in 1886, is a leading global
management consulting firm that links strategy, innovation and
technology to master complex business challenges while delivering
sustainable results to our clients. Arthur D. Little has a
collaborative client engagement style, exceptional people and a
firm-wide commitment to quality and integrity. ADL is proud to serve
many of the Fortune 100 companies globally in addition to many other
leading firms and public sector organisations.

Arthur D. Little has over 30 offices worldwide, employing over
1,000 people. If you would like additional information on the firm,
please visit www.adl.com.

TIME (Telecommunications, Information Technology, Media,
Electronics)

The global TIME Practice of Arthur D. Little advises companies in
the telecommunications, information technology, media and electronics
sectors. ADL consultants assist their clients around the world in
solving strategic, operational and technological problems. The range
of advice extends from concept development (strategy, organisation,
processes, IT) to implementation. In addition, the TIME practice works
with investors on major financing projects and corporate purchases and
sales.

Say Communications for Arthur D. Little
Sue Glanville/ Maita Soukup
Tel: +44 (0)208 971 6423 / 6421
sglanville@saycomms.co.uk
msoukup@saycomms.co.uk

Copyright Business Wire 2008