A Third of Mobile Ads Used to Sustain In-Market Presence

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Around a third of advertisers using Millennial Media's mobile ad network used the ads to sustain in-market presence, according to the company's Q3 2011 SMART report. And, while brand awareness campaigns accounted for just 11 percent of ads on the network, Millennial said such ads are growing.

More than 20 percent of ads running through the network in the third quarter were for lead generation, and 18 percent for product launches. Ten percent of the ads were aimed at increasing foot traffic to businesses, and 6 percent to website traffic.

Millennial reported that the number of campaigns using the "Watch Video as a Post-Click" action in ads increased 78 percent, from 18 percent to 32 percent. The company suggested this amounts to a boost in mobile branding ads.

The firm also noted a surge in mobile ads from tech, finance, entertainment, and CPG advertisers. Technology ads grew 687 percent year-over-year on the network, while finance topped the vertical chart and grew 356 percent year-over-year. Ads from CPG brands grew 378 percent, and entertainment ads were up 145 percent year-over-year. (More on verticals)

According to Millennial, 66 percent of ads served in Q3 were targeted to local audiences, with the remainder aimed behaviorally and demographically.

The company also made some holiday predictions, noting that 32 percent of consumers plan to use mobile devices to do comparison shopping, and 27 percent will do so to read product reviews while at the store. Still, just 11 percent will use mobile devices to purchase items.