Vertical and mobile video advertising to stay

Mobile advertising has been punching in some strong numbers, with 17.4% of traffic to websites redirected from mobile ads last year. Needless to say, the figures in 2014 will increase.According to Millennial Media's S.M.A.R.T report, mobile advertising will increase to 64% with a 20% hike in overall global digital ad spend. Interestingly enough, the APAC region is the fourth largest spender in mobile advertising.(Read also: No one size or one campaign engagement for all)Undoubtedly, mobile advertising is carving into marketing budget, with its easy accessibility for consumers to click-and-go from the comfort of their own time and space.Take for example the recent engagement campaign launched by Toyota featuring Nuance's voice-activated technology ad that allowed for two-way communication with consumers. This drove user interaction which helped deliver relevant content to interested users.From a study conducted by MediaMind, which focused on more than one billion impressions from over one thousand mobile campaigns since January 2013, the two most used advertising strategies are vertical advertising and mobile video advertising."Consumers depend more on mobile technology for their media, day-to-day communications and connections to the world which is why these data can guide mobile marketers," said Ricky Liversidge, CMO at DG.How are the two methods broken down?Vertical Advertising The largest industries to employ vertical advertising are in automotive and CPG, recording 20.7% and 11.7% growth respectively. The click through rates (CTR) shows that expandable banners received much higher responses than compared to polite banners, with mobile standard banners least preferred.Mobile VideoOn the opposite spectrum of the former method, mobile video advertising has identified that enegaging with rich media formats received more responses than expandable banners. This is due to its immediacy of viewing.Most of these advertisements are creatively designed and catered to local consumers with a market relevant message. Generally, industries across all sectors leverage on image and video galleries when promoting new products and product showcasing.Liversidge said, "These factors give advertisers concrete data that can guide their mobile marketing decisions and help them reach the growing group of mobile users."