In 2013, growth by users accessing websites, e-commerce sites and social media through their mobile phones doubled, and that figure is expected to grow exponentially in 2014. In fact, some think that mobile might overtake fixed internet this year. While the space is ripe with users, advertisers haven’t figured out a way to create valuable messaging that resonates on mobile platforms. Why is this important? Large budgets are allocated for other platforms, TV still being the front runner with around 70 billion dollars of advertising revenue allocated in the US market alone. Mobile platforms want that money and they want it now and they want a lot of it but they need interactive advertising for any brand to justify the spend on a growing, yet still small piece of the pie. Additionally, social media sites like Facebook need to start generating revenue streams for brands in order to stay relevant and become a legitimate ad platform.

Seems like an easy sell given the big data that websites, collect every time you do ANYTHING online, except it is anything but easy. People have shorter attention spans and are more adept at phasing out and ignoring advertising on any platform. It is even harder when most users on their phones are on- the go, commuting, and / or browsing for entertainment and may not be 100% focused on the mobile device. Facebook has been working for the last two years to solve this problem, and as early as late April, we may see some of that TV ad budget allocated to the social media giant. According to adage.com, Facebook is finally ready to roll out their long awaited 15 second premium video ads. The only targeted done in these ads will be by gender, and age and Nielson Online Campaign ratings will measure the delivery and advertisers will only have to pay on the ratings in an attempt to off set the cost of these ads (a 15-second spot with only one demographic target is priced at $1 million dollars, using all 4 demographic targets for one day is a bargain, only $2.4 million dollars). This could be the answer to mobile advertising….or a huge investment and loss for Facebook if the user base doesn’t take well to these new ads.