While mobile usage of all kinds has grown in leaps and bounds, mobile ad spend hadn’t yet caught up, but that’s due to change, says Richy Glassberg, CEO at WWP-owned ad serving firm Medialets, in this interview with Beet.TV. Expect a huge upswing in ad dollars in the next few years to keep pace with the consumer usage that is skyrocketing, he says.
Hand in hand, he anticipates a boost in third-party ad serving, based on the growth his firm has seen in that area. Medialets grew its business 100% in 2015, and expects continued gains in the years ahead, given the boon in mobile. Medialets works with the five big holding companies.
“We will see a snap back and I think there is a huge pent-up need for mobile advertising by all the leading advertisers since usage is far surpassing digital on the desktop,” he says, and that growth includes in third party ad serving. There is a realization that advertisers need an independent count and measurement for their ads, he explains.
Another area of growth and change will be in the creative associated with mobile video. Given the consumption of short-form videos from YouTube and SnapChat, advertisers are considering whether three-second spots could work in mobile, he says. “It is a whole rethinking of how the creative shops view video,” he says.
With smart phone growth taking off worldwide and in developing countries, bandwidths costs will go down. Brands are testing different strategies in different regions and integrating apps into the phone in a deeper way. “The phone is becoming a deeper extension of the digital life and that all becomes a virtuous circle for a better, faster, cheaper phone,” Glassberg says.
The company was acquired by WPP last year.
