Three types of Mobile Ads that actually work

       The growth of smartphones and tablets has ignited a debate about the future of mobile advertising and which forms of ads will prove most effective. While mobile devices account for 10% of all online activity, mobile ads represent only 2% of total spending on digital advertising, leaving significant opportunity for growth. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, titled "Mobile Ads: What works and doesn't work " explores which types of mobile ads work best.

        The article explores several categories of mobile ads. Currently, the most prevalent ads in mobile are search ads, which account for more than half of mobile advertising. A specific type of search ad known as Click to Call whereby users can use search results to initiate a call on their phone has proven especially effective. Among the least effective, are Spray and Pray ads which are basically web style banner ads  adopted to mobile. Other forms that work well are Non-Ad Ads which provide relevant information or coupons to the user. Additional ad forms such as Big is Beautiful which are full screen ads inserted between multipage articles or in nontraditional places such as Kindle's lock screen are a good fit with the smaller screens used in phones and tablets. It will be interesting to see which type of ads win out in mobile and what new forms will be developed in this expanding segment. Most likely, it will be ads that integrate key features of mobile devices such as location-based services or other elements such as social networking and gamification that will prove most effective.