Mobile advertising up, m-banking in ho-hum stage: BuzzCity report

• Mobile banking increases but many feel apathy towards adoption
• Indifference, more than anxiety, now the bigger threat to growth

MOBILE advertising network BuzzCity said more than 83.3 billion ad banners were served across its entire network in the first quarter of 2014, a 15% growth from the previous quarter, and added that mobile banking is seeing increasing adoption but is going through a stage of apathy amongst users.
 
The company recently released its latest quarterly report on the mobile Internet. The report includes a spotlight on mobile banking adoption and reveals mobile users’ attitudes towards mobile banking, it said in a statement.
 
Approximately 65% of its ad banner traffic was delivered to viewers on mobile sites, with the remaining 35% on to mobile applications.
 
In the first quarter of 2014, mobile advertising in Malaysia grew by 8% as value-added services began the year aggressively promoting premium mobile content across various operator networks, BuzzCity said.
 
Indonesia, already its second largest market, saw 54% growth; while Thailand (No 12) grew 42% and Vietnam (No 13) grew 14%. The Philippines, its No 22 market, actually declined by 1%.

Mobile banking
 
The adoption of mobile banking has increased, BuzzCity said, with 27% of adults who use the mobile Internet now finding mobile banking “easy and useful” compared with 21% last year.
 
However, there is apathy amongst potential users, with almost a third of those surveyed (32%) simply not feeling that they “need” mobile banking.
 
Results suggest that security fears seem to have been reduced – 24% of those surveyed this quarter won’t do mobile banking because of security fears, an improvement from 2013 when 29% felt concerned about security issues.
 
“Anxieties will persist, but this apparent indifference among users may yet be the biggest hurdle to overcome,” said Dr K.F. Lai (pic), BuzzCity founder and chief executive officer
 
“These consumer perceptions will play a key role when advertisers plan their campaigns across digital channels,” he added.
 
According to BuzzCity, financial services will need to think about other factors that affect responses to their campaigns as 14% feel that they need to “be offered” from their banks. Parallel with this is consumers confusion – 11% feel mobile banking is too complicated or unreliable (10%) and many aren’t aware if their devices can even be used to activate the service.
 
The report also looks at the most popular banks among mobile users. In Malaysia, Maybank is the most popular bank, followed by CIMB Bank, Public Bank and Arab-Malaysian.
 
Notable in the report is the emergence and rising popularity of ‘mobile-based’ banks (where accounts are linked to SIM cards) in developing markets. These new mobile banks, catering specifically to the mobile-only consumers, have gained widespread adoption and a rapid market share in a relatively short time.
 
The BuzzCity mobile banking research was conducted in March 2014 amongst 6,000 adults in 20 benchmark countries. To download the report, click here.

 

Related Stories:
 
Mobile advertising growing, needs new approaches: Google
 
We need to start defining acceptable mobile advertising
 
Banking on Digital: Products from a different realm
 
Banks not meeting customer expectations: SunGard research
 
M-banking solution Tootpay wows ‘em at Echelon Malaysia
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.