移动广告市场新锐挑战谷歌

    千禧传媒（Millennial Media）是一家正在快速增长的移动广告公司，它的首席执行官保罗•帕美瑞对公司的前景有话要说。他说，保持独立对于他的公司来说完全不是坏事。尽管外界一直推测千禧传媒将成为某个大公司的收购目标，但大家不必把这个问题放在心上。随着公司的快速增长，各种传闻自然难以避免，不过帕美瑞本人并未直接澄清有关传闻。自从7年前千禧传媒成立以来，它已经成为生机勃勃的移动广告业中的一个重要角色。

    据该公司透露，千禧传媒在2012年进行了首次公开募股。2012年，千禧传媒的销售额预计至少在1.81亿美元左右，比前年增长了75%。公司的盈利情况是最令人摸不准的，不过随着越来越多的人把更多的时间花在智能手机和平板电脑上，公司的业务也在随之扩张。帕美瑞称：“广告商的需求一般随消费者而动，我们已经做好了准备，利用这种转变。”

    千禧传媒的总部设在巴尔的摩市。帕美瑞成立千禧传媒的时机也充分显示了他的远见。就在他成立千禧传媒后不久，苹果公司（Apple）发布了它的第一部iPhone。由苹果公司和各大安卓（Android）厂商推出的各种智能手机和平板电脑成了移动广告市场发展的催化剂。研究机构eMarketer指出，今年美国企业界预计将在移动广告上投入72亿美元，比2012年上涨77%。

    进入PC时代，许多公司依靠网页广告获得成功，千禧传媒也采用了类似模式，只不过它运营的是一个移动广告网络。这个网络里有许多应用开发者，千禧传媒会把广告导入到参与该网络的开发者所开发的应用里，而应用开发者们相应地也会获得一部分收入，其中包括《纽约时报》（The New York Times ）和全美橄榄球联盟（National Football League）。

    尽管移动广告业呈现出迅猛的增长，但这个行业仍然存在一些问题。许多市场人员要么只是在利用这个平台进行试验，要么只是投入了相对少量的金额做移动广告。很多人都抱怨说，移动设备的屏幕对于广告来说太小了，难以让消费者产生印象。另外市场人员也不愿意为“误点击”付钱——也就是说手机用户本来没想点开广告，只是因为“手滑了”才点了进去。这种现象太常见了，又叫做“粗手指效应”。

    因此，在某些情况下，移动广告的比率要远远低于网页广告。风投家玛丽•米克近日指出，消费者花在媒体上的时间，有10%是花在移动设备上，但相比之下，移动广告开支占所有广告开支的比重只有1%。

    帕美瑞在创办千禧传媒之前，曾是威瑞森无线公司（Verizon Wireless）的一名高管。他认为，上述差异对于一个新兴产业来说是正常现象。广告商在经过一番试验之后，最终会向移动广告投入更多资金。他把他们的这个过程比作散步，他说：“在那条路上，每个广告商现在所处的位置都不一样。”

    帕美瑞强调，对于智能手机和平板电脑上的富媒体广告——也就是按照客户要求做得更加细化、精美的多媒体广告，价格与在网页上的类似广告相差无几。但是它的定位要比网页广告更好，例如它可以根据智能手机用户的地理位置和过去的行为打广告，因此有助于获得更好的广告效应。

    Paul Palmieri, chief executive of Millennial Media, had a point to make about the future of his fast growing mobile advertising company. Staying independent is perfectly fine for his business, he said, never mind the constant speculation about it being an acquisition target. The rumors, which Palmieri declined to address directly, are an inevitable byproduct of the company's rapid rise. Since its founding seven years ago, it has emerged as a serious player in the burgeoning mobile advertising industry.

    Millennial's (MM) sales are expected to reach at least $181 million for 2012, a 75% increase from the previous year, according to the company, which held an initial public offering in March. Profits have been mostly elusive, however, as it expands to keep up with the niche's growth, fueled by more people spending more time on smartphones and tablets. "Advertiser demand usually follows consumers, and we are poised to take advantage of this shift," Palmieri said.

    Palmieri's timing with Millennial, based in Baltimore, was prescient. He co-founded the company just before Apple (AAPL) introduced its first iPhone. Smartphones, from both Apple and its Google-powered (GOOG) rivals, served as a catalyst for the mobile ad market as did the debut of tablet computers. This year, marketers are expected to spend $7.2 billion on mobile advertising in the United States, a 77% increase from 2012, according to eMarketer, a research firm.

    Millennial operates a mobile ad network modeled after those that have thrived on the desktop Web. The company funnels ads across its network of participating app developers, who get a cut of the revenue. Zynga (ZNGA), The New York Times and the National Football League are just some of them.

    Despite rapid growth, mobile advertising still has its issues. Many marketers are only experimenting with the medium or spending relatively small amounts of money. A big complaint is that mobile screens are too small for ads to make an impression on consumers. Marketers also recoil at paying for accidental clicks, whereby mobile phone users mistakenly tap on an ad—an all to common phenomenon known as the fat finger effect.

    As a result, mobile ad rates are, in some cases, far lower than for Web-based ads. Mary Meeker, the venture capitalist, pointed out recently that mobile devices account for 10% of all time consumers spend with media, but only 1% of ad spending.

    Palmieri, who was previously an executive at Verizon Wireless, described the disconnect as normal for such a new industry. Advertisers will eventually graduate from experimenting to more serious spending, he said. He likened their process to going for walk. "Each advertiser is at a different place in their path," he said.

    In any case, Palmieri emphasized that rich media ads – those that are more customized and flashy—command similar prices to their equivalents on the Web. Better targeting—based on a customer's location and past behavior, for example—is helping to make ads more successful.