U.K. Publishers find that mobile revenue is growing much slower than readership

Readership of mobile publications in the U.K. is growing rapidly, which is great for the publisher. What is not so great fpr the publisher is that mobile ad revenue isnot growing as fast as readership. A recent survey showed that while mobile readers make up 20% of the traffic for 87% of the publishers, only 29% are getting the same proportion of mobile ads. The U.K.'s Association of Online Publishers (AOP) survey shows that 55% of publishers blame ad agencies attitude toward mobile for the discrepancy. 52% of U.K. publishers said that that there is too much dependency on mobile ad networks with low yields.

Some publishers are afraid about giving away some of their ad sales to apps like Flipboard and Pulse even though applications like those two actually can bring readers to a publication. The New York Times has already partnered up with Flipboard. More readers means more ad dollars even if it does have to be shared with a third party.Despite all this, of AOP members responding to the survey, 91% and 85% said tablets and mobile use respectively, represent their best chance for strong growth in the upcoming year. 62% said that they would optimize their web site for mobile readers. The survey was sent in to the AOP by 90% of its members representing publishers of more than 1,500 digital titles. And their number one issue is that there is too much fragmentation in the mobile space between smartphones, tablets and featurephones.

"We are going to see some fundamental changes to the mobile ad market over the coming year as ad agency attitudes catch up with publisher investment and mobile audience size. Ad revenues will experience massive growth, doubling within 12 months of agencies recognizing the opportunity in the mobile market"-Lee Baker, Director, AOP