Jay Revels, managing director of Marin Software APAC, discusses how growing consumer demand for tech-savvy solutions has affected mobile ad spending.

Australian automotive, financial and healthcare brands are driving mobile ad spend as they respond to consumer demand for ‘business as usual’ on-the-go solutions in a digitally savvy marketplace.

While surveying ad spend allocation to mobile and digital solutions in Q1 across global brands this year with a combined budget of $7 Billion, we discovered Australian automotive, financial and healthcare brands are leading the way in the APAC market.

These industries uniquely value the role ‘micro engagements’ play in longer purchasing cycles, reacting quickly to changing consumer behavior as research, fact checking and validation plays a bigger role pre-purchase.

Increased mobile ad spend

We predict financial services companies will spend more on mobile ads than desktop ads by the end of 2015.

Australian financial brands spent 14.6% more on mobile ads in Q1 2015 than the same period 2014, saw a 24% year-over-year increase in mobile ad impressions and received 8.5% increase in clicks during this time. Globally, 67% of consumers clicked on a mobile banking ad.

With 1.75 billion mobile banking users predicted by 2019 globally, there’s a huge opportunity for marketers, convenience and health trends here.

Healthcare brands spent approximately 13% more on mobile ads in Q1 2015 than a year earlier, and saw a 27.5% year-over-year increase in mobile ad impressions and over a 10% increase in clicks during the same quarter.

Demand for fast banking

An increased demand for fast banking and payment services has accelerated interest for mobile financial services to deliver convenience and easy ways to pay.

As consumers lives become more mobile, we’re seeing financial brands focusing on creating mobile-first apps, delivering speed, security and accessibility for almost any transaction.

Adoption of wearable technology

Did you know 33% of consumers never remove their fitness wearables? Consumer acceptance of wearable tech such as FitBit, JawBone Up, smartwatches and the like will continue to grow, accelerating in 2015 as more of these highly anticipated devices hit the market.

Fitness trends and the ‘gamification’ of fitness through tracking immediate, on-the-go health data has driven huge growth in consumer wearables and mobile health trackers, and created a key focus for Australian health brands and marketers.

Auto-buyers using auto apps to research

Consumers increasingly use smartphones at dealerships to research and validate brand choices pre-purchase, driving a surge in mobile auto app usage in 2015. In fact, 33% of auto buyers start their path to conversion from a mobile ad.

Innovative automotive brands recognise the importance of mobile in the product research and conversion lifecycle. In Q1 2015, automotive brands increased their spend on mobile ads by 10% and saw an 11% year-over-year increase in impressions and a 8.8% increase in clicks during the same quarter.

Consumers already know what they want

75% of consumers already know what they’re going to buy and from which brand – prior to purchase.

Consumers have immediate access to information and research about brands and products. Advertisers need to deliver the right message to their target audiences during these micro-engagements within the conversion funnel. Mobile ads are small but increasingly important as time spent on mobile continues to eclipse PCs, TVs, and other devices.