Irish Advertisers get Mobilised
- 56% have mobile optimised sites ahead of EU average of 54%
IAB Ireland’s first Mobile Audit of Irish Advertisers was released this morning at IAB Mobile Connect 2014.
The study reports on consumers’ mobile experience of the top 100 Advertisers’* websites specifically in respect of the following criteria:
- Mobile optimised sites
- Responsive Design
- Apps – iphone, ipad, Google play for phone and for tablets
- Average page speeds on mobile
The study follows the methodology of a study carried out by Kantar Media in UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and France in February 2014 and we have benchmarked the Irish results against those countries in this study.
% Mobile optimised:
56% of Irish Advertisers have mobile optimised sites, this compares to 54% EU – 64% UK, 45% Spain, 60% Germany, 52% France, 50% Italy
Looking at advertising categories Finance (81%) and Auto (78%) scored highest in Ireland with Retail (73%) close behind. FMCG is lower at 45%, this is understandable given that FMCG websites are traditionally less directly consumer facing than other sectors.
Responsive Design:
Among Ireland’s top 100 advertisers 24% of websites featured Responsive Design sites compared to the EU average of 15%
Entertainment & Media websites are more likely to have responsive design, followed by Finance, Retail, and Tech & Telecoms.
Apps:
63% of the top 100 advertisers in Ireland have iphone apps and ipad apps, 58% have developed a Google play phone app and 53% a Google play tablet app.
Looking across the different industry sectors, Entertainment & Media scores the highest with 85% having apps across all devices, followed closely by Auto at 78%, Retail, Tech & Telecoms both at 70%, Finance at 62% and FMCG behind at 50%.
Average Mobile Page Speed:
Ireland’s mobile page speed** is slightly behind our EU neighbours at 53 in comparison to 59. Finance websites lead the way on page speed at 59 followed by Entertainment & Media 56, FMCG 54, Tech & Telecoms 54, Retail 52 and Auto 50.
Key Take Aways from the study:
Ireland is up there with our European neighbours in terms of mobile-readiness – Irish advertisers are clearly recognising the Mobile Opportunity. However, we still have more to do.
With 65% of Irish consumers using their smartphone to go online and 38% using a tablet***, mobile is mandatory for all brands looking to reach consumers. Consumers have high expectations and expect a fantastic experience online on any screen.
Fast and optimised pages lead to higher visitor engagements, retention and conversion.
Consumers are unforgiving and they won’t stay on a website if the experience is bad. Google’s consumer barometer, just released this month (October 2014) showed that if issues are encountered while accessing websites via a smartphone, 25% will find another site that works better rather than trying on another device.
Commenting on the IAB Mobile Audit, Maeve O’Meara, Marketing Manager, IAB Ireland said, ‘It is great to see Ireland score higher than the EU average on some of the key mobile optimisation metrics. With the penetration of digital “on the go” devices now at 85% (eHSS Report September 2014) it is now essential for all brands to ensure that their marketing communication is completely seamless via the mobile channel’.
* Nielsen top 100 Advertisers in Ireland
** Measured using Google’s Page Speed Insights tool (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/)
*** Google consumer barometer Oct 2014
Ends
For further information please contact: Maeve O’Meara, Marketing Manager, IAB Ireland, 086 852 2291, maeve@iabireland.ie
Notes to Editors
Methodology:
Mobile Optimisation:
- Checked manually on mobile phone – looked specifically at ‘Homepage Optimisation’
Responsive Design:
- Dragged corner of desktop website to see if the site responds dynamically to resizing browser window – Used Google Chrome
PageSpeed:
- Tested Desktop and mobile homepage using Google’s Page Speed Insights tool (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/)
Apps:
- Manual checking to see who had iphone, ipad, Google play phone and / or Google play tablet apps
About IAB Ireland
IAB Ireland (www.iabireland.ie) is the trade association for the Irish online advertising industry. As a not for profit organisation IAB Ireland works with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online in building their brands. IAB Ireland is licensed by IAB US and is a member of the IAB Europe network. The IAB network shares three core objectives, namely to prove, promote and protect the online advertising industry. These objectives are fulfilled through the dissemination of authoritative research, the organisation of educational events and by promoting industry-wide best practice.