Mobile operators expected to see more advertising opportunities

Mobile operators are set to play a more important role in mobile marketing in Latin America. 

A combination of new privacy requirements, more phone usage, and small agencies’ innovation are pushing mobile marketing in the region. 

“What changed a lot in the last 12 months has been the conversation on privacy,” Maurizio Angelone, CEO of DigitalReef, a global marketing platform, told BNamericas.

As many operating systems are now giving consumers more privacy protection opportunities and ability to remove cookies, which inhibits data collection by third parties, opportunities arise for mobile operators. 

“[Privacy concerns and rules are] changing completely the environment of mobile marketing. Operators and publishers are sitting on their own first data, they have direct access, contact and engagement with their consumer base,” Angelone said. 

DigitalReef is working with operators like Telefónica, Entel, TIM, and apps like Uber, Rappi, Amazon and MercadoLibre, among others, to better engage with consumers and develop stronger value propositions.

In Brazil, 30% of mobile consumers run out of data daily. DigitalReef and operators are partnering to offer data rewards in exchange for watching an advertising video. 

Angelone said the company has already partnerships with publishers for rewards and sponsored content, particularly in Brazil. “That’s a very big trend in the region and I think it will go outside the region and get into the US market sooner or later,” he said. 

Research company eMarketer projected in 2019 that mobile advertising spending in Latin America will grow to US$9.54bn in 2022 and US$10.5bn in 2023. 

Spending grows fastest in Latin America, and the trend has accelerated during the pandemic as mobile phone usage rose. 

According to Angelone, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina are also very active. “I see a lot of innovation and initiatives in mobile marketing, but the whole region is moving,” he said. 

A main reasons for this rise is that independent agencies are innovating. “One of the big barriers in mobile marketing in the past has been that it’s very difficult to start a new advertising channel through the traditional big agencies,” Angelone said. 

But small agencies are more willing to focus on new technologies.

Non-organic app download, referring to downloads after watching an ad, has grown. “There is more and more advertising of applications through mobile marketing platforms,” Angelone said. 

In Brazil, the budget spent on application marketing has tripled in the last year, Angelone claimed, without providing details.