Google's move to acquire AdMob, which serves targeted advertising on mobile devices, coupled with a new Sabre survey on mobile services, punctuate the direction of travel advertising.
It's standard practice these days for online advertisers and their networks to serve consumers with behavioral advertising when people surf from website to website. Your cookie data, with the personally identifiable information deleted, is a material asset.
All of this targeted advertising will soon be coming to a mobile device near you, whether you are picking up your luggage at LAX and walking past a restaurant, or standing by a taxi stand outside the airport and waiting for some transportation to your next business meeting.
This is precisely the sort of advertising that Google hopes to cash in on with AdMob, and Sabre plans to deliver with TripCase.
In its survey of 800 corporate and leisure travelers from Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, Sabre was testing the waters concerning whether there would be any pushback on advertising in free applications, or whether travelers would be willing to pay for premium services.
The survey found that all respondents were willing to accept advertising as long as the applications are free.
And 28% of very frequent business travelers even prefer that their free applications come with advertising. Gluttons for commercialism.
In contrast, 8% of these road warriors preferred to just pay for the application instead of being subjected to advertising.
These numbers broke out a little differently in Europe, Sabre found, with just 14% of respondents preferring ads with their free applications, and 5% seeking to pay for ad-free applications.
So, the good news for advertisers is that although the vast majority of travelers may not prefer advertisements in their apps, they will accept them if the applications are freebies.
“There’s been a lot of experimentation with pay-for-services in the past," says Greg Webb, Sabre's chief marketing officer. "With advertising emerging as a more palatable choice for travelers, application providers and retailers now have a way of monetizing their offering and driving more value out of a potentially lucrative marketing channel."
Of course, that's welcome news for Sabre, which is offering its TripCase applications on the iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile, and plans on serving them ads based on users' locations.
Sabre knows that its challenge is to turn away advertising that isn't relevant to a particular consumer at a specific time or location because spamming travelers would lead to a backlash.
Sabre says that next year it plans to invest more money in its mobile applications, which include the itinerary-management app, TripCase, for consumers, and Virtually There, for travel agencies.
I have to believe that Sabre's competitors in the field, namely companies like TripIt, Kayak, Traxo and others, will be getting their mobile-ad business in order, as well.
Sabre spokesman Michael Brophy outlines Sabre's investment plans in the mobile arena:
- "Sabre will continue to develop and enhance its product lines with even more mobile capabilities in 2010. We work closely with clients and suppliers to deliver timely, relevant info to travelers at each stage of their trip. Sabre Travel Network and GetThere continue to enrich the traveler’s experience by innovating around unique capabilities of the mobile device like re-accommodation and check-in.
- "We will continue investing in new functionality for TripCase, taking full advantage of the impressive momentum already generated by its introduction in 2009.
- "Sabre sees immense opportunity in the post-booking mobile arena; that is one area of the mobile landscape where we will invest more in 2010.
- "Finally, Travelocity has also registered noteworthy success with its mobile applications; travelers are increasingly more comfortable booking air, car, hotel and even cruises via their mobile device. We intend to build upon this initial success in 2010 and beyond."
Google, too, sees mobile advertising as a prime opportunity to develop a new advertising revenue stream.
When Google's AdMob deal closes, it will be looking to develop a mobile-advertising revenue stream in all of those Android phones coming on the market.
The mobile-ad market is, well, on the move ... 24/7, everywhere.