If wireless network operators and their mobile content partners are banking on subscribers clicking on ads on their mobile devices, they’re going to be deeply disappointed with a new study conducted by Massachusetts-based online advertising and market research firm Chitika showing that mobile users are about half as likely to click on advertisements as non-mobile users.

The study supports the assertion that wireless subscribers still don’t think of their mobile devices as computers – rather they think of the mobile device as a phone first, text and email device, second, and Internet browser, third. What’s more, the nature of mobility is such that people don’t want to take the time to browse through reams of unnecessary or unwanted content when they are moving from place to place -- when they tend to not have as much time -- nor do they have much interest in viewing ads on their devices’ smaller-sized screens.

 

The study is based on a sample of 92 million impressions, of which approximately 1.3 million (1.5 percent) came from mobile browsing. While non-mobile held steady with a 0.83 percent clickthrough rate, mobile as a whole pulled a mere 0.48 percent -- just over half of the average.

This flies in the face of claims that the recent growth in smartphones has sparked a renewed interest in mobile advertising. The study finds that, of the five major smartphone operating systems -- Google's Android, Apple's iPhone, Microsoft's (News - Alert) Windows CE, Palm OS, and Research In Motion's BlackBerry -- iPhone ranked the worst for clickthrough rate at a dismal 0.30 percent.

The iPhone (News - Alert) also accounted for the bulk of mobile hits, at 66 percent. The group which clicked on ads the most was the "other" group, comprised mainly of BlackBerry users and a small handful of other phone operating systems (including Symbian, Nokia (News - Alert), and HTC).

One factor that might be contributing to consumers’ lower interest in mobile advertising is wireless connectivity. Depending on what type of mobile service is being used, the type of RF technology, and what the service level is where the user is located geographically, download speeds can be much slower, overall, compared to fixed line services (when comparing the same ads). So, many consumers probably don’t want to wait for an advertisement to load onto their mobile device. This, however, could change as wireless service providers begin to roll out fourth generation services such as LTE (News - Alert) and WiMAX, which will greatly improve wireless broadband speed and capacity.

The study concludes that while there are side issues to consider in the mobile advertising market – such as accidental clicks being more relevant than in non-mobile ad serving -- it appears that mobile Internet users, especially iPhone (News - Alert) users, are, for the most part, disinterested in advertising.

Chitika is an online advertising network and research firm focused on Internet advertising and search engine insights. With over 55,000 sites and 2 billion monthly impressions, the company claims its Chitika network “is the pulse of the online world.”