IAB Europe collaborated with nine national IABs in Europe (IAB Austria, IAB Bulgaria, IAB Ireland, IAB Italy, IAB Netherlands, IAB Poland, IAB Spain, IAB Turkey and IAB UK) to audit the top media spending automotive and retail advertisers in the local markets.

Mobile is a key priority for IAB Europe and it aims to drive the update of mobile brand advertising through its recommendations, research and insights. This piece of research follows on from the Mobile Brand Builder ad format recommendation published in May 2015.

More than 600 advertiser sites were audited in the first European Advertiser Mobile Audit to highlight the uptake of mobile marketing. The report aims to inspire brand advertisers to develop their mobile understanding and presence further in the context of a fundamental increase in consumer use of mobile devices.

Brands get to grips with mobile

More than three quarters of the top automotive and retail advertisers across Europe have a mobile optimised site and over half use responsive web design, demonstrating that advertisers are taking advantage of the increased growth of mobile to engage with key audiences.

Apps need further development

However, the research also highlights opportunities to extend mobile marketing strategies with app development. Functionalities such as e-commerce in the case of retail brands and test drive booking in the case of automotive brands are still limited in some markets.

Key findings of the research:

• The majority of automotive and retails brands have a mobile presence. Over three quarters of automotive and retail brands have a mobile optimised site, over half use responsive web design.
• Automotive brands more advanced in terms of apps. Approximately 6 in 10 automotive brands have a mobile or tablet app, whereas just over half of retail brands have a mobile app and less have a tablet app.
• In terms of functionality, browsers are more developed than apps. Over half of retail brands have a transactional mobile site, however just a quarter have a transactional mobile or tablet app. The majority of automotive brands have the option to book a test drive on their desktop site, however less than a quarter have this option on their mobile or tablet app. Italy exceeds in this area as over 9 in 10 automotive brands have a book a test drive option on their mobile or tablet app.
• The primary purpose of mobile display advertising is branding, however uptake is still low with only a quarter of automotive brands and just under a fifth of retail brands undertaking brand advertising via mobile display. The Netherlands seems further ahead as 44% of automotive and 36% of retail brands using mobile display for branding purposes.

The 300×250 Mobile Brand Builder format is the most popular amongst automotive and retail brands with 30% and 24% using this respectively.