Over two thirds of UK’s top digital media publication sites don’t display effectively on mobile

New research shows that most of the biggest print publications in the UK are missing out on their slice of the estimated £526 million annual spend on mobile advertising by not offering digital sites which render effectively on tablets and smartphones.

Of the general weekly publications, just over 69% were found to be ineffective in mobile advertising, with 73% of the general monthlies having the same issues.

The daily news publications performed slightly better than the weeklies and monthlies, with just 40% of mobile advertising proving to be ineffective – notably less than the overall figure.

Just 22.4% of the women’s weekly publications were found to have effective digital sites.

“Most publishers still rely on websites developed for desktop users to serve their mobile consumers, but these desktop focused websites often render so badly on handheld screens they can make the ads redundant,” said Fiona Salmon, publisher solutions director at Vibrant Media.

“Serving ineffective ads on mobile devices limits publishers’ opportunity to earn revenue from mobile ads, and may contribute to a sense among publishers that going mobile isn’t yet worth the effort.”

Mobile advertising was one of the issues broached at this year’s Media Playground event, in which mobile experts discussed the ongoing problems of mobile advertising, and ultimately suggesting that perhaps the mobile ad model needs a complete overhaul.

The Association of Online Publishers predicts that by the end of 2013, 25% of all online traffic will be via mobile devices.

“A separate, fully optimised mobile site is not an absolute necessity to deliver effective mobile ads if publishers use the right technology,” Salmon continued. “However the digital sites publishers deploy must at least render effectively on smartphone and tablet screens to give consumers a quality experience that matches the quality of their editorial.”

She concluded that if publishers don’t amend site display problems, consumers will go to other sites for a better content experience.