Does anyone have any analytics for programmatic mobile advertising?

[MeghanS]

With reports like Business Insiders Programmatic Ad Buying On Mobile Is Rising At An Incredibly Fast Clip, Here's What You Need To Know (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-of-programmatic-ad-buying-on-mobile-2013-11), I'm starting to wonder if this is really an effective marketing vehicle.

Personally, I avoid mobile ads like the plague when I'm on my smartphone and most ads look to me like poorly targeted junk, but I could be way off.

If you've tried it out, I'd love to know what the post-click behavior is on programmatic mobile ads.  Do your mobile visitors convert on any level? Is there any ROI data you could reference?

[JasmineA]

There are a lot of response questions folded into the answer you're looking to gain from this question. There is definitely not a direct Yes or No answer. There are several determining factors.

1. Is the website mobile friendly? Not to be confused with Mobile Optimised. Is it easy for a mobile user on any device to read, comprehend, and perform tasks on a mobile device.
2. What is your vertical? If you're selling shoes I'm more likely to buy in store. But if you're Zappos, I'll definitely purchase from my phone knowing full well that It doesn't matter what I order because I can return it.
3. Who is your target market? If your target customer is a lower middle class mother of three, then she will likely not have any time to sit at a desktop/laptop to convert and have to do all of her purchases on the go. So mobile will work better for her lifestyle (there are studies charting roughly 57% of Americans as only having recreational access to the internet through their mobile device).
4. What do you want them to do? Is your funnel complex and barely comprehensible? Do you require serious personal information (bank codes, credit card numbers, etc)? Your funnel also plays a part in how easily someone can convert.
5. Does more mobile traffic mean more footfall in the local stores? If it does, then it doesn't matter what your website looks like, it means that people find you and still come to your location.
6. And finally, the question no one is really capable of answering concretely yet.... Do people do more research with their mobile device then convert directly on a desktop device? The higher you bid on Mobile I would definitely keep an eye on direct or brand traffic to see if people are transitioning to the website through other avenues.

Of course, I'm sure you're up to speed on the on-site & audience identification. Mobile conversions still cost more. Mobile clicks cost more. And generally mobile has less space to display as many adverts so the costs to get good real estate are worth it if you can figure out your mobile audience's desires from your website.

So the short answer is: yes, it's definitely worth bidding that much for mobile traffic. I see average return from clients who are set up well for mobile, but if your site isn't prepared for a mobile audience then you won't see good on site metrics and you won't see it as worth while advertising spend.