Today, people’s daily lives revolve around mobile phones seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day, to the point that they have become the “first screen,” replacing computers. In Thailand, there are as many as 49 million smartphones, and Thai people use smartphones for an average of 6.2 hours per day, three times longer than watching television. This is what gave rise to “AdPocket,” a highly effective advertising medium in the Mobile First era, a medium that follows consumers everywhere, 24 hours a day. Every time you pick up your phone and see an advertisement, it continuously builds awareness and memory.

Alisara Dumrongpanich, Mobile Marketing Director at AdPocket, said that “AdPocket,” the number one lock-screen advertising application in Thailand, is a new form of digital media platform in which users receive benefits in return for viewing advertisements and unlocking their mobile screens, including collecting points that can be exchanged for cash to buy goods, redeem items, pay bills, top up credit, and more. This model is gaining strong traction both abroad and in Thailand and has been well received by marketers, advertisers, and users. Over the past year, the app has recorded more than 2 million installs and its success is guaranteed by more than 100 clients that have already used the service. The application originated in South Korea and has been highly successful there, with more than 20 million users out of a population of over 50 million, making it a major mobile advertising platform in that country.

“Thailand was the second country after South Korea to adopt it, because before AdPocket, when people thought about online advertising, they usually thought of only a few channels such as Facebook, Google, and Line. Yet many people still do not know or do not give importance to lock-screen advertising, even though the mobile advertising market is huge. Today, Thai people use mobile phones more than they watch television or read magazines. Mobile phones have become something Thai people cannot do without. We saw this opportunity and therefore brought in AdPocket, because it is the platform closest to people, easy to access, convenient, and quick to show results. Therefore, advertising through the lock screen helps marketers plan their media placements effectively alongside advertising on other online channels,” said the AdPocket executive.

Regarding the strengths of lock-screen advertising, Ms. Alisara emphasized that AdPocket has become a fast-rising new option for mobile advertising and has grown into the number one Media on Mobile in Thailand because it is highly effective in building brand awareness among consumers. Every time they turn on the phone, the advertisement appears on the mobile screen. That means high reach: people see the ad clearly and immediately before unlocking the screen, making it easy to remember; low aversion: resistance or dislike toward the ads is relatively low because users who dislike lock-screen ads simply would not install the app in the first place; full engagement: banners are displayed full-screen on mobile devices, and if users are interested in a particular ad, they can swipe left, meaning they have already interacted with that ad; and massive display: repeated exposure, because users see it every time they open the phone. A survey of AdPocket users found that one user unlocks the screen an average of 47 times per day, increasing ad display frequency. In addition, AdPocket can analyze user interests across 12 categories, including games, IT/telecom/electronics, finance, travel, food, entertainment, fashion/beauty, automotive, shopping, sports/leisure, home decoration/living, and interests related to children.

“Using AdPocket does not disturb the user experience because the ads do not interrupt users while they are consuming media. More importantly, the content shown on the lock screen is not limited to advertising banners. It also includes interesting content from Ookbee Comic, Online Station, Ladyissue, Spice, Pepper, news from INN, and video clips of useful tips from C Channel, among others. In developing this content, we place great importance on user experience. When using AdPocket is not boring and creates a good feeling, that is what good experience means.”

Regarding this year’s marketing direction, the AdPocket executive said that the company is aggressively expanding through various media channels. It has plans to hold activities in different locations throughout the year to broaden its user base and make it more mass-market, focusing on working people in order to reach 5 million installs this year, while also pursuing customization so that the advertisements and informative entertainment content presented better match the needs and lifestyles of each individual user. This year, the company began brand promotion through BTS media and continues to focus on online marketing as before across various online media, including reaching different groups through well-known net idols or influencers. On the application side, the company is focusing on features that will push direct sales and coupons as key spearheads to answer brands’ sales objectives, supported by a user base of more than 2 million people. On average, each user has about 100 baht in the system, totaling more than 200 million baht. This is e-money that users have not yet withdrawn, money they received for free. There are also eCoupons distributed to maximize benefits for users.

Regarding AdPocket’s growth target, Ms. Alisara added that this year the company plans to expand its client base into consumer products to align with the feature groups that serve as its key spearhead. If possible in the future, the company would like AdPocket users not to have to pay for telephone service, allowing them to use points from screen swipes to pay their phone bills instead, or to use accumulated points for charitable causes or other activities.

“You could say it is the company’s mission to let Thai people use phones for free. We have strong partners such as the Ascend group, which means the money in AdPocket may not be linked only to TrueWallet, but also to Alipay. There are still many opportunities for further growth. In the next three to five years, we want to be one of the mobile advertising options standing alongside Facebook and LINE, because marketing communication today does not rely on a single platform. Clients use integrated media because each product has a different strategy, character, objective, and goal,” said the AdPocket executive.

AdPocket’s user base has increased dramatically to more than 2,200,000 people. Important statistics include that the majority of users are male at 53.5%; the largest age group is 15–19 at 37%, followed by ages 20–25 at about 36%. The main interests of users include games at 62%, IT at 50%, finance at 44%, shopping and entertainment at 42%, and sports at 39%, with each user able to have multiple interests.

As for mobile unlocking behavior, Thai people on average pick up and unlock their phones as many as 47 times per day. Men unlock their phones more often than women, with men averaging 48 times per day and women 46 times per day. The age group that picks up and unlocks phones most frequently is 20–25 years old, averaging as many as 53 times per day. People in Bangkok unlock and use their phones the most, at as many as 55 times per day.

AdPocket also found that ads on mobile screens performed far above expectations, with a CTR (click-through rate) as high as 5–10%, 50 times higher than general display banner advertising. This may be because the ads appear on the first screen of the mobile phone, which users see quite frequently. In terms of usage volume, mobile screen ads are displayed more than 300 million times per month.

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Source: BrandAge website