When mobile advertising is interesting: interaction of minors with ads and influencers’ sponsored content on social media

• Published in: Communication & Society 2022-01, Vol.35 (3), p.15-31
• Main Authors: Feijoo, Beatriz, Sádaba, Charo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: advertisement; Advertising; Age groups; Cellular telephones; influencers; interaction; Internet access; Marketing; Mobile advertising; Mobile phone; Smartphones; Social media; Social networks; Technology; Television advertising
• ISSN: 2386-7876; 2386-7876
• DOI: 10.15581/003.35.3.15-31

Social ads, along with apps, display and geolocation are the most used actions in the context of mobile marketing. Adolescents are also identified as the main target audience for mobile marketing because they are very active users, they have a sound command of technology and their role as prescribers, especially in social networks. For this reason, the interaction between advertising on social networks among minors (10-14 years) was studied, differentiating between those standard format ads and those commercial content published by influencers. To this avail, more than 2,400 ads were analyzed after monitoring for a week the commonly used device of a sample of minors from the Metropolitan Area of Santiago de Chile. Standard formats, despite being the most used, they hardly generated interaction, unlike commercial content by influencers, which achieved a higher level of interaction (visual and click interaction), although they were less employed. These results open the door to question the advertising management of a digital space which was created for dialogue such as social networks, in which advertisers prioritize selling products and services.