For mobile advertising to be financially worthwhile, it must have three key elements: reach, interaction and measurement, according to a report issued by Grapevine Media.

Reach means the number of users or subscribers, interaction refers to the necessity of “space for a personal and interactive advertising medium” and measurement has to do with being able to determine how popular the ad campaign is.

“With the increasing number of applications being developed for mobile I find it intriguing that large companies are spending excessive resources backing applications with little measurable substance,” states the Grapevine Media article, posted by BizCommunity Africa Thursday.

The solution to mobile ad woes is “multimedia messaging wrapped with a link to a mobi-site,” in other words, delivering an ad to the consumer, then directing them to your online space is key according to Grapevine.