• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, August 15, 2012

Most mobile app users prefer their content free and ad-supported, but can publishers and their marketing partners please at least make the ads more rewarding? That appears to be the underlying message from a new Harris Interactive survey of app users on both Facebook’s app platform and mobile users.

The study of over 2,200 users was commissioned by MediaBrix, which not coincidentally produces rich, video and immersive ad units for Facebook and mobile apps. Interestingly, the research found that a lower share of mobile app users (61%) preferred free over ad-free paid content than the 87% who felt the same way about Facebook apps. And while 40% of mobile users say they actually prefer banners in their apps, 60% said they would rather get ads that include rich media from big brands or especially ads that offer rewards or currency in exchange for interacting with a sponsor.

“We think understanding and respecting the user experience is key,” says Ari Brandt, CEO, MediaBrix. He says the company embarked on the survey because “traditional banners and pre-rolls don’t work in these environments.”

In polling the users themselves on what they would like to see from advertisers, Brandt says the company discovered how important innovation is to users and how app users and game players want to interact with advertisers in new and novel ways. “We were blown away by the positive response of users saying, let me have ads on my own terms rather than having to sit through this pre-roll.”

When they do get pre-roll video, 62% of mobile app users say they would rather be the ones to initiate the experience or have it fall within natural breaks in the game action or app activity.

Obviously, MediaBrix is hoping to validate its own business model with survey questions pitched to these issues. The company makes various ad units that allow for product integration, ad-views in exchange for virtual currency and ads at breaks in the game action. MediaBrix works with large game suppliers like EA. Brandt says the units generate engagement rates of over 20%.