• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 25, 2011

“The time to measure mobile by traditional digital metrics is over,” Marcus Startzel, senior vice president-sales at Millennial Media asserted during the afternoon session of OMMA Mobile, citing examples that transcend conventional click-through and engagement metrics. Things like GMC or Buick “driving people” into their dealerships, or Patagonia driving people to their app, he said, adding that those consumers and marketers are, “Taking advantage of what mobile can do that the computer cannot do. Taking it right into the store.”

That said, Startzel said he believes that conventional digital marketplace metrics will be applied to mobile for some time to come.

“Yes click-through rates are higher and engagement rates are higher, and it probably will be for some time,” he said, adding however, that, “Mobile has such an opportunity, and the click-through rate is the way we are measuring things, because mobile is by and large being bought by digital agencies, because of the way we do business are using those digital metrics.”

In other words, mobile is suffering from the cultural legacy of the media business models that preceded it, just like every other major medium has before it.