How Mobile Ad Networks Are Making Digital Spaces More Inclusive
Picture trying to close a pop-up ad when you can’t see the tiny X button, or hearing a screen reader announce ‘unlabeled button’ instead of ‘Shop Now.’ For 16 million disabled people in the UK, these aren’t edge cases—they’re daily barriers in mobile advertising.
Increasingly, brands rely on mobile ad networks to deliver advertising across apps and platforms, making it crucial that campaigns are accessible and inclusive.
Mobile advertising has grown rapidly, but accessibility has been left behind. Many disabled people still come up against ads that screen readers can’t interpret, buttons that require precise tapping, or visuals that are impossible to see because of low contrast.
These barriers stop people from taking part in the same digital spaces that everyone else uses every day.
Why Accessible Mobile Advertising Matters for UK Users
Mobile advertising reaches people at all times of the day — while checking messages, planning travel, or catching up on news. For many disabled people, the phone is a lifeline to community, work, and independence. When ads aren’t accessible, they interrupt that flow and put barriers in the way.
A screen reader can only work with what it’s given. If an ad has unlabeled icons, missing text descriptions, or a layout that jumps around, people with impaired vision are left guessing and can’t read the content. Someone with limited dexterity may struggle to tap tiny buttons or close pop-ups that rely on pinpoint accuracy. Low-contrast text makes entire messages disappear for many users. Fast-flashing elements can affect people with photosensitive conditions. None of these barriers are inevitable; they’re design choices that haven’t considered all users.
The impact is more than inconvenience. It blocks access to information that non-disabled people receive without effort. It also shuts out a large section of the UK population. With disabled people representing a significant share of mobile users, ignoring accessibility weakens campaign reach and creates a fragmented experience..
Accessible mobile advertising matters because it gives people equal access to the information brands are sharing. It also makes campaigns more relevant. When advertisers address barriers from the start, they reach people who have been routinely overlooked, and they build trust by showing that disabled audiences are part of the conversation.
UK Accessibility Standards for Mobile Advertising (Equality Act, RNIB, AbilityNet)
UK law sets clear expectations for accessible digital services. Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses must make reasonable adjustments so disabled people can use their services on an equal basis. That duty applies to mobile advertising too. If an ad is impossible to read with a screen reader or relies on tiny tap targets, the barrier sits within the design — not the person.
Alongside legal requirements, there are established standards that help advertisers build campaigns that work for a wider range of users. WCAG 2.2 outlines internationally recognised guidance on structure, readability and interaction. These standards form the baseline for accessible digital content.
UK organisations also publish advice shaped by everyday experience. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) offers clear guidance on web accessibility guidelines and colour contrast.
AbilityNet provides practical recommendations for mobile and web content, including creating accessible documents, alt text, logical navigation and video captioning.
Resources such as these show advertisers how to remove common barriers. They highlight small changes—like adding clear labels, choosing readable typefaces and supporting multiple ways to interact—that make mobile ads usable for a much broader audience.
Why Accessibility Still Gets Missed in Mobile Ad Campaigns
Many of the barriers in mobile advertising come from the way campaigns are built. Creative teams often design for large desktop screens first, then shrink everything down for mobile at the end. That process means crucial accessibility details are lost — captions don’t scale well, text becomes too small, and controls that worked on a laptop become fiddly on a phone.
Another issue is the pace of mobile advertising. Ads are produced quickly, often as short bursts of content designed to grab attention. In that rush, accessibility checks are skipped. Screen reader labels are left empty, touch targets are squeezed into corners, and colour choices are made for style rather than clarity. None of this is deliberate exclusion, but the result is the same: disabled people face unnecessary obstacles.
Mobile formats create extra challenges too. Vertical video leaves little space for readable text. Interactive ads depend on precise gestures. Auto-playing motion can overwhelm people who process visual information differently. If these factors aren’t considered early on, they turn into barriers that block entire groups of users.
This isn’t a niche concern. Ofcom reports that around 24% of people in the UK — about 16 million individuals — are disabled people. Their research shows that disabled people still face more barriers online than non-disabled people, and those with physical impairments are the least likely to complete basic digital tasks when platforms or ads are not designed accessibly. When mobile campaigns overlook this, they cut out a large share of the population and restrict who can understand or act on the information being shown.
The scale of this problem becomes clearer when we look at the numbers.
What the Data Shows About Mobile Use and Accessibility
A growing set of UK studies helps explain why accessible mobile ads matter so much. Most disabled adults now use mobile internet, but at lower rates than non-disabled people, and they face more obstacles when doing so. An ONS analysis found that 59% of disabled adults used the internet on mobile devices, compared with 82% of non-disabled adults.
Disabled people remain over-represented among those who cannot get online at all, although this gap has been narrowing over time.
Real-world surveys show the impact of poor design on everyday use. Research by RiDC found that 26% of disabled and older users struggled to access or use an app they had downloaded, and 44% of those people deleted the app because the barriers were too great. This provides a clear example of how accessibility issues can directly reduce engagement.
There is still limited public data that compares completion rates for accessible and inaccessible mobile ads. However, wider evidence points in the same direction. A global review of advertising accessibility found that only around 9–10% of TV ads contained accessibility features such as captions or audio description, yet adding captions was associated with an 8% increase in ad recall and an 18% rise in brand linkage. These results suggest that mobile ads designed with accessibility in mind could see similar gains in how well audiences understand and remember the message.
The ASA has also made clear that disability is a protected characteristic. Their guidance states that ads must not mock or belittle disabled people, and that leaving out important accessibility information can mislead consumers. While ASA rules do not yet include detailed technical standards for mobile ads, the principle is straightforward: excluding or confusing disabled viewers can breach the advertising codes.
Together, these findings show two things: disabled people use mobile internet widely, and they encounter more barriers than non-disabled people. They also show that simple accessibility features can improve how well an ad performs.
Case Study: How Accessible Mobile Ads Improved Tesco’s Digital Campaign Performance
Purple Goat Agency’s collaboration with Tesco provides one of the clearest data-backed examples of how inclusive mobile advertising can perform. Most campaigns that focus on accessibility or disabled representation never publish detailed engagement results, which makes it difficult to compare impact across the industry. Tesco’s campaign is a rare exception, offering hard numbers that show how thoughtful, accessibility-focused creative can outperform standard approaches.
The campaign promoted Tesco’s Changing Places facilities by partnering with 11 disabled influencers, each sharing how these spaces support day-to-day life. The content was designed for mobile viewing, with clear captions, steady visuals and stories shaped by lived experience.
Purple Goat’s founder, Martyn Sibley, often highlights why this approach works so well. As he puts it:
“Embed accessibility from the start — it’s easier, smarter, and more authentic than retrofitting.”
His point is reflected throughout the Tesco campaign, which treated disabled creators as central to the message rather than as an add-on.
A Nielsen study reported a strong uplift in familiarity with Changing Places facilities and a marked improvement in overall brand perception. The campaign also achieved a Net Sentiment Score of +77, meaning the response from viewers was overwhelmingly positive. In simple terms, far more people reacted favourably than negatively, reflecting how well the message connected.
Paid performance followed the same pattern. Costs per thousand impressions (CPM) and costs per click (CPC) were both lower than comparable campaigns that did not involve disabled creators or an accessibility-focused brief.
This case highlights what can happen when disabled people guide the creative process. The campaign reached more people, cost less to deliver and presented accessible design and lived experience in a way that felt genuine rather than tokenistic.
Practical Tips to Create Accessible Mobile Ads That Work for More People
There are simple steps advertisers can take to remove common barriers and create mobile ads that more people can use. These tips include clear examples, recommended tools and practical measurements you can apply straight away.
Test with Assistive Tech
Try the ad with screen readers such as VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android).
- Bad example: A button labelled “Learn more” that a screen reader announces only as “Button.”
- Good example: A button labelled “Learn more about our spring offers,” giving people the full context.
Use Clear, High-Contrast Text
Readable text makes the biggest difference for blind and low-vision users. Aim for a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for regular body text.
- Bad example: Light grey text on a white or pale background.
- Good example: Dark text on a light background, or light text on a dark background.
Helpful tool: Colour Contrast Analyser (by TPGi).
Keep Text Large Enough to Read
Small fonts get lost on mobile screens.
- Aim for at least 16px as a baseline for body text.
- Increase text size for captions or text placed over images.
Avoid Fast Flashing or Rapid Motion
Sudden changes in brightness or movement can affect people with photosensitive conditions or make content harder to follow.
- Bad example: A flashing “Sale!” banner.
- Good example: A steady visual that stays still long enough to read comfortably.
Make Touch Targets Easy to Press
Controls need to work for people with limited dexterity or those using voice-controlled input.
- Aim for a minimum touch target of 44 × 44 pixels.
- Bad example: A tiny “X” to close an ad.
- Good example: A clear, finger-sized button with a labelled close function.
Offer More Than One Format
Provide text, visual and audio versions of the same message where possible. This helps people choose the method that works best for them.
Use UK Accessibility Guidance
Include advice from RNIB, AbilityNet and GOV.UK when shaping creative. These organisations publish practical steps shaped by lived experience and real-world testing.
Include Disabled People in the Process
Feedback from disabled creators and testers reveals barriers that automated tools often miss. Their input leads to content that feels grounded and easier to follow across different devices and access needs.
Addressing the Cost Myth in Accessible Mobile Advertising
There’s a common belief that accessible mobile ads are expensive or slow to produce. In reality, most improvements come from decisions made during the early stages of design. Clear labels, readable text, steady visuals and workable touch targets don’t require specialist software or big budgets — they’re straightforward choices that shape how the content works for real users.
The parts that become expensive are usually the fixes added at the end. When teams test their ads with assistive tech or involve disabled users during development, they avoid multiple rounds of rework. This saves time, keeps production on track and ensures the final version feels consistent across different devices.
Good accessibility planning is more efficient than trying to correct barriers once a campaign is already running. The idea that accessibility is costly persists, but the practical reality is that early attention to access needs often reduces spending and streamlines production.
ROI: How Inclusive Mobile Advertising Strengthens Campaign Impact
Inclusive mobile advertising reaches a large part of the UK audience, including the 24% of adults who are disabled people. When ads work well with assistive tech and remove common barriers, brands see stronger interaction and clearer responses to their campaigns. People stay with the content for longer, share it more freely, and develop a better sense of trust in the organisation behind it.
From Legal Compliance to Meaningful Inclusion in Mobile Ad Design
Treating accessibility as a core design choice—rather than an afterthought—leads to work that reflects how people actually use their phones. Input from disabled users, practical testing, and attention to UK guidance all help create ads that feel considered and grounded in real everyday experience.
Closing Thoughts on Building Accessible Mobile Ad Campaigns
Accessible mobile ads give more people the chance to follow, hear, or read what’s being shown. They also help brands build a stronger, more consistent relationship with a wider audience.
Start today: Audit your three most recent mobile campaigns with a screen reader. Involve disabled users in your next creative review. Check one ad against WCAG 2.2 guidelines. Accessibility in mobile advertising is an ongoing practice that makes every campaign stronger.
