Mobile ad market grows by 116%, say IAB and PwC
The adoption of smartphones helped the mobile advertising market grow by 116% to £83m in 2010, according to a new report.
That year on year growth figure comes from the third annual IAB and PwC mobile study, which records the dramatic change in how consumers are more readily using mobiles to access media.
Advertisers’ spend on search on mobile has nearly tripled from 2009, going up from £20.2 million to £54.9 million.
Display advertising in the form of banner ads, text links, and tenancies experienced a rise of 62% to £23.7 million, from £14.6 million in 2009.
The mobile format of pre-and post-roll adverts also experienced a rise of 492% to £1.1 million, up from £0.2 million in 2009, showing that advertisers are taking advantage of smartphones' rich media opportunities.
Jon Mew, director of mobile and operations at the IAB, said: “This year’s research shows that traditional advertisers such as finance, telecoms and consumer goods are really starting to understand the opportunities that mobile, and only mobile, offers. Mobile advertising allows advertisers to target people on the move, and capture them when they’re most receptive."
Anna Bartz, strategy manager at PwC, added: "We are witnessing patterns of growth similar to online advertising in its early stages. Increasing technology packed into handsets coupled with decreasing costs, presents brands with a tempting opportunity to target mobile consumers.”
Top spenders
The report shows the top five display advertising categories in 2010:
Entertainment & Media – 32.9% (61.5% in 2009)Finance – 18.6% (8.1% in 2009)Telecoms – 14.3% (14.7% in 2009)Consumer Goods – 11.8% (3.2% in 2009)Automotive – 6.5% (2.5% in 2009)