Mobile advertising revenue forecast to top $11.4bn this year
The latest survey of global mobile advertising revenue conducted by Gartner has found that revenue is forecast to top $11.4bn in 2013, up from $9.6bn in 2012. What’s more this is expected to be merely the tip of the iceberg with revenues projected to leap to $24.5bn in 2016.
A key growth driver is expected to be the growing integration of mobile channels into 360 degree advertising campaigns as the consume budgets once the sole preserve of print and radio.
This global performance masks regional disparities however with high-growth economies such as China and India becoming increasingly important and Europe and North America close the gap on hi-tech leaders Japan and South Korea.
Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, said: "The mobile advertising market took off even faster than we expected due to an increased uptake in smartphones and tablets, as well as the merger of consumer behaviors on computers and mobile devices. Growth in mobile advertising comes in part at the expense of print formats, especially local newspapers, which currently face much lower ad yields as a result of mobile publishing initiatives.
"Smartphones and media tablets extend the addressable market for mobile advertising in more and more geographies as an increasing population of users spends an increasing share of its time with these devices," said Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner. "This market will therefore become easier to segment and target, driving the growth of mobile advertising spend for brands and advertisers. Mobile advertising should be integrated into advertisers' overall marketing campaigns in order to connect with their audience in very specific, actionable ways through their smartphones and/or tablets."