After several years of predictions and studies about how advertising will migrate to mobile platforms, a new research report from Berg Insight predicts that mobile ad spending will increase several times by 2017. According to the survey, the total value of the global mobile marketing and advertising market will grow from $4.4 billion in 2011 at a compound annual growth rate of 31% to $26.1 billion in 2017.
That is a big jump considering that by 2017, mobile is expected to account for 15.5% of the total online advertising market or 4.4% of the total global ad spending for all media. However, there are challenges. As pointed out by Berg Insight telecom analyst Rickard Andersson, consumers are currently devoting a quarter of their media consumption time on mobile devices, yet the channel only attracts slightly more than 1% of advertising dollars.
Andersson also said that the unique targeting possibilities and new creative ad units suitable for mobile devices will spur mobile ad spending to increase several times in the medium-term.
In addition to the growth, Berg Insight noted that the mobile marketing value chain is still developing, and there are a large number of players dedicated to different activities related to mobile advertising.
Berg Insight said the major mobile OS providers Google and Apple already hold major market share through their AdMob and iAd platforms. Microsoft and Yahoo are also in fierce competition over market share in the mobile advertising space. In addition, Facebook has made the first inroads into the mobile ad market and may surface as an important player if it can combine advanced user targeting with innovative mobile ad formats.
For the report, Berg Insight defines mobile advertising as the digital ads that appear on a mobile handset screen.
