Worldwide mobile advertising revenue to double in 2011

Search and maps to deliver highest opportunity, while video/audio ads to grow fastest through 2015

Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to double in 2011 to $3.3bn from $1.6bn generated in 2010, according to IT research firm Gartner.

The research firm's report Forecast: Mobile Advertising, Worldwide, 2008-2015 revealed that worldwide revenue will reach $20.6bn by 2015, but not all types of mobile advertising will generate the same opportunity.

Highest revenue opportunity will be delivered by search and maps, while fastest growth will be seen in video/audio ads through 2015.

Gartner research director Stephanie Baghdassarian said mobile advertising is now recognised as an opportunity for brands, advertisers and publishers to engage consumers in a targeted and contextual manner, improving returns.

"For that reason, mobile advertising budgets are set to increase tremendously across the various categories and regions, growing from 0.5% of the total advertising budget in 2010 to over 4% in 2015," Baghdassarian said.

Gartner research vice president Andrew Frank said as the adoption of smartphones and media tablets extends to more consumers, the audience for mobile advertising will increase and become easier to segment and target, driving the growth of mobile advertising spend for brands and advertisers.

"Brand marketers who want to include mobile in their advertising initiatives should not delay their trials, and should have their budgets in place now to take advantage of mass consumer adoption of smartphones and media tablets," Frank said.

Gartner said that maximum growth in mobile advertising budgets will be experienced in North America and Western Europe, representing 28% and 25%, respectively, of the global market by 2015, with Asia/Pacific and Japan to remain the leading market throughout the forecast period.

Asia/Pacific and Japan is forecast to account for 49.2% of mobile advertising in 2011, and 33.6% of the global market in 2015.

"Mobile search, which includes paid positioning on maps and various forms of augmented reality, all of which can be informed by location, will spearhead mobile ad spending," Baghdassarian said.

"Mobile display, which includes both standard Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) banner formats and nonstandard rich media and interactive formats, will continue to be closely divided between in-app and mobile Web (in-browser) placements, reflecting consumer usage."

Frank said that this double growth doesn't mean, by any stretch, that the experience delivered by mobile advertising will reach its optimum point in that time frame.

"We expect that targeting and contextualization, especially in social sites and applications, will carry on improving throughout the forecast period and beyond."

http://media.cbronline.com/news/worldwide-mobile-advertising-revenue-to-double-in-2011-200611