Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach $3.3 billion (around £2 billion) this year, according to new research from Gartner. That’s more than double the $1.6 billion generated in 2010.
Mobile ad revenue is expected to keep growing, reaching $20.6 billion by 2015, with search and maps expected to deliver the highest revenue and video/audio ads seeing the fastest growth.
Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, said “Mobile advertising is now recognized 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.”
The audience for mobile advertising will increase as the penetration of smartphones and media tablets increases. North America (28% of the global market) and Western Europe (25%) are the regions where mobile advertising budgets will grow most by 2015. However, However, Asia/Pacific and Japan will remain the leading market throughout the forecast period, accounting for almost half of all worldwide mobile advertising this year and 33.6% by 2015.