Companies are now expected to spend nearly double, this year, what they did last year.
According to the results of a recent study, global mobile ad spending is rising extremely quickly, as it had reached $17.96 billion in 2013, having more than doubled since the year before, and now it is expected to nearly double once again this year.
The growth in 2014 should reach about 75 percent, to bring itself to a worldwide total of 431.5 billion.
The mobile ad spend total for this year represents about a quarter of all of the spending that has occurred on digital advertising. The two companies that will be benefiting the most as a result of this growing spending are Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. Last year, those two companies took in over two thirds of the amount of money that was spent on mobile marketing ads.
The mobile ad budget and spending data for the report was assembled by Millennial Media Inc.
That company offers data analysis for advertisers to help to provide valuable insight and shed some light on industry trends. The report helps to better understand the goals of advertisers based on the spending for the channel that occurred last year, compared it to the year before, and made predictions for this year. The data regarding ad spending had been published last week by eMarketer.
Millennial Media reported that the leading five vertical markets in terms of spending over the mobile channel for advertising, last year were: entertainment, retail, telecommunications, finance, and computer goods, in that order. When compared to the year before, entertainment and retail switched places, and automotive spending’s position was taken by consumer goods.
The consumer goods mobile spending has grown by 134 percent in 2014 alone. However, the largest increase that was seen year over year was in sports advertising. That sector increased the amount that it was pouring into ads by almost 500 percent. One of the trends that increased by the largest amount in terms of popularity and spending was rich media and video ads, which managed to increase 350 percent in the auto advertising sector when compared to banner ads.
Mobile marketing report released by Millennial Media
Millennial Media, a mobile advertising firm, has released its latest 2012 SMART report, which highlights the trends that have emerged in the mobile marketing sector over the past year. Mobile devices are becoming more common, which has increased activity in the mobile marketing sector exponentially. More advertisers are looking to engage consumers through their mobile devices, and mobile marketing campaigns have been very successful in doing this in the past. Many advertisers are looking to maintain a strong presence in mobile marketing, but have been faced with significant challenges over the past year.
Advertisers using mobile marketing to maintain in-market presence
According to the report, 39% of advertisers around the world used mobile platforms in order to maintain their in-market presence. Mobile marketing is not only considered an effective way to engage consumers and encourage them to purchase new products; it is also an effective means of ensuring that consumers do not forget that particular products are available. Using mobile marketing to maintain in-market presence has proven somewhat successful for many advertisers, helping them sustain a constant connection with a wide range of consumers.
Brick-and-mortar store traffic on the decline
The report also shows that mobile marketing is being used to build brand awareness and drive traffic to websites. Relatively few marketers are using mobile marketing campaigns to promote in-store traffic. Those that are pushing in-store traffic are primarily operating within the restaurant and retail industries. While advertisers have found some success in driving consumer traffic to actual stores, many consumers prefer to shop using their smartphones and tablets, which has had a marked impact on the retail sector as a growing number of people opt to use their mobile devices to purchase products rather than visit an actual store.
Mobile commerce helping offset the decline of physical traffic for retailers
While physical traffic for retailers may be on the decline, the prevalence of mobile commerce has offset whatever losses retailers would see from this trend. Consumers are eager to purchase products through e-commerce sites, which has helped the retailer industry see impressive gains over the past year. Mobile commerce is expected to help retailers see promising growth in several sectors, as long as these retailers provide consumers with easy-to-use mobile commerce services.
