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.
Security is beginning to attract more attention, but threats inspire little action
As mobile commerce becomes more prolific, security is becoming a much more serious issue. Hackers have begun to focus on the mobile field more diligently because of the lack of security solutions that exist therein. Malicious groups have turned much of their attention to the commerce space because of the trafficking of financial information. Due to lackluster security, many consumers are finding themselves exposed to the risk of having their financial information exploited by malicious parties.
Malicious devices are becoming more common
The number of malicious devices in the physical world is growing at a rapid pace. These devices include those that are designed to mimic or exploit cash registers, credit card readers, and other such hardware. Even gas pumps are being equipped with devices that are meant to steal information from credit cards. These devices are also becoming more mobile-centric as a growing number of people begin to pay for products and services with their smartphones rather than with their credit cards. While physical devices are quickly becoming a problematic issue, malware is being considered much more dangerous.
Malware is growing at a rapid pace
According to security firm MacAfee, malware targeting mobile devices is becoming more common at an alarming rate. The firm notes that the presence of malware targeting the Android platform specifically has tripled between 2012 and 2013, with an estimated 3.7 million malware applications having been identified at this time. Notably, much of this malware goes undeterred as it attacks consumers and retailers alike. This is largely due to the lack of focus that both people and businesses have when it comes to matters of mobile security.
Hackers are winning the fight on the security front
Hackers may be winning the security battle. Because retailers, and other types of businesses, are still somewhat new to the mobile field, they are not necessarily attuned to the security issues that exist within the mobile commerce space. As these businesses continue to embrace new security solutions, they are finding that hackers have already developed malware that can bypass these solutions.
