Despite being a nascent industry in tough economic times, mobile advertising in the UK is growing at a faster rate than previously expected.
The IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers research demonstrates that mobile advertising has experienced an impressive and steady growth in the UK in an overall declining market. In 2008, as more brands trialed and embraced the medium, spending increased by a whopping 99.2% to $44 million.
Mobile display advertising, which includes banners, in-game, text links and pre/post roll formats, and paid search, accounted for around half ($22 million) of the overall spend.
“This study is a UK first and means the IAB can accurately prove and track how much marketers are spending on mobile,” said Jon Mew, head of mobile at the Internet Advertising Bureau. “The sector is in its infancy but is considerably bigger than the market was expecting. Thanks to these landmark figures we know the real value of the mobile advertising industry, and will now be able to chart the medium’s growth with confidence.”
The study highlighted several factors as key drivers of the growth in mobile advertising: a bigger audience, a better mobile user experience, increased mobile internet and mobile socnet usage, better handsets, and a growing number of mobile marketing departments in media agencies across Britain.
“Over the past 12 months the marketplace has been buzzing with anticipation about this exciting new channel,” said Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB. “Now is the perfect time for brands to dip their toes in the water, to see for themselves how effective and complementary mobile advertising can be.”
With the growing numbers of mobile marketers comes an increased demand for information and industry statistics. To meet this need the IAB is soon to launch a ‘How To’ guide on briefing, planning and executing campaigns and conducting research into the effectiveness of mobile advertising.
