– Mobile Content & Access Was Largest Mobile & Social Media Sector in 2011 at $39.2 Billion, with Revenues from Business Segment Accounting for 58% of Total
– Mobile Advertising & Marketing was Fastest Growing Sector in 2011, Expanding 53.7%, Led by Advertising Segment’s 60.9% Growth
– Online Social Media Was Smallest Industry Sector at $2.83 billion, with Social Networks the Largest and Fastest Growing Segment
STAMFORD, Conn. – Total U.S. mobile & social media revenue – including consumer and business access, content, advertising and marketing – increased 30.2% to $45.38 billion in 2011, according to new data released by PQ Media (www.pqmedia.com), the leading provider of media econometrics. Mobile & social media revenue rose at a compound annual growth rate of 28.7% from 2006-2011, and is expected to grow at an accelerating 30.8% annual rate in 2012, according to the PQ Media U.S. Mobile & Social Media Forecast 2012-16.
PQ Media released the new U.S. Mobile & Social Media Forecast 2012-16 last week at MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit in Key Largo, FL, where CEO Patrick Quinn provided attendees with an exclusive State of the Industry presentation. A free executive summary and table of contents, as well as the full report for purchase, are available here. PQ Media’s new Forecast goes well beyond other mobile & social media research reports, most of which track only advertising spending. PQ Media for the first time collected, analyzed, defined, segmented and forecast the entire mobile & social media landscape, providing the most comprehensive and detailed perspective on the fastest-growing communications industry segment.
PQ Media identified 3 broad sectors of mobile & social media – mobile advertising & marketing, mobile content & access, and online social media. Within the three sectors, there are seven segments – mobile advertising, mobile marketing, consumer mobile content & access, business mobile content & access, social networks, blogs, and podcasts. Further, PQ Media identified 44 distinct revenue streams, such as mobile search advertising, mobile coupon marketing, paid mobile video downloads, business data access fees, social network advertising, blog marketing, and podcast business content, among many others.
Mobile content & access was by far the largest industry sector in 2011 with revenue of $39.17 billion, up 27.8%, as the business segment accounted for 58% of the total and the consumer segment, 42%. Mobile advertising & marketing was fastest growing sector in 2011, expanding 53.7% to $3.39 billion, as the advertising segment soared 60.9% and marketing surged 46.2%. Among the fastest growing mobile ad revenue streams were in-game, search and video. The marketing segment will grow faster than advertising from 2012-16, fueled by the location-based, coupons and marketing apps revenue streams, according to the PQ Media U.S. Mobile & Social Media Forecast 2012-16.
“The mobile media sector alone reached the $1 billion revenue mark faster than any communications industry in history in 2008, taking only five years compared with 16 for the internet,” said PQ Media’s Quinn. “Mobile will also reach the $100 billion mark in 2015 faster than any other communications industry, driven by several key growth drivers, including strong growth in overall mobile device penetration, the transition to smartphones and tablets, the torrent of new mobile content launches and the continued growth of consumer and business time spent with mobile media.”
Meanwhile, online social media was the smallest sector of mobile & social media in 2011, with $2.83 billion in revenues, but grew at a very strong 42.1%. Social networks was the largest and fastest growing segment by far, increasing 45.9% to $2.28 billion in 2011, according to PQ Media.
Together, mobile & social media accounted for 4.1% of overall communications industry revenue in 2011, up from only 1.3% in 2006. Eleven of the 44 mobile & social media revenue streams exceeded $1 billion in 2011, and 23 will do so by the end of 2016, according to the PQ Media U.S. Mobile & Social Media Forecast 2012-16.
About PQ Media
PQ Media (www.pqmedia.com) is the leading provider of global media econometrics and pioneer of emerging media research. PQ Media’s proprietary econometric research methodology and custom consulting services deliver actionable strategic intelligence to help its clients grow their media, entertainment and communications businesses. PQ Media partners with private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson on the VSS Communications Industry Forecast, the U.S. industry’s benchmark for spending, consumption and growth data for 25 years. For more information, contact Gabriella Kallay at gkallay@pqmedia.com, Tabor Ames at tames@pqmedia.com, or call 921-0368.
