Tremendous Upswings in North America & Western Europe Drive Mobile Momentum
NEW YORK & BRUSSELS – The U.S. IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB Europe and IHS revealed that global figures for mobile advertising revenue leaped a massive 82.8 percent to $8.9 billion (€6.9 billion) in 2012 from $5.3 billion (€3.8 billion) in 2011 – highlighting a strong positive growth story taking place across mobile advertising formats. With growth rates of 88.8 percent in search, 87.3 percent in display and 40.2 percent in messaging at a global level, ad spend in these formats reflects bullish growth in the sector.
“This study is extremely relevant to advertisers as it assists companies to make investment decisions and accurately access market opportunities as we experience a monumental shift across communication platforms”
Mobile advertising revenue continues to be dominated by the search segment, which represented 52.8 percent of total global mobile advertising revenue, or $4.7 USD (€3.6 billion EURO) in 2012, $2.5 billion in 2011 (€1.9 billion). Display advertising accounted for 38.7 percent and messaging 8.5 percent.
The share by region of the global figure of $8.9 billion (€6.9 billion) for 2012 is:
- Asia-Pacific: 40.2% ($3,558 million/€2,769 million)
- North America: 39.8% ($3,525 million/€2,743 million)
- Western Europe: 16.9% ($1,499 million/€1,167 million)
- Central Europe: 1.3% ($112 million/€87 million)
- Middle East & Africa: 1.2% ($109 million/€85 million)
- Latin America: 0.6% ($50 million/€39 million)
Growth year-over-year was strong across the board, led by North America, which saw a 111 percent surge over 2011 figures. Western Europe also saw a major increase, 91 percent over the previous year. Other year-over-year upswings include:
- Latin America: 71%
- Central Europe: 69%
- Middle-East and Africa: 68%
- Asia-Pacific: 60%
“Mobile is coming into its own as a powerhouse advertising medium,” says Anna Bager, Vice President and General Manager, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, U.S. IAB. “Today’s advertising is happening in a world where ad campaigns can be planned and bought across global networks on multiple media, but the massive and continuing acceleration of mobile’s international impact provides new and exciting frontiers for content and communication.”
“This study is extremely relevant to advertisers as it assists companies to make investment decisions and accurately access market opportunities as we experience a monumental shift across communication platforms,” explains Kimon Zorbas, CEO, IAB Europe, adding, “In Europe we are still experiencing significant economic turmoil and unemployment. Despite this reality, our sector is a positive beacon for recovery and growth. The message to European policy makers is they should take into careful consideration the promising opportunities our sector offers and focus on removing barriers to growth.”
“From a creative and communication standpoint, mobile advertising is hyper-personal. But more so than other media, from a business perspective, it is global. Mobile advertising is being planned, bought and sold across national borders and regions. This makes a global market sizing initiative ever more urgent,” says Daniel Knapp, Director Advertising Research at IHS, and author of the research.
Key factors for the impressive increase in mobile advertising revenue are rising smartphone adoption/ 3G and 4G penetration, more time spent on mobile devices, better advertising monetization through targeting ad inventory consolidation. “We have seen a shift from a very fragmented landscape to one that is becoming more networked,“ explains Knapp. “Technological innovation has simplified buying mobile inventory at scale, enabling advertisers to better reach larger audiences across multiple publishers and advertising networks,” he continues.
To review the complete report, please visit iab.net/globalmobile.
Market sizing methodology:
Market size is gross, defined as after discounts, before agency commissions. Global market sizing and format split is based on reported data by local IABs and a statistical and econometric model. Reported data has been harmonized to adjust for discounts and agency commissions. Modeled data is based on variables such as smartphone penetration, 3G subscriptions, messaging volume. Model has been refined based on benchmarking variables such as ad spend per capita, mobile subscriptions and 3G/4G penetration as well as through interviews with key players across the mobile advertising ecosystem. Model also takes into account typology of mobile ad markets in terms of maturity and format proliferation.
About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit iab.net.
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the voice of digital business. Its mission is to protect, prove, promote and professionalise Europe’s online advertising, media, market research and analytics industries. Together with its members – companies and national trade associations – IAB Europe represents over 5,500 organisations.
The member countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom
Our corporate members include Adconion Media Group, Adobe, ADTECH, Alcatel-Lucent, AOL Advertising Europe, AudienceScience, BBC Advertising, CNN, CoAdvertise, comScore Europe, CPX Interactive, Criteo, eBay International Advertising, Expedia Inc, Fox Interactive Media, Gemius, Goldbach Media Group, Google, GroupM, Hi-Media, Koan, Microsoft Europe, Millward Brown, News Corporation, nugg.ad, Nielsen Online, OMD, Orange Advertising Network, PHD, Prisa, Publicitas Europe, Quisma, Sanoma Digital, Selligent, TradeDoubler, Triton Digital, United Internet Media, ValueClick, Verisign, Viacom International Media Networks, Webtrekk, White & Case, Yahoo! and zanox. iabeurope.eu.
