Mobile Brand Advertising Readies for Takeoff, Direct Already on Its Way

Many of the pieces are in place for mobile brand advertising to start scaling up, according to eMarketer’s “Mobile Brand Advertising” report, which projects that worldwide mobile brand advertising will increase to $3.6 billion in 2011 - nearly 30 times more than the mere $124 million in 2006, reports MarketingCharts.

1. Worldwide Brand and Direct Mobile Ad Spend, 2006-2011
2. US Mobile Phone Users’ Acceptance/Rejection of Mobile Ads, by Ad Type

• During the forecast period, mobile direct marketing is projected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2006 to $16 billion.
• In 2007, mobile brand marketing spend - $277 million - is expected to constitute just 10 percent of total mobile ad spending, which is projected to reach nearly $2.8 billion.
• By the end of the forecast period, mobile brand ad spend - nearly $3.6 billion - is expected to make up 22 percent of total mobile ad spend.
• Total mobile ad spending is projected to grow from nearly $2.8 billion in 2007 to nearly $5.0 billion in 2008 (79 percent year-over-year [YOY] growth) and $7.5 billion in 2009 (51 percent YOY growth).

Among the factors driving the growth is that mobile text messaging has become more or less a mass-market service worldwide; mobile music is also climbing the rungs of the mass-market ladder; and, most important, there are mobile-centric tribes of users in both advanced and developing economies, where the mobile screen is the first place where marketers can reach them, according to eMarketer.

However, mobile marketing campaigns need to be relevant and hiccup-free so that they don’t turn off consumers sensitive to ad exposure, according to John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst at eMarketer.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a Maritz Research survey of Gen Y consumers said they were unlikely or definitely unlikely to subscribe to text retail offers sent to their handsets. Moreover, a full 84 percent of mobile users in an Ingenio survey conducted by Harris Interactive said text messages sent by companies would be unacceptable (see table 2).

See more findings from the Ingenio/Harris study: “Survey: Growing Opportunities for Mobile Advertising.”