Mobile advertising not about to slow

According to a report released by BuzzCity, the huge growth in mobile advertising seen at the beginning of this year shows little sign of slowing.

The phenomenal growth in mobile advertising witnessed in early 2011 shows little sign of slowing according to a new report published by global mobile media company, BuzzCity.

The BuzzCity Report, a quarterly summary on the trends and forces shaping mobile advertising, shows that more adverts (53 billion) have been served over BuzzCity’s network in the first six months of 2011 than the whole of 2010 (52 billion). The figures in the latest BuzzCity report give proof to wider industry predictions including Gartner’s recent forecast that worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to double in 2011, growing to $3.3bn from $1.6bn generated in 2010[1].

South African growth softened (-3%) as cost per click prices rose due to increased competition among advertisers. Across the region mobile internet advertising continues to grow particularly in Nigeria (44%), Kenya (3%), Ghana (83% and Sudan (122%).

Advertisers are expected to take advantage of growth in Ghana and Sudan, where recommended bids remain cost effective. These two countries are among the top 40 and traffic in each market is expected to exceed 100m monthly impressions in the immediate future.” BuzzCity attributes this anticipated growth to falling data rates, cheaper handsets, heavy promotion of the mobile internet and better mobile content.

Dr KF Lai, BuzzCity CEO, commented on the new figures: “”2011 is already proving to be an interesting year for mobile advertising. In recent years there has been much promise that mobile advertising would step up a gear. With mobile data tariffs becoming more affordable, coupled with increasing smartphone adoption as well as consumer demand for mobile content and services, it seems that this promise is actually becoming a reality.””

BuzzCity’s network now serves over 10 billion paid ads per month, and has grown by 28% in the last quarter. Leading the charge globally are the United States, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, which all now serve over 1 billion mobile adverts per quarter.

Dr KF Lai adds: “”As mobile payment technology starts to become more mainstream, we expect mobile advertising to step up a further gear in response, albeit with some changes to the way adverts are delivered, for example via apps as opposed to on mobile sites.””

To view the full report, which includes details of the top mobile handsets for internet usage, as well as an in-depth look at the issue of operating system fragmentation in relation to mobile advertising, please visit reports.buzzcity.com

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