UK mobile marketing budgets surge 90% to hit £1bn

Mobile ad spend is forecast to surge 90 per cent to hit £1bn this year, as UK brands follow consumer behaviour and focus on mobile devices, according to research. 

A study released today (25 June) by eMarketer, reveals that increased investment in mobile search and display ad formats will drive the total value of the sector from £526m in 2012, to £999m this year.  

This has been driven by brands’ eagerness to keep abreast of smartphone adoption, as well as engage with the rapidly growing numbers of people ‘dual-screening’ on tablet devices while watching TV, according to the study.  

The surge in mobile ad spend will drive growth in the overall UK digital marketing sector until 2017, when total mobile ad spend will hit £3.7bn – 44 per cent of total digital ad budgets, according to eMaketer (see chart below). 

eMarketer-MobileAdSpend-2011-2017.460.jpg

 However, growth in the wider digital marketing sector is beginning to slow down, with growth slowing 0.6 per cent from 2012 and 2013, with eMarketer forecasting the sector will hit £6.1bn. 

 Growth in the sector will decline further each year to 2017 (see chart below).  

emarketerDigitalAdSpend-2011-2017

The cost of mobile ad inventory has traditionally been lower than those on desktop due to (historically) lower demand and lack of investment on the quality of these formats. 

However, as audiences migrate to such devices online, ad companies, most notably Google, are making mobile the core of their respective propositions.   

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