Mobile ad spend up over 99% in 2008

Mobile ad spend in the UK bucked market trends last year rising 99.2% year on year to £28.6m, according to a new study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mobile display advertising, which includes banners, text links, tenancies pre/post roll and in-game, accounted for 49.8% of all mobile advertising spend and was worth £14.2m last year.

Paid-for search advertising was worth around £14.4m, accounting for 50.2% of all mobile ad spend.

The survey only encompasses mobile media spend, and does not include marketing expenditure in areas such as SMS or MMS production and delivery costs.

The IAB made the decision to widened its remit to include mobile internet advertising in July last year when 3 mobile, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone signed up to become members.

The industry body is planning to launch a “How To” guide on briefing, planning and executing campaigns for marketers. It is currently conducting research into the effectiveness of mobile advertising, with the results due in early June.

Jon Mew, IAB head of mobile, says: “This study is a UK first and means the IAB can accurately prove and track how much marketers are spending on mobile. The sector is in its infancy but is considerably bigger than the market was expecting. Thanks to these landmark figures we know the real value of the mobile advertising industry, and will now be able to chart the medium’s growth with confidence.”