A rosy outlook
for mobile ads, at last
U.S. spending is forecast to jump to $4.9 billion
By Heidi Dawley
Jun 23, 2008
For years now, people have been expecting mobile advertising to take off in a big way. So far, it has not, but that may be about to change.
A new study forecasts a surge in worldwide spending taking place between now and 2012, roughly quintupling to $16.4 billion from just $2.6 billion in 2007, for a compound annual growth rate of 44 percent. By comparison, internet advertising will have $104 billion by that year.
That's according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers Annual Global Entertainment & Media Industry forecast.
Driving this growth in the U.S., as elsewhere, will be the adoption of third-generation (3G) wireless networks and faster access speeds, which will lead to a surge in web surfing by phone, much as the increasing adoption of broadband boosted internet usage and in turn drove the growth of internet advertising.
"It's not so much that mobile advertising wasn't attractive before, but it's that all the moons are starting to align to make mobile advertising much more attractive to a marketer," says Russ Sapienza, partner in the entertainment and media practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"There are a few things that will fuel the growth. Upgrades of the networks to permit high bandwidth applications, the continued deployment of handsets that are video capable and an uptick of content deals between content providers and carriers."
The study looked at the industry across different regions of the world. For the U.S., it forecasts that mobile advertising will grow to $4.9 billion in 2012 from $896 million in 2007, or about 40.4 percent a year on average.
And while advertising to mobile phones has so far largely been text advertising, this will change with the adoption of more sophisticated handsets. PWC expects a couple of key types of advertising to see rapid growth.
For one thing, as video-enabled handsets come in, more people will watch entertainment on their phones. This will draw in more advertisers and more video advertising. In the U.S. only about 20 percent of handsets are now video enabled.
PWC also expects that the arrival of GPS on phones will lead to a surge in local paid search advertising, as people use their phones to hunt out nearby restaurants and cinemas.
PWC predicts the number of wireless telephone subscribers in the U.S. will grow moderately, rising from 239 million in 2007 to 288 million in 2012. However, the amount spent on advertising will grow far more dramatically, increasing from $3.75 per subscriber in 2007 to $17.00 per subscriber in 2012.
U.S. growth will be outpaced in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which will average 51.4 percent a year, pushing mobile ad spending to $5.2 billion in 2012. .
Asia Pacific will grow about 41.6 percent a year on average during the period to hit $5.7 billion in 2012. In Latin America growth will be roughly 70 percent a year on average and spending will hit $201 million in 2012.
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended June 15, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. For the third straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
Experian Group Limited held the top advertiser spot for the second straight week with 4.5 million impressions, with NexTag No. 2 at 4.1 million. With 23.2 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MySpace at nearly 7 million.
Sessions per person per week were down one from the previous week to 16, and domains visited per person were down one to 40. PC time per person was basically flat compared with the previous week at 17 hours and 45 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through June 15 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
91,631
|
64.5
|
0:37:35
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
85,237
|
60.0
|
0:44:59
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
78,779
|
55.4
|
1:05:42
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
68,521
|
48.2
|
1:16:29
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
46,340
|
32.6
|
0:51:57
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
32,992
|
23.2
|
0:47:17
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
30,196
|
21.3
|
0:12:39
|
|
8
|
Apple Computer
|
24,541
|
17.3
|
0:32:33
|
|
9
|
Landmark Communications
|
23,913
|
16.8
|
0:15:28
|
|
10
|
Amazon
|
23,463
|
16.5
|
0:14:03
|
|
11
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,434
|
16.5
|
0:11:19
|
|
12
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
21,022
|
14.8
|
0:32:14
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
19,965
|
14.1
|
0:09:19
|
|
14
|
AT&T Inc.
|
19,828
|
14.0
|
0:20:51
|
|
15
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
15,573
|
11.0
|
0:18:33
|
|
16
|
Facebook
|
14,648
|
10.3
|
0:38:25
|
|
17
|
Comcast Corp.
|
13,969
|
9.8
|
0:31:01
|
|
18
|
Verizon Communications
|
13,243
|
9.3
|
0:18:14
|
|
19
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,928
|
9.1
|
0:21:28
|
|
20
|
CraigsList
|
12,774
|
9.0
|
0:37:48
|
|
21
|
United Online
|
12,758
|
9.0
|
0:25:11
|
|
22
|
Bank of America
|
12,565
|
8.8
|
0:24:58
|
|
23
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
12,308
|
8.7
|
0:05:36
|
|
24
|
CNET Networks
|
12,222
|
8.6
|
0:06:47
|
|
25
|
Glam Media
|
10,509
|
7.4
|
0:09:00
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through June 15 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
83,233
|
58.6
|
0:27:46
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
77,819
|
54.8
|
1:06:07
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
65,045
|
45.8
|
0:45:24
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
54,602
|
38.4
|
1:24:38
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
51,011
|
35.9
|
0:17:06
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
38,784
|
27.3
|
0:58:17
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
34,743
|
24.4
|
0:27:21
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
26,553
|
18.7
|
0:50:30
|
|
9 |
Apple
|
24,541
|
17.3
|
0:32:33
|
|
10 |
Wikipedia
|
22,990
|
16.2
|
0:11:19
|
|
11 |
Weather Channel
|
20,842
|
14.7
|
0:16:45
|
|
12 |
Amazon
|
18,801
|
13.2
|
0:13:15
|
|
13 |
Blogger
|
17,113
|
12.0
|
0:06:04
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
16,619
|
11.7
|
0:12:55
|
|
15 |
CNN Digital Network
|
15,922
|
11.2
|
0:18:06
|
|
16 |
Real Network
|
15,554
|
10.9
|
0:18:34
|
|
17 |
AT&T
|
15,291
|
10.8
|
0:23:31
|
|
18 |
Facebook
|
14,648
|
10.3
|
0:38:25
|
|
19 |
About.com
|
12,799
|
9.0
|
0:03:12
|
|
20 |
Craigslist
|
12,764
|
9.0
|
0:37:49
|
|
21 |
Bank of America
|
12,565
|
8.8
|
0:24:18
|
|
22 |
Comcast
|
10,885
|
7.7
|
0:38:00
|
|
23 |
Glam Media
|
10,509
|
7.4
|
0:09:00
|
|
24 |
Circuit City
|
9,405
|
6.6
|
0:03:00
|
|
25 |
Chase
|
9,044
|
6.4
|
0:15:42
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through June 15 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
4,548,451
|
|
2 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
4,111,673
|
|
3 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
3,324,843
|
|
4 |
Edmunds.com, Inc.
|
3,056,366
|
|
5 |
Microsoft Corporation
|
2,863,865
|
|
6 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
2,070,575
|
|
7 |
XM Satellite Radio, Inc.
|
1,469,546
|
|
8 |
AT&T Corp.
|
1,287,860
|
|
9 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
1,267,192
|
|
10 |
Nestle USA, Inc.
|
1,130,749
|
|
11 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
902,521
|
|
12 |
United Online, Inc.
|
683,399
|
|
13 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
582,637
|
|
14 |
Ford Motor Company
|
542,762
|
|
15 |
InterActiveCorp
|
457,035
|
|
16 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
454,226
|
|
17 |
Unclassified Local Advertiser
|
454,056
|
|
18 |
General Motors Corporation
|
432,419
|
|
19 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
425,625
|
|
20 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
392,424
|
|
21 |
Capital One Financial Corporation
|
337,868
|
|
22 |
United States Federal Government
|
317,336
|
|
23 |
American Express Company
|
305,035
|
|
24 |
General Electric Company
|
296,880
|
|
25 |
Washington Mutual, Inc.
|
283,099
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through June 15 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
23,193
|
|
2 |
MySpace
|
6,987
|
|
3 |
MSN
|
3,442
|
|
4 |
MSNBC
|
1,323
|
|
5 |
Comcast.net
|
1,159
|
|
6 |
AOL.com
|
1,093
|
|
7 |
eBay
|
802
|
|
8 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
574
|
|
9 |
The Weather Channel
|
538
|
|
10 |
IMDb
|
529
|
|
11 |
Facebook
|
526
|
|
12 |
YouTube
|
449
|
|
13 |
New York Times
|
386
|
|
14 |
Photobucket
|
361
|
|
15 |
CNN
|
277
|
|
16 |
Pogo
|
276
|
|
17 |
Juno
|
258
|
|
18 |
AT&T Worldnet
|
235
|
|
19 |
ESPN.com
|
232
|
|
20 |
Amazon
|
219
|
|
21 |
NeoPets
|
213
|
|
22 |
CNN Money
|
201
|
|
23 |
Verizon Online
|
200
|
|
24 |
NetZero
|
190
|
|
25 |
Excite
|
186
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through June 15 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
16
|
17
|
-5.88
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
40
|
41
|
-2.44
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
17:45:08
|
17:52:01
|
-0.64
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
142,129,244
|
140,120,348
|
1.43
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
223,123,804
|
223,077,372
|
0.02
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
|
|
