Forecast: Mobile ad dollars will hit $4.06 billion

Mobile advertising has been a hot media topic this year, and it’s getting even hotter.

The digital marketing analysis firm eMarketer now predicts that U.S. mobile advertising, including display, search and message-based ads on mobile phones and tablets, will increase 180 percent to $4.06 billion this year.

That’s a significant revision to the company’s previous forecast in September, when it predicted mobile ad spending would grow 80 percent to $2.61 billion.

As a part of its new forecast eMarketer now says mobile will grow another 77 percent in 2013 to $7.19 billion, 55 percent in 2014 to $11.14 billion, 42 percent in 2015 to $15.82 billion and 32 percent in 2016 to $20.89 billion.

The company says mobile ad spending is growing more quickly than originally expected due in part to ad formats such as Facebook’s mobile newsfeed and Twitter’s Promoted Products. Those features create a more seamless experience for consumers, allowing platform owners to create revenue, or at least not lose revenue.

Facebook, for instance, reported no mobile ad revenue in 2011 but is expected to bring in more than $300 million this year. Google is also poised for strong mobile growth, from $750 million last year to more than $2 billion this year.

For more analysis from eMarketer click here.

Tags: 2013, ad spending, ads, consumers, emarketer, facebook, facebook mobile, features, forecast, google, google mobile, marketing, mobile, mobile ad spending, mobile advertising, newsfeed, Twitter Promoted Products