Mobile ad spending soars with smartphones

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 06 December 2011 10:40

IT Industry - Market

Smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry now dominate the soaring mobile advertising market as Australians reportedly become increasingly comfortable receiving ads on their mobile devices.

According to a survey by InMobi, mobile advertising on Australian phones has grown a staggering 81 percent from the first quarter of 2011 compared with the third quarter to more than one billion impressions, according to new research from leading independent global mobile advertising network, InMobi.

With the iPhone and Blackberry capturing 85 percent share of available impressions in Australia, the figure is higher than the UK and the US and on a par with the Singapore market.

Research earlier this year by InMobi found that of the Australians feeling more comfortable receiving ads on their mobile devices, more than half were viewing the ads within a smart phone application.

According to InMobi founder and CEO, Naveen Tewari, the 'burgeoning organic growth of the mobile advertising market in Australia is only going to intensify as InMobi increases its investment and focus on this market.'

Based on estimates for the Australian market from PwC, Tewari says that Australia is growing at a slower pace than North America and Western Europe, but faster than Asia Pacific and Japan, and smart phone penetration is much higher than those markets.

Tewari, who claims InMobi has become the world's largest independent mobile advertising network, serving 138.4 billion impressions in more than 165 markets worldwide, says that Australia has one of the highest penetrations of smart phones in the world. 'This shows the huge potential of Australia as a market for engaging, rich media mobile advertising,' Tewari said.

Tewari cites Gartner figures from June, which he says showed that the Asia Pacific and Japan regions - of which Australia is part - will have the largest share of mobile advertising in the world - accounting for nearly $US7 billion by 2015.

'It's clear from our report that the trend towards the use of smart phones and in-application advertising is only going to grow. In application impressions grew 99% from the first to the third quarter and smart phone impressions grew by 149% overall in the same period,' Tewari said.

In its research earlier this year, 75 percent of Australia mobile web users reported being 'very comfortable and somewhat comfortable' with mobile advertising - which was 10 points higher than users in US and four points higher than Asia.

Tewari said InMobi recently received a capital investment boost of $US200 million from Japanese internet company Softbank, and would use the capital to expand into new markets such as Australia, to complement its presence in key global markets such as the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.