Last year less than half a billion dollars were spent on mobile marketing and advertising. While still a substantial chunk of change, it’s nothing compared to the compound annual growth rate mobile marketing is likely to experience over the next five years. Through the end of 2015, 2009’s total mobile marketing expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of better than 40%. That’s according to estimates from ABI Research, which foresees the growth based on multiple factors.
ABI’s mobile marketing strategies practice director Neil Strother says: “Compared to campaigns in more traditional media, mobile marketing can be relatively inexpensive. Moreover, ads can be highly targeted and naturally paired with rich mobile content that growing numbers of consumers are accessing through smart mobile devices.”
ABI postulates that mobile applications will continue to drive the growth of mobile marketing because they remain bankable “eyeball magnets” that offer a fast-track to potential customers. To date, better than three billion applications have been downloaded just from Apple’s App Store alone. And while the looming growth of the applications industry will likely prove bigger than even some analysts’ highest expectations, the real success stories may be the mobile marketers who find themselves on the front-lines of the hottest ad-supported apps.
“However,” Strother warns, “some factors still constrain this market. Mobile is still fragmented by the lack of standardized device platforms, networks, and web browsers, and the need for different campaign formats for different kinds of messages. Other inhibitors include ‘reluctant’ (mobile ad-resistant) users, limited mobile ad budgets, and a lack of experience with this emerging medium.”
But despite the anticipated bumps in the road, ABI is optimistic about the growth of the mobile marketing industry. And, soon, we will observe just how closely expectations line up with reality.