DIGITAL MEDIA

Mobile advertising spend in Australia is expected to grow by 300% in 2008 as more consumers take up 3G data services and advertisers are lured by attractive campaign pricing, a new study by Frost & Sullivan has found.

The Australia Next-Generation Mobile Advertising Market 2007-2011 study, which focuses on mobile search and display advertising, predicts the growth based on last year’s total revenue of $2.5m.

Leaders in the mobile advertising space, including Vodafone, Hutchison 3, Sensis MediaSmart, ninemsn and Fairfax Digital, are now offering marketers more attractive mobile advertising propositions, the report said.

“2007 marked a watershed year in mobile advertising with the medium achieving a successful proof-of-concept stage,” said Darryl Nelson, Frost & Sullivan senior research manager, digital media, Asia Pacific.

“Indeed, advertisers which have adopted mobile advertising show a clear propensity to increase their spend with the medium. They are organisations which typically have large advertising budgets overall and have been wowed by the rich campaign ROI metrics available from mobile.

“At the same time, they typically have a strong commitment to digital advertising and are now looking for even more sophisticated mobile inventory,” he added.

The growing number of 3G handset subscribers in Australia, estimated to be over six million, is set to increase as operators phase out their non-3G handsets over the next two years which the report said is likely to further drive advertisers to use the medium. The launch of Apple’s iPhone on Friday is also expected to fuel the use of mobile data services.

In 2007, 50% of mobile advertising spend was concentrated among media and entertainment, banking, financial services and insurance industries, the report found. Vodafone was the biggest beneficiary of mobile advertising, taking 40% of the market.

The study also highlights the need for a continued reduction in mobile operator data charges and the development of more sophisticated mobile advertising offerings as key drivers for growth.

At present the majority of advertising spend is concentrated on display ads. Spend on search advertising is comparatively less as consumer activity remains focussed on free-to-access, on-desk directories within carrier portals.

The study was compiled from 213 interviews with senior marketing executives as well as major publishing groups, mobile operators and mobile advertising vendors.

Leave a comment