Mobile Advertising Expected to Continue on Solid Growth Path

Companies hoping to make their way with mobile advertising should already be on board for the amazing ride. According to a TechCrunch report, this market is growing like gangbusters and shows no signs of stopping.

Reports from BIA/Kelsey show that the U.S. mobile advertising revenues are expected to grow from $491 million in 2009 to $2.9 billion in 2014.The data captured is based on evaluations of any advertising that is placed in mobile search, which entails text advertising applied to search queries on mobile devices; display, which includes advertising that is applied to app and mobile Web inventory; and SMS or commercial SMS messaging.

For the forecasted period, BIA/Kelsey anticipate that U.S. mobile search ad revenues will grow from $59 million to $1.6 billion. At the same time, mobile display ad revenues will grow from $206 million to $803 million. U.S. mobile SMS ad revenues are expected to grow from $226 million to $562 million.

Estimates surrounding the U.S. mobile local advertising revenues based on local ads include growth from $213 million in 2009 to $2.03 billion in 2014, representing 44 percent of the total U.S. mobile ad revenue captured in 2009, growing to 69 percent in 2014.

BIA/Kelsey shared in a statement that as mobile advertising moves to the SMB and mid-market segments, there is expected to be an increase in adoption for advertisers, as well as growth in geo-targeted ad spends.

Mobile search advertising has the greatest potential to grow in the next few years, which represents a significant opportunity for Google. Bing also stands to reap the benefits, especially as Microsoft (News - Alert) continues to ramp up its dedicated focus in this space.

Of course, Google and Microsoft did not do this alone and without the phenomenal success of the iPhone and BlackBerry (News - Alert) smartphones, this market would not be poised for such strong growth. Continued intense competition between the key players will certainly contribute to an exciting and growing market and those who already have a strong hold should do well.

As for operating systems in the smartphone space, an interesting report emerged today that shows BlackBerry is taking dominance back from Apple (News - Alert). According to a recent InformationWeek report, the BlackBerry Operating System (OS) accounted for 34.3 percent of Internet users, topping out above Apple iOS’s 33 percent of mobile Internet users.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca