Mobile breaks into the mainstream of digital advertising

story by Inside Radio

eMarketer projects U.S. mobile ad spending will grow 79% to reach $743 million this year. Previously, the internet market research firm projected $593 million in U.S. mobile ad spend in 2010, including $166 million in display advertising. Google's susequent acquisition of AdMob and Apple's introduction of the iAd prompted the revised forecast.

That growth will slow somewhat to double-digit rates as spending hits over $1.1 billion in 2011 and more than $2.5 billion by 2014, eMarketer predicts. "The expansion of smartphone market and the attractive usage and demographic profile of smartphone owners have forced more marketers to pay closer attention to mobile," eMarketer senior analyst Noah Elkin says.

Video, display and search ad spending on mobile will all more than double this year, according to the forcast, while growth in messaging advertising will lag behind other more sophisticated mobile formats. For now, however, SMS text messaging is still the largest format, with an outlay of $327 million estimated for 2010. "It is safe to say that many marketers who had not previously considered mobile advertising are now eager to tap into its potential, thanks to the staamp of legitimacy applied to the medium y the high-profile entrance of companies such as Apple and Google," Elkin says.