Once again, analysts are predicting that advertising targeted to U.S. mobile phone service subscribers will be embraced by the mainstream American marketer, according to the latest market study by eMarketer.
U.S. mobile ad spending will be up 79 percent in the U.S. market to reach $743 million, based upon the current eMarketer forecast. However, growth will slow somewhat as advertising spending reaches $1.1 billion in 2011 -- and potentially more than $2.5 billion by 2014.
"The expansion of the smartphone market and the attractive usage and demographic profile of smartphone owners have forced more marketers to pay closer attention to mobile," said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst.
Video, display and search ad spending on mobile media is predicted to more than double this year, while growth in messaging advertising will lag behind the other mobile formats.
That said, SMS text messaging is the largest ad format, with spending of $327 million estimated for 2010. And, the upside is huge, since most U.S. marketers have yet to discover how easy it is to send opt-in broadcast text messages to mobile phone service subscribers -- SMS is still the de facto data capability that's enabled in the majority of mobile phone handsets.
eMarketer had originally forecast that U.S. mobile ad spending would reach $593 million in 2010. That estimate included display ad spending of $166 million. In response to increased market interest, eMarketer has revised the overall forecast of mobile display spending for 2010 to $202.5 million.
"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 stamp of legitimacy applied to the medium by the high-profile entrance of companies such as Apple and Google," Elkin said.