Advertising on mobile phones is forecast to the become increasingly popular, with a new report from Magna Global recommending that marketers cash in on this emerging channel now.
According to Magna, there are currently 2 billion mobile subscribers around the world, with 20% annual subscriber growth rate. New mobile networks are capable of distributing video, improving handset capabilities, and rapid turnover of the handsets themselves.
Brian Wiser, director of industry analysis at Magna Global, said: “With this footprint, we expect that advertising will ultimately play an important role in the advertising world.”
He continued: “The best opportunities to market will be through integrated mobile communications devices, and the industry will require ad-support to reach the widest possible audience.”
Although the full potential of the market is a little way off, eMarketer projects that as 3G penetration increases so will mobile TV audiences.
The analyst expects the number of 3G phone users watching video worldwide will exceed 500 million by 2009. The more specialised audience within this group, those who watch broadcast TV on their phones, are also predicted to enjoy growth, rising to more than 100 million by 2009.
Consumers in the UK seem keen to adopt mobile TV technology, with findings from the Oxford Media Trial released earlier this year results from the Oxford Mobile TV trial (see BT Reveals Consumer Interest In Mobile TV) and a similar study from BT both revealing a high level of interest from consumers in a commercial mobile TV service (see UK Consumers Keen For Mobile TV).
In the US, eMarketer projects that 3 million US consumers will watch TV programming on their mobile phones in 2006, up from 1.2 million in 2005. By 2009, the analyst expects there will be 15 million video viewers, an estimated 6.2% of total mobile subscribers (see US Mobile TV Subscriptions To Hit 15 Million By 2009).
Meanwhile, Juniper Research predicts worldwide mobile television revenues to increase rapidly before the end of the decade, peaking at $7.6 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $136 million this year (see Mobile TV Set For Massive Revenue Growth).
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