Mobile advertising to reach £1 billion in UK this year

Mobile advertising in the UK is expected to reach almost £1 billion in 2013, up 90% from the £526 million spent last year, according to figures from eMarketer.

Despite continued economic struggles in the UK, digital ad spend – which includes online and mobile – will rise 12% between 2012 and 2013 to £6.1 billion, with eMarketer expecting digital advertising to surpass £7 billion by 2015 and £8 billion by 2017.

eMarketer’s Q2 2013 forecasts represents an upward revision to 2013’s expected mobile and digital ad spending totals, based on data pointing to healthy growth in Q1. As a result of faster-than-expected digital growth, total media spending projections have also been raised.

Through to 2016, Search will account for more than half of all investments in online and mobile advertising, followed by display and video.

eMarketer predicts that the number of internet users that watch video content online or on mobile at least once per month will rise from 34.4 million in 3013 to 40 million in 2017, and in that same period video will increase from 4% to 12.4% of the UK’s digital ad market.

In a recent interview with Newsline, Cameron Yuill, founder and CEO of AdGent Digital, predicted that eventually, all online ads will be video.

The strength of the digital ad market is reflected in the amount advertisers are investing to reach individual UK residents both online and on mobile platforms. In 2013, on average, £127 will be spent on digital advertising for each UK internet user – more than four times the worldwide average and higher than the amount spent by advertisers in the US.

eMarketer predicts that total media spend this year will reach almost £14 billion, a year on year increase of 3.7%, with the digital ad industry as the largets single component of total media spending – surpassing TV.