According to the MMA 2008 saw some significant milestones achieved for mobile as an advertising medium and are tipping it to attract a “significant” portion of media budgets by 2013. So does this mean we’ll see the eagerly awaited “year of the mobile”?
The positive forecast comes as the MMA reports its most successful year following global expansion, with the addition of a Latin American branch, as well as more than 40% growth in membership to exceed 700 companies. Among the group’s most recent members are Arena Mobile, Blyk, Hewlett-Packard and T-Mobile.
The association has also published an array of industry research, educational tools and guidelines, fuelled by an increase in mobile marketing receptiveness and adoption among consumers worldwide. The mobile internet audience has grown by 61% since Q3 2007 in the UK, according to Nielsen research, with one in five UK mobile users now recalling seeing a mobile ad. Laura Marriott, president of the MMA, said: “2008 has been one of the most productive years for the industry, the MMA and our members. We’ve experienced tremendous forward momentum in mobile marketing education and guidelines, and further extended our global reach, creating greater opportunities to leverage knowledge and experience across our member base. “As I prepare to leave the MMA in 2009, I’m confident that by continuing to collaborate and innovate as an industry, across geographies, companies and trade organisations, it is realistic to expect mobile to represent a significant portion of media budgets within the next five years.” With significant traditional advertisers reporting declining revenue in core advertising sectors it is interesting to see how many previously sceptical players are now seriously watching the mobile channel and wanting to engage with a mobile partner such as Mediaburst.
The mobile channel is already used by a greater proportion of the population in many counties to access the internet than fixed access points, and that is likely to become the global norm. Nokia estimates that by 2015 some 5 billion people will have access to an “always on” mobile internet connection and there will be an incredible 100 fold increase in mobile network traffic. Within Western Europe alone Forrester Research predicts 125m will have access to mobile internet on their mobiles, with 1 in 4 utilising 3.5G enabled handsets.
The challenge however facing mobile internet access will be the ability to provide search and discovery facilities comparable to that experienced for internet access via a PC and fixed line.
The second challenge is then how to monetise mobile search and discovery. The answer will be mobile advertising. The mobile advertising market is admittedly still in its infancy but it is being carefully studied by all participants engaged in the mobile value delivery chain: brands, agencies, mobile service operators, application service providers, content providers etc. Juniper Research is forecasting direct advertising revenue of some $1.5bn this year to nearly $5bn within 5 years. The annual growth rate is forecast at an impressive 27%.
Many industry watchers confuse Mobile Internet and its messaging derivate Instant Messaging (IM) and its relationship to SMS text messaging. Whilst IM will grow Text messaging will also continue to grow regardless. Monthly person to person SMS traffic in Western Europe is set to climb from the near 200 billion messages seen in 2008. Mobile applications compliment, they rarely compete and let us not forget it is always the choice of the consumer that will drive the market. Happy New Year Gary.
