UK mobile advertising spend continues to surge ahead

2011 IAB figures show 157% growth

The UK continues to cement its position as one of the most exciting markets for mobile advertising. Figures recently released by the IAB show a 157% growth in mobile advertising when comparing 2011 with 2010. This has taken the total value of the market up from £83 million in 2010, to £203.2 million in 2011.

This is genuinely exciting stuff, but what is even more exciting is how small this figure might one day seem to be in comparison with the overall potential for the market. According to the same IAB report, mobile advertising might now be a market worth just over £203 million. However, during the same period UK internet advertising was worth over £4.5 billion. This means that mobile advertising has generated just under 5% of the total UK internet advertising revenue. Even UK direct mail was worth about £1.73 billion or just under 6 times the entire worth of the mobile advertising market.

Mobile phones are among the most personal of personal possessions, allowing users to interact with them with much more engagement than with other mediums such as direct mail or television. No other medium offers a way in which to reach a potential audience in such an intimate fashion. At least not yet!

So while these recent figures may look impressive, if viewed 3 years from now, we might then see these figures as a small fraction of what the market as actually achieved. 

Moving onto Mobile

Another funny abbreviation: MOM – Moving onto Mobile!


We recently organised our first workshop of the year about moving onto Mobile and we thought about sharing some of what we discussed during the session.

The mobile industry at large
This is the year of the mobile. Yes, seriously it is! If you look at the number of Smartphone handsets and the mobile internet users in UK, Mobile should be definitely in your marketing mix. Figures support the statement: 32 millions Smartphone handsets are estimated by end 2011 and nearly 23 million Britons use mobile internet every month. Interesting, right?

Comscore also gives you even more reasons to think about your mobile strategy.  Smartphone penetration reached 42% across the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany (EU5) in October, compared to 39% in the US.

Three things to consider about your mobile strategy
1.  Audience Research
2. Define Mobile properties
3. Mobile inventory control = Success!

Many considerations exist. The main one would be to choose whether you develop a new app or a mobile-friendly website. However, before you start to build apps or a mobile-optimised version of your website, it is important to understand your audience. Make sure to research your audience first, looking into smartphone devices used, the time of the day they use it and their needs and expectations.

Depending on the resources and available budgets, there isn’t really one exclusive/best way in regard to the type of mobile property (apps vs sites), although mobile-friendly sites tend to be easier to update and more flexible for ad delivery.  Developing a mobile app is ideal if you need to use some functionality of your Smartphone. You will also need to define the ad placement as well as remembering to test your rich media capabilities.

Once you gather all the information about who will be using your mobile app and have defined what  your mobile property is, consider how you will control/monitor your mobile inventory (ad-serving, in-house sales or third-party networks).

Key takeaways
The panel of our last workshop explained about the different challenges when deciding to move into the mobile space.  To put the discussion in nutshell, this is what needs to be remembered:  Mobile is like a big birthday cake at a party with thousand guests. Come early to the party rather than late otherwise you won’t have a piece of that scrumptious cake.

In other words, think about your mobile strategy now otherwise you could miss revenue opportunities. Mobile really creates new and revenue streams so ensure you have a mobile presence where your audience spends their time!