Global Mobile ad revenue in 2014 increased 64.8 per cent to $31.9bn, up from $19.3bn in 2013, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), IAB Europe, and IHS Technology.
According to the report, the sharp increase is largely due to continued shifts in the way consumers engage with media and innovations within the industry.
North America posted the highest year-over-year growth with a 76.8 per cent increase in mobile ad revenue, with other regions showing growth of more than 50 per cent. North America accounted for the highest year-over-year growth of all five regions and owned the largest share of revenue, at 44.9%.
The Asia-Pacific region outperformed Europe, earning $11.6 billion to Europe’s $5.3 billion. Asia-Pacific accounted for 36.5 percent of the global mobile ad share, and Europe accounted for 16.6 percent. The Middle East and Africa generated $379 million in mobile ad revenue, and Latin America generated $239 million.
Daniel Knapp, director of advertising research at IHS, said: “Mobile yet again proves to be key to the continual evolution of the online advertising market. These numbers have been underpinned by the industry coming together to collaborate and create improvements to mobile advertising infrastructure. Technology is now better explained, measurement is improving, and targeting is better aligned with other media to help advertisers reach and engage with their audiences.”
For the first time ever, mobile display ad earnings topped search. Climbing to $15.1 billion, mobile display ads represented nearly half (47.4%) of the total mobile ad revenue in 2014 and saw the highest growth rate of all mobile ads, at 88.1 percent.
Search ad revenue totalled $14.7 billion and accounted for 46.1 percent of total revenue, up 55.2 percent over 2013.
At $2.1 billion, messaging ad revenue increased 13 percent and accounted for 6.6 percent of global mobile ad revenue.
“It’s important that advertisers, agencies and publishers fully understand consumer behavior as the differences between the devices diminish and the potential for engagement with digital content grows,” said IAB Europe’s CEO Townsend Feehan in a release announcing the report.
Anna Barger, IAB senior vice president and general manager, took the opportunity to emphasize the need for more standardization.
“Now is the time for the industry to coalesce on standards and guidelines to build even more momentum for mobile marketing around the world,” said Barger.
In terms of mobile advertising formats, display is anything that is viewed or read on a mobile phone including rich media and videos, both browser-based and in-app. Search constitutes specific word requests on search engines.
To download the report please visit http://www.iab.net/globalmobile2015
