Mobile ad market to reach $6 bn by 2014: Juniper Research

With increasing mobile penetration in India, mobile advertising will be critical in reaching rural audience. Companies are using voice-based services to overcome barriers of languages

Mobile advertising is bubbling with enthusiasm and activity. The mobile is emerging as next advertising and marketing medium and India ia evolving as a hottest destination for mobile advertisers. And it is evident from the number of mobile advertising companies that have cropped up in past few years.

According to projections from Juniper Research, mobile advertising spending will swell to nearly $6 bn by 2014 from just $1.4 bn this year. Advertising space is increasingly moving towards 'below the line activities' such as mobile phone ads-offering umparrelled opportunity for consumer segment.

Mobile web advertising alone is projected to grow fourfold to a $2 bn market over the same period, according to New York Times projections. The growth will be generated by a surge in mobile internet usage, and an accompanying increase in consumer adoption of mobile internet services. Juniper expects much of the growth to come from emerging markets such as China and India, where fixed-line connectivity remains low. For example, mobile accounted for nearly 90% of all internet users in India in 2008.

Industry sources say 22% companies are expected to increase their mobile advertising spend in FY 2009 as compared to 15% that companies did so 2008. Telecom and FMCG sectors are investing around Rs 20 crore to Rs 35 crore on this medium to communicate their product messages in rural area. With increasing mobile penetration in India, mobile advertising will be critical in reaching rural audience. Companies are using voice-based services to overcome barriers of languages.


As compared to other forms of advertising like TV, internet, radio etc, mobile is evolving at a rapid pace because it is considered more cost effective, personalized and result driven. According to a report from Mind Commerce, examining the current mobile marketing and advertising market in India more and more companies are using the medium of mobile to leverage it as a platform to enhance brand awareness and increase sales effectiveness.

Mind Commerce estimates the world market for mobile marketing and advertising revenues will reach nearly $50 bn by 2014, up from about $ 29 bn today, growing at a five year CAGR rate of nearly 12%.

Today the growth of mobile advertising is fueled by improvement in mobile devices from hand phones, mobile TV,search engines and it also offers operators a new revenue stream from companies promoting their brand, innovative ways to drive business and increase user satisfaction.

With an increasing proliferation of mobile phones and mobile internet, mobile advertising is being considered as the new catalyst for generating revenues. Few years back, mobile advertising was a niche market but now it is gaining momentum among operators, service providers and handsets manufacturers.

One of the biggest factor driving the mobile advertising market in India is the tremendous growth of the Indian telecom sector. The cost of talking on mobile is very low in India. It is extremely cost efficient to use mobile for interaction and mobile platform is creating big opportunities for advertisers to use this medium and expand their reach.

Realizing the huge potential of mobile advertising in India, many new players are expected to enter this space in the coming few months. It is also expected that many small and medium VAS players will move into mobile advertising space. Advertising via mobile is more appealing as it can target user more directly. In a bid to realise the potential of this emerging medium, some companies in India are very active in this space and already started offering innovative services like sms 2.0 technology from Affle, MyToday service from Netcore Solutions, SMS Gupshup from Webaroo and mGinger service from GingerSoft Media.

Indian mobile advertising market looks poised for huge growth in future. New developments in the field like 3G technology, GPRS and mobile video are likely to create immense opportunities for mobile advertising to grow. However there are several bottlenecks that must be overcome before mobile advertising can live up to the expectations which includes network speed, quality of service, lack of business models, lack of devices etc.