According to the latest report from theInteractive Advertising Bureau – or IAB – the global mobile ad market has grown substantially in the past year.The IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence estimates that the market reached $5.3 billion in valuation for 2011.
If not you’re not keeping tabs, that’s a 150% increase over 2010′s estimated market value.
And, not surprisingly, IAB thinks 2012 will be even bigger.
“Marketers are beginning to understand more than ever that mobile is an important medium,” said Anna Bager, who serves as VP and general manager at IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence. “As mobile accelerates its global footprint, it is vital that we measure the worldwide and regional opportunities for advertisers.”
“Once mobile moves out of the mobile medium category and becomes something larger, it will be a part of all advertisers’ budgets,” she concluded. “Mobile has become no longer an ‘if’ but a ‘must.’”
Alain Heureux, president and chief executive of IAB Europe, agrees.
“Hyper-personal and always-on, mobile has a tremendous potential as an advertising medium,” Heureux asserts. “We are recognizing the need for accurate and comprehensive data to support and provide evidence for its future growth.”