Leading research organisations including the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) and Juniper Research have recently released reports on the current mobile advertising market and its future.

This year represents the first time truly quantitative research has become available on mobile advertising, and the numbers indicate conflicting trends in this nascent market, points out Xtract, providers of social intelligence software for mobile operators.

For example,
The first expenditure study on mobile advertising in the UK, taken by the IAB and PWC, showed that the mobile ads market is growing 99.2% year on year, even when advertising in other forms of media decreased in the same period.

The huge growth in mobile advertising has been attributed to its exceptional targeting, immediacy and return on investment, says the IAB.

It showed an impressive 44% of 16 - 24 year olds have checked social networking profiles on their mobile phones, suggesting younger generations are at the ready for mobile web and advertising.

However,
Juniper Research's study released in June indicates that by 2014, mobile advertising would still only account for up to 1.5% of total global ad spend, despite mobile advertising offering 'substantially higher' response rates than advertising in other media

"There is clearly a conflicting trend at present," said Jouko Ahvenainen, co-founder and VP at Xtract. "Mobile ads are the most interactive, compelling form of advertising for many brands, and offer far better response and click through rates when they are done well. And usage of the mobile web is growing rapidly. Other forms of media are struggling to sell advertising - in particular newspapers - and are shutting down. Yet even in five years, mobile advertising is predicted to remain a mere drop in the ocean in terms of overall global ad spend. This is leaving the industry scratching its head about how to cash in on the promise of mobile advertising. One thing that we constantly hear from advertisers and marketers, who hold the purse strings, is that they need far more intricate levels of targeting than are generally available today; measurability; accountability; and clearly defined ROI, in order to choose mobile over other media platforms. Clearly, highly-targeted advertising that can be measured back is the way to continue the upward trend in mobile ads. If marketers can't see exactly who they are targeting, and understand the likely behaviours of these customers socially, they can't trust the most personal advertising channel available today, and mobile will continue to be insignificant in the overall global ads picture."

www.xtract.com