That said, a recent report said that user growth is expanding at an even faster rate.
A recent report from eMarketer has shown that in the United States, when looking at the rate of growth of the use of the amount of time that is being spent on smartphones, the amount of mobile ad spending could actually be higher.
The problem seems to be that marketers are not yet feeling entirely confident in the effectiveness of the channel.
The firm also went on to say, in the report, that they have estimated that the amount of mobile ad spending – targeting both smartphones and tablets – will still be increasing by 83 percent, to the point that it will reach $18 billion by the close of 2014. Comparatively, newspapers will generate $17 billion in spending, while radio is predicted to bring in about $15.5 billion.
As the number of device users continues to grow, the mobile ad spending slowly follows, as well.
According to mobile analyst Cathy Boyle, from eMarketer, “As more eyeballs are going there in larger numbers, the dollars are starting to follow.” At the same time, there is a very clear imbalance between user growth and the amount of money being spent on mobile marketing.
eMarketer estimated that adults in the United States are currently spending nearly one quarter of their media time on either smartphones or tablets. The firm has predicted that the growth in spending this year will increase the share that mobile holds over the ad market to a surprisingly low 9.8 percent. That being said, adults in the country are now spending only 2 percent of their media time reading a newspaper, but at the same time, that particular sector is still clinging to slightly less than 10 percent of the overall market.
The ability of print to keep hold of its spending dollars, despite the fact that the time spent by people actually reading it is dwindling has shown that marketers clearly prefer to hold fast to the channels with which they are familiar, said analysts in the report. While radio has experienced somewhat of an erosion of advertising dollars, it is still maintaining a place that is above the mobile ad spending level at the moment. Television still has a market share of about 40 percent.
