China’s mobile ad industry tipped to double, pass $1bn

Mobile advertising is frequently touted as the next big thing – particularly in Asia where mobile internet usage is proportionally higher than anywhere else in the world – however the Chinese market is tipped to more than double and grow past $1 billion over the next three years according to EMarketer.

Further details from Bloomberg:

Advertising on mobile devices in China will more than double to $1.16 billion in the next three years, growing faster than the U.S. market, according to a report by EMarketer Inc.Mobile advertising in China will grow 158 percent by 2014, EMarketer predicted in a report to be published today. In the U.S., mobile ad sales will grow 131 percent to $2.55 billion over the same period, the report said.

Advertisers are boosting spending on text and graphic display ads for handheld devices in China as portions of the world’s largest Web market increasingly migrate to mobile phones. The country will add almost 200 million mobile Internet users over the next three years, bringing the total to 568 million in 2014, according to EMarketer.

“Because mobile devices are often the primary way that consumers access digital content” in China and other emerging markets, advertisers enjoy a “heightened appeal relative to a more mature market, where you have higher PC penetration rates,” said Noah Elkin, principal analyst at EMarketer in New York.

As has been stated many times on this blog, mobile is increasingly becoming the main internet access point for the majority of markets across Asia.

Not only is the hardware more affordable than laptops or PCs but access is often (and certainly will become) superior to dated fixed-line infrastructure outside of urban areas while a variety of tariffs and packages can allow users unlimited access to social networks, apps or the mobile web at a fraction of the cost of ISPs who require use longer-term, more rigid agreements.

Given the importance of mobile, it is of little surprise than China will outgrow the US – particularly given the number of greater number of handsets – however US mobile phone owners remain bigger spenders, some that seems unlikely to change given the level of affluence in the market. While with the US’s own mobile ad industry tipped to grow 131% itself, it remains to be seen whether China will ever topple it.

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