8/21/2014 Mobile Ad Spending Expands, but Still Doesn't Match User Growth | Adweek

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Mobile Ad Spending Expands, but Still Doesn't MatchUser Growth83% jump expected this yearBy Erik OsterJuly 22, 2014, 11:41 AM EDT

martphones and tablets will this year draw more money from advertisers thanthe traditional outlets of newspaper and radio, The Wall Street Journalreported.

According to estimates from research firm eMarketer, spending on mobile advertisingwill jump 83 percent to almost $18 billion this year. That's compared to $17 billion fornewspapers and just $15.5 for radio. "As more eyeballs are going there in largernumbers, the dollars are starting to follow," Cathy Boyle, an eMarketer mobileanalyst, told The Wall Street Journal.

Smartphones and tablets have existed as an advertising medium for less than adecade, so on the one hand this comes as a sign of how rapidly the advertisinglandscape is changing. On the other hand, mobile ad spending still doesn't match theamount of time Americans spend on these devices. eMarketer estimates thatAmerican adults spend roughly one quarter of their media time on smartphones andtablets, compared to just 2 percent for newspapers. This year's projected mobile adspending growth will raise the medium's share of the ad market to only 9.8 percent,compared to the current figure of just under 10 percent spent on newspaperadvertising.

The relatively slow rate of growth in ad spending for mobile can be attributed to a fewunderlying causes. Marketers are reluctant to break from a medium they know(print) for one whose effectiveness is relatively unproven. Another factor manyanalysts point out is advertisers' unhappiness with mobile ad formats. As newadvertising products emerge to keep up with the mobile explosion, this is beginningto change, leading to the increase in spending. Location-based mobile advertising isalso leading to this increase, as it opens up new possibilities for targeting consumerswhen they're more likely to be receptive.

"I think it's going to take a very big bite out of all the advertising dollars," said YarivRon, CEO of mobile ad company Appwiz. "The infrastructure is not there yet. Only

8/21/2014 Mobile Ad Spending Expands, but Still Doesn't Match User Growth | Adweek

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now is it starting to take form and shape."

As mobile advertising continues to grow out of its infancy, it seems only fair to expectspending to continue to grow, until it one day reflects the amount of time users spendon their devices.