ABI: Mobile Marketing to hit $24B by 2013

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mobile
marketing, which was born in countries such as Japan and South Korea, has taken
off in Western Europe and is beginning to grow in North America. As consumers
move to flat-rate data plans and adopt mobile messaging, and as new platforms
for advertising-supported mobile search, video and gaming content services
arrive, mobile marketing is expected to grow to over $24 billion worldwide in
2013, jumping from just $1.8 billion in 2007.

“The clear difference in this market over the past
twelve months has been the embrace of mobile marketing as an integral part of
cross-media brand campaigns,” says ABI Research director
Michael Wolf. “Mobile is no longer off-limits in the
minds of advertisers, but is instead seen as a very personal way to reach
consumers who can be incentivized through information services and compelling
content, as well as through more directly relevant and targeted messaging.”

The market, however, is still very much a “wild
west” environment and will take time to develop.
Hundreds of mobile marketing platform providers have sprung up, and larger
players such as Google, Yahoo, and Nokia have made significant investments in
this fast-changing market. Emerging players in the ad network and software space
such as Admob, Enpocket/Nokia and Millennial Media are becoming important new
players in a market that is similar to the Internet advertising gold rush of the
late 1990s.

“In these early stages, many of the technology
platform players are also doubling as the interactive agencies for large
brands,” Wolf notes. “However,
we see large ad agencies and their interactive divisions or partners
increasingly working with key platform providers as roles become more
defined.”

A recent survey by ABI Research found that while consumers are initially
leery of mobile marketing, their perspective largely depends on whether they see
some advantage for themselves. While 54% of survey respondents indicated they
were totally opposed to mobile marketing messages, 70% of those same respondents
said that an incentive such as a ringtone or a free song might make them
receptive to mobile marketing.

ABI Research’s new study, “Mobile Marketing and Advertising,” (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/mobile_marketing_
and_advertising) presents in-depth analysis of the major areas of mobile
marketing, including mobile messaging-based marketing, mobile Web (including
both text and banner), mobile search, mobile game advertising and mobile video
advertising.

It is part of two ABI Research Services, Digital Media (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Digital_Media_Research_
Service) and Mobile Content (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Mobile_Content_Research_
Service).

ABI Research is a leading market research firm focused on the impact of
emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets. Utilizing a
unique blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment
from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists hundreds of
clients each year with their strategic growth initiatives. For information,
visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.