Asian markets lead in mobile advertising

Indonesia and India continue to lead globally in its adoption of mobile advertising, while demand across the board has increased 80% in the past year, a survey has shown.

The quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index from mobile ad firm BuzzCity reveals that while mobile advertising activity slowed in Q2, growth remains strong across the 200 markets canvassed.

BuzzCity tracks the growth of the network and, by extension, the growth of off-portal mobile internet use on more than 2,000 publisher sites globally.

During Q2, the BuzzCity mobile advertising network delivered 7.5 billion paid advertising banners, a year-over-year increase of nearly 80% across the network. The numbers however represent a decline of 10% compared to the previous quarter. The slump was due to 600 million fewer impressions on the network in BuzzCity’s largest market, Indonesia.  

“Indonesia, despite remaining in the number one position, saw traffic drop by 14%. This is primarily due to advertisers realigning their advertising campaigns as a result of operators tightening controls on subscription services by mobile VAS players. This easing of demand represents a significant opportunity for new advertisers to enter this very competitive market,” said BuzzCity CEO KF Lai.

India  continued its growth trend, topping 1 billion banners in the last quarter, while the UK climbed four slots to rank 5th. The US ranked third with 487 million paid advertising banners but was down by 8% on the previous quarter.

Fast movers include Saudi Arabia which experienced 63% growth on the last quarter, jumping ten spots to number nine and Kenya which ranked 10th on 15% growth.