• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 9, 2010

Mobile display advertising is poised to increase fourfold over the next five years, according to a new forecast from ABI Research. The ABI study comes on the heels of a new Pew Research survey showing that mobile Internet use is climbing steeply among U.S. adults. 

In the U.S., ABI predicts that the mobile display ad market will increase from $313 million in 2010 to $1.2 billion in 2015. That makes it one of the stronger growth areas for mobile ad revenues, along with text messaging, search advertising, ads within apps and both streaming and on-demand video.

The big increase in mobile display will result largely from a continuing surge in smartphone penetration, which currently stands at about 20% of the U.S. population. Presently, 28% of U.S. mobile subscribers access the mobile Internet on a daily basis, according to ABI's practice director Neil Strother.

A separate ABI Research forecast says total global mobile subscriptions will top 5 billion by the end of this year, led by growth in Africa and Asia.

The ABI figures for smartphone penetration and mobile Internet access in the U.S. are roughly in line with data from a separate survey also released recently by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew found that 38% of U.S. adults who own a mobile device use it to access the Internet -- up from 25% in April 2009 -- although this figure doesn't indicate how many do this on a daily basis.

Overall, Pew revealed that 82% of the U.S. adult population own a mobile device. Separately, 11% of U.S. adults who own a mobile device have used it to make a purchase, 23% have used it to access an online social network, 20% have watched a video and 11% have made a charitable donation.