• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, February 7, 2012

According to new data from PQ Media, total U.S. mobile & social media revenue, including consumer and business access, content, advertising and marketing, increased 30.2% to $45.38 billion in 2011. Mobile & social media revenue rose at a compound annual growth rate of 28.7% from 2006-2011, and is expected to grow at an accelerating 30.8% annual rate in 2012.

The PQ Media U.S. Mobile & Social Media Forecast 2012-16 identified 3 broad sectors of mobile & social media, starting with performance in 2011:

• Mobile content & access was largest mobile & social media sector in 2011 at $39.2 billion, with revenues from business segment accounting for 58% of total
• Mobile advertising & marketing was fastest growing sector in 2011, expanding 53.7%, led by advertising segment’s 60.9% growth
• Online social media was smallest industry sector at $2.83 billion, but social networks was the largest and fastest growing segment by far, increasing 45.9% to $2.28 billion
  
  

PQ Media President and CEO, Patrick Quinn, noted that “... the mobile media sector alone reached the $1 billion revenue mark faster than any communications industry in history in 2008, taking only five years compared with 16 for the internet... (and) will reach the $100 billion mark in 2015 faster than any other communications industry... “

Key Mobile & Social Media Takeaways

The report estimates that total mobile & social media revenues increased 30.2% to $45.38 billion in 2011, and rose at a compound annual growth rate of 28.7% since 2006

Mobile content & access is the largest of the three broad mobile & social media sectors, accounting for more than 85% of all annual revenues, with the business mobile content & access segment representing nearly half of all mobile & social media annual revenues

Mobile media quickest medium to $1 billion – taking 5 yrs compared with 16 yrs for the internet.  Going forward, mobile media revenues expected to exceed $100 billion by 2015, taking 12 years to surpass this benchmark, outpacing subscription TV and the Internet by nearly 20 years. 

Of the 44 mobile & social media revenue streams, 11 exceeded $1 billion in 2011, up from 4 in 2006, and PQ Media forecasts that 23 will reach this benchmark by the end of 2016.

By 2016, U.S. mobile & social media is expected to account for nearly 10% of total communications revenue ($1.4 trillion), growing about 20 times faster than the overall industry during the 2006-2016 period

Market Snapshots:

• The average U.S. citizen over the age of 12 spent more than 100 hours in 2011 accessing content on wireless devices, such as smartphones, computer tablets and e-readers
• The average person spends about 400 hours per year on the internet, with about one-quarter of the time is spent on social media sites
• Over 285 million mobile phones were operating in the U.S. in 2011, of which about 34% were smartphones. Business end users accounted for nearly 60% of smartphone users in 2011, but consumer end users will make up a larger majority by 2016
• More than 36 million computer tablets and e-readers were operating in the U.S. in 2011. Consumer end users accounted for nearly 60% of the users in 2011, but business end users will make up a larger majority by 2016

For more information and details about the study, please visit PQMedia here.