• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 6, 2007

Global spending on mobile advertising will reach $14.4 billion by 2011. That's more than a 1,000% growth over 2007's predicted $1.4 billion, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Plus, the report predicts that number will constitute one-fifth of total Internet ad spending in 2011.

SA attributes the rapid predicted growth in mobile revenues to increases in the amount of inventory and simplification of the sales and distribution process, which currently remains fragmented by platform, ad service and technology problems.

The inventory surge and simplification process will be driven primarily by major mobile-network operators, such as Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. All three seek to develop new revenue streams.

The key areas of inventory growth will include game downloads, mobile broadcasting, and video-on-demand service. The past year saw a push for more streaming and downloadable video and audio content, but ad-supported models remain relatively scarce compared to subscription or fee-per-item services. However, SA points to the recent acquisitions of Third Screen Media by AOL, and ScreenTonic by Microsoft, as harbingers of a coming mobile ad boom.