• Reuters, Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:58 AM

A new report claims that advertising on mobile phones could reach $28.8 billion within five years, as consumers embrace new Internet-enabled devices like Apple's iPhone. According to Ineum Consulting, mobile advertising will grow at an annual rate of 45%, reaching $28.8 billion in five years, up from $3.1 billion today.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that ad agencies are seeing an uptick in mobile campaign interest. "We have launched many mobile campaigns for the first time in the last three months. New people are coming in every week," David Kenny, Managing Partner at VivaKi, a unit of Publicis Groupe, said at the Cannes Lions 2009 ad festival. Kenny added that mobile apps and social networks like Facebook would be key drivers.

Also speaking in Cannes was Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the advertiser and publisher solutions group at Microsoft, who predicted that mobile phone advertising would account for 5-10 percent of global ad spending within five years. He said that because of location-based targeting, mobile advertising was likely to attract interest from small "mom and pop" advertisers who would not normally embrace mainstream advertising.

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