• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 11, 2010

In a fitting move, the Audit Bureau of Circulations is making its new mobile marketing survey available at the iTunes store for download to iPhone or iPod Touch devices. The mobile app for the survey published by ABC Interactive (ABCi), titled "Going Mobile: How Publishers Are Preparing for the Burgeoning Mobile Market," was created by an ABC associate member, PixelMags, and costs $1.99 to download. According to ABC, the survey has already been downloaded about 2,500 times from its Web site since it was posted in September 2009.

As the title indicates, the survey covers ABC members' plans for entering or expanding their presence in the mobile marketplace, including their schemes for attracting advertisers and delivering advertising to consumers.

Among its key findings, the survey found that 80% of publishers believe people will rely more on mobile devices as a primary information source in coming years, 70% said mobile is receiving more attention at their publication this year than last year, and 44% said visits from mobile devices boosted their Web traffic by 10% per day. Seventeen percent of respondents said their company had already developed a smartphone app, and another 56% said they plan to develop one in the next two years.

The ABCi report is bullish on mobile advertising, citing a forecast from Gartner Inc. pegging global spending on digital advertising at $913 million in 2009 and $13 billion in $2013. ABCi also said that over half the survey respondents believe both advertising and subscriptions will be key to the future success of mobile business models.

Asked which kinds of advertising support will predominate (but not necessarily exclusively), 41% voted for sponsorships, 40% said search, 39% said video, and 35% said banner. A majority of publishers (67%) also agreed that increased advertiser interest will bring with it a demand for greater accountability from publishers, especially in the form of third-party verification of mobile metrics.