Big 5 Euro Mobile Markets Hit $1 Billion By 2014

The European markets in mobile advertising, led by the UK, are expanding faster than previously projected and are estimated to reach $1.03 billion by 2014, according to research from mobileSQUARED.

The big five represented by the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and France will account for nearly $264 million in mobile spend this year, spiking to more than $400 million next year. They then maintain a hockey stick trajectory to $1.79 billion in 2016.

In an earlier report, mobileSQUARED had pegged 2015 as the milestone year when the five leading markets would grow their mobile ad economy to over $1 billion.

Smartphones -- Android in particular -- across Europe are "massively increasing the number of mobile Internet and app users and associated levels of available inventory to be exploited by the mobile ad networks," says a white paper published from the mobileSQUARED research by adsmobi.

Mobile banner ads will lead the way in spend, adsmobi and mobileSQUARED content, although there will be differences across regional markets.

In the UK, for instance, they expect banners to account for over 60% of spend, while in France, Germany and Italy they will comprise 45%. In 2011, the mobile display market is valued at $134.4 million. According to mobileSQUARED data, InMobi serves the largest number of ads in the major European markets, followed by adsmobi and YOC.

The dominance of the UK in mobile ad spend reflects the penetration of smartphones in that market. By year's end, smartphones will account for 39% of UK mobile users. Italy is right behind at 28% and France at 25%. There will be 93.3 million mobile Internet users in the big five Euro markets at the end of this year.

By 2016, the UK is expected to see 80% of its mobile subscribers on smartphones.

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