US mobile ad spending will grow 80 percent to $2.61 billion, according to eMarketer. The market is being driven by the rapid ascension of Google’s mobile search advertising business, advertisers’ growing attraction to display inventory on tablet and smartphone devices, and the growing roster of mobile ad networks.

eMarketer estimates mobile advertising spending in the US reached $1.45 billion in 2011, up 89 percent from $769.6 million in 2010.

eMarketer estimates Google’s share of overall US mobile ad revenues reached 51.7 percent, or about $750 million, in 2011. The company is both the biggest catalyst and beneficiary of mobile search’s growing footprint, earning an estimated 95 percent of all US mobile search ad revenues.  

As per the estimates US mobile search advertising more than doubled in 2011, with spending rising to $652.5 million, up from just $253.2 million in 2010. This year, advertisers will spend $1.28 billion on mobile search ads in the US, eMarketer estimates.

“Google has translated its dominance of overall online and desktop search advertising into dominance of mobile search and mobile advertising at a rapid pace,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst. “Given the pace of this market’s expansion, eMarketer’s estimates for mobile search may still be on the conservative side.”

Apple and Millennial Media, which do not sell mobile search ads, trail Google in terms of overall US mobile ad revenues and market share by significant margins. Apple’s iAd platform generated $92.4 million in revenues last year—translating to a 6.4 percent share of overall US mobile ad revenues—while Millennial earned $90.9 million, or a 6.3 percent share.

eMarketer estimates Google earned $127.5 million from US mobile display advertising in 2011, or a 24.8 percent share of total US mobile display revenues. Apple’s share of display revenues reached 18 percent in 2011, just over Millennial’s 17.7 percent share, eMarketer estimates.

eMarketer estimates US mobile display ad spending, which includes spending on banner and rich media ads, will grow 93.5 percent to $861.7 million in 2012, after reaching $445.4 million in 2011.

Spending on mobile video advertising will grow an estimated 122 percent to $151.5 million this year, up from $68.2 in 2011.

Meanwhile, mobile messaging advertising, which includes SMS, MMS, and P2P messaging, will see its share of overall mobile spending decline more rapidly than previously. However, as a widely used mobile communication medium, messaging will remain vital for marketers as a support mechanism for mobile couponing, loyalty and customer care campaigns.

Approach

Travel marketers say it is important to continually analyse your mobile advertising campaigns in order to ensure you are directing traffic to pages that convert well.

Paid search in mobile is a relatively new advertising channel so marketers are still learning a lot about user behaviour. It is suggested that it is important to rank highly as mobile users are less likely to view lower  positioned results. Bidding for top position matters in mobile, where only the top few ads have real screen space. As mobile screens are smaller, it is also important to be concise with advertising text.