Study: Mobile Revenues Growing Faster Than Expected

By: Steven Jacobs | Street Fight

A new study from BIA/Kelsey finds that mobile advertising revenues may be picking up more quickly than previously thought. In the fall 2013 update to its Local Media Forecast, the research firm projects that U.S. mobile advertising revenues will jump from $7.03 billion in 2012 to over $20 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, local’s share of mobiles spending continues to grow, with local targeting set to touch one of every two dollars spent on mobile advertising by 2017.

Mark Fratrik, chief economist at BIA/Kelsey, says the firm revised the projections after some of the larger digital media companies ramped up mobile revenues earlier than expected. “When Facebook filed its initial public offering, there was a question of whether it could play into the mobile game,” says Fratrik. “But the company’s quarterly reports are always surprising us the upside, with an increasing percentage of revenue coming from mobile.”