According to the Advertising Association / WARC Expenditure Report, mobile accounted for 99% of the growth in internet advertising last year. UK ad spend grew by 3.7% to reach £21.4bn in 2016, the seventh consecutive year of market growth and digital formats continued to drive this growth, with internet ad spend up by 13.4% to £10.3bn. Mobile spend itself reached £3.9bn, with 86% of the current value of the mobile advertising market generated in just the past five years, which has also aided digital advertising’s overall growth.
We have been advocates of the mobile-first approach since our inception in 2006 and these statistics demonstrate that desktop spend has plateaued and it is mobile that is almost exclusively driving growth in digital media spend. That is of course reflective of consumer behaviour. Mobile is the primary screen in our lives, driving search, consumers’ time online and e-commerce. It plays such a varied role in our engagement with brands from research, to purchase, payment and loyalty. It’s the everything everywhere device.
Mobile should be the heart of every marketing strategy, as it’s both a constant in our lives and the glue between other channels. As highlighted in this report, and as we become an increasingly connected society, the need for brands to invest more heavily to connect with an increasingly mobile-first audience is imperative now more than ever.
Learn about our history and how we have grown to become one of the world’s foremost mobile marketing agencies.
