Mobile advertising expenditure, in 2018, will total $134bn, which is more than will be spent on newspaper, magazine, cinema and outdoor advertising put together.
Mobile devices will account for 75% of global internet use next year, according to Zeniths new Mobile Advertising Forecasts. The mobile proportion of internet use has increased rapidly, from 40% in 2012 to 68% in 2016, and the report forecasts it to reach 79% by 2018.
This first edition of the Mobile Advertising Forecasts looks at mobile advertising and mobile technology in 60 key countries around the world. It forecasts the rising amount of time consumers devote to mobile internet use, the spread of smartphones and tablets, and the growth of mobile adspend.
The countries with the highest levels of mobile internet consumption are dispersed across Western Europe, Asia and North America. Mobile internet accounts for the highest proportion of total internet use in Spain, where the authors of the report estimate it will account for 85% of internet use in 2016. Hong Kong comes second, with 79% of internet use being mobile, followed by China (76%) and the United States (74%). Italy and India come joint fifth, at 73% each.
By 2018, the Zenith report forecasts, Hong Kong to have the highest mobile internet use, accounting for 89% of total internet use. China will be second with 87% and Spain third with 86%, followed by the United States and Italy at 83% each, and India at 82%.
The increase in mobile internet use is being driven by the rapid rise in the penetration of mobile devices. In 2012, just 23% of people in the 60 markets studied had a smartphone, and 4% had a tablet. Smartphone penetration has now reached 56%, and increase of 2.4 times over four years, and the researchers at Zenith forecast it to rise to 63% by 2018.
Mobile advertising will overtake desktop advertising in 2017, increasing its share of global internet advertising to 52% from 44% this year. In 2018, the authors of the report expect mobile advertising to account for 60% of all internet advertising.
Mobile devices are already the primary means of accessing the internet across the world, said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting at Zenith. Countries in Western Europe, Asia and North America are leading the transition, but mobile technology is spreading rapidly everywhere. Next year mobile devices will become the main vehicle for internet advertising as well.