Mobile display ad spending to rise more than fivefold in EU-5
Despite economic upticks, European consumer markets remain volatile and will continue to do so in 2011, with economic indicators and consumer attitudes often out of sync. For example, the German economy grew by 2.2% in Q2 2010, the fastest quarterly growth in 20 years, according to the Bundesbank, but German retail sales fell 2.3% in September and consumer confidence was reported down in October.
The situation is similarly mixed in the UK, with consumer confidence on the rise but tax increases and public spending cuts on the horizon. The interdependence of the main European markets makes a straightforward economic recovery in the region less likely, but online ad spending will grow steadily whatever the economic context.
And mobile ad spending will grow even more dramatically. Mobile ad network aggregator Smaato and research firm mobileSQUARED forecast an increase in mobile ad spending in the EU-5 from $122.6 million this year to $1.29 billion in 2015. In the same period, mobile display spending alone is expected to rise from $52.8 million to $339.1 million.
European businesses are recognizing the growing importance of mobile to their customer base, and therefore to their own success. In France, 57% of businesses polled by Le Journal du Net in late 2010 said mobile services would be their most promising sector in 2011. And according to a survey by eDigital Research for the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME), the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB UK) and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), over 40% of UK merchants plan to have a transactional mobile site or application in 2011.
“Mobile is a tremendously exciting sector,” said Karin von Abrams, eMarketer senior analyst. “On November 29, for example, Tesco Direct released research suggesting that 10% of UK consumers would be doing their Christmas shopping via mobile this year. And 45% of nearly 4,000 people polled by Tesco said they struggled to find the time for holiday shopping; many of these will likely use their mobile phones to check out options, even if they actually buy online or in store.
“On the same day, Lightspeed Research reported that 44% of consumers it surveyed would be happy to use a mobile app to plan—and potentially book—their holiday travel. We expect 2011 to be a truly transformative year for mobile throughout Europe, as millions of consumers adopt these new behaviors.”
For more information on marketing developments expected next year, stay tuned for the forthcoming eMarketer report “11 Trends for 2011.”
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Check out today’s other article, “Consumers Believe in Positive Word-of-Mouth.”