Mobile Advertising: A Growing Market

According to a recent InMobi report, Asia Pacific mobile ad market has grown by 26% to 17.6 bn monthly impressions in just 3 months. Indian mobile ad market too has grown by 27% to 7.3 bn impressions monthly. Smartphone growth outpaced advanced phones and represents 14% of the overall market, while Android, iPhone and RIM comprise 1.3% of the total market. With 59% market share, Nokia continues to be the top manufacturer in India, followed by Samsung with 24% impression share.

With advanced phones representing 6.3 bn monthly impressions, advertisers have significant scale to reach Indians across the country. Mobile media represents the premier digital marketing channel for advertisers in India.

Currently, apps account for under 0.5% of impressions in the market. Therefore, marketers who are interested in India need to focus on the mobile web to reach consumers. At this point however, apps do not represent a significant opportunity for advertisers in India.

With 15% growth in its impressions share, Nokia continues to be the top operating system in India. Nokia currently controls 34.5% of impression share, followed by Symbian with 24.8% impression share. Looks like Android, iPhone and RIM do not represent significant opportunities in India. Although they are all growing, collectively capturing +0.8 share points since October 2010, these operating systems comprise only 1.3% of the total market.

The Indian mobile ad market continues to grow at a steady pace. The sheer quantity of monthly impressions highlights the opportunity for advertisers to reach the masses via mobile media. Furthermore, a 44% growth in smartphone impressions and 3G network rollouts indicate the future acceleration of media consumption.