UK mobile adspend on the cusp of £1billon; agencies react

Figures released this week by eMarketer suggest the advertising spend on mobile in the UK has grown 90% over the last year to £999m. Industry magazine The Drum interviews marketing leaders to gather their thoughts on the dramatic upswing.

The UK's digital advertising spend as a whole has now broken the £6bn barrier, and is forecast to reach over £8bn in three years time. Mobile spending reflects the major upturn in investment in paid search and display advertising, with smartphones more central to British lives than ever before. WhatsApp, the popular mobile messaging app, has announced 250m worldwide users - though its' CEO described advertising as "a disruption of aesthetics, the insults to your intelligence" in relation to his own product.

But elsewhere, advertising investment is pouring in to smartphone and tablet use, and the mobile market is flourishing.



"Mobile is a really exciting space for us at the moment, and it comes as no surprise that ad spend is rocketing alongside smartphone usage," Nick Baughan, managing director at Maxus told The Drum.

"We’re at a turning point right now for mobile advertising as it’s no longer seen as optional add-on but as an integral part of the mix. As the market matures and brands and agencies understand mobile as a sales channel as well as a media channel, we’re going to see big developments; audience targeting technology will continue to evolve, creative quality will improve and the migration of investment from desktop to mobile will only escalate."





Richard Hocking, EMEA director of performance marketing and mobile development
at StarcomMediavest agreed.

"These figures are an indication that mobile is coming of age although they certainly don't surprise me. I actually think their forecast for next year is rather conservative versus our own SMG spend projections which are expected to double again, he said.

"With the viability of mobile video due to faster connection speeds such as 4G, and the increase in mobile search driven by recent Google changes you can start to understand why only 23 per cent growth next year is playing it a little safe. I think the challenge and opportunity for mobile over the next year is closing the delta that exists between age of time consumers are spending on their mobile vs percentage of advertising spend – the widest of any media channel."