U.S. Mobile Advertising and Search Markets

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled U.S. Mobile Advertising and Search Markets provides comprehensive analysis of various mobile advertising segments. Detailed market forecasts, discussion of revenue shares and market trends are offered. In this study, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets: mobile messaging, WAP-based display mobile, mobile video, in-application mobile, mobile search, and other performance-based advertising.

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Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:

• Mobile messaging
• WAP
• Mobile video
• Downloadable applications
• Mobile search

Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

• WAP, messaging, display advertisements
• Streaming, downloads and multicasting
• Mobile Internet
• J2ME, BREW

Market Overview

Growing Number of Applications Opens Opportunities for Mobile Advertising

Mobile penetration levels in the U.S. are currently at around 80 percent. This translates into roughly 240 million subscribers reachable anytime, anywhere through their mobile phones. An increasing number of mobile subscribers are using various content services and applications on their devices, which opens up newer avenues for mobile advertising. "The industry is witnessing a considerable increase in the number of specialized companies that focus on enabling mobile advertising," according to the analyst of the study. "Adoption of mobile advertising by the nation’s largest mobile operators and innovative mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) is a testament to the perceived potential of the market opportunity."

Leading U.S. mobile operators are already enabling mobile advertising on their networks on a large scale. U.S. mobile operators are expected to work with partners to ad-enable their own inventory as well as third-party inventory listed on-deck. This ad inventory is likely to be sold directly by the mobile operators as well as by their partners, which will lead to pooling of multiple resources and a better penetration into the advertiser segment. As a result, adoption of mobile advertising by leading U.S. mobile operators is a significant development that will be critical to the success of the entire industry.

Collaboration between Mobile Operators and Advertisers Drives the Market

The main channels for mobile advertising are messaging, WAP, mobile video, in-application and performance-based advertising within search, WAP and other environments. Each of these channels is suitable under different circumstances and may even have different type of subscribers. Ad types, pricing models, ad sourcing approaches, and distribution would vary for each mobile advertising channel. In the initial stages, the available inventory could rise faster than the rate at which the inventory is being monetized.

Mobile operators have a wealth of subscriber information that could be leveraged by their ad partners to serve most relevant, customized advertising messages. Off-deck advertising is also targeted, but there are some limitations on aspects such as location determination, gathering demographical information and others. "Better targeting will result in better conversion rates, which also has the potential of increasing the pricing of mobile ads," explains the analyst. "Better results from mobile advertising are expected to further strengthen the case of mobile advertising among leading brands and advertisers."