If you own a business that manufactures or sells computer products or consumer electronics, it’s expected your industry will spend $3.8 billion this year on mobile ads, according to a new eMarketer report and that will increase to $6.01 billion by 2018. As consumers spend more and more time on their smartphones and tablets, advertisers need to go where consumers are—and that means more mobile spending. What does that mean for your business?
As with all marketing strategies, before investing your money you need to know where your target consumer is spending their time. According to comScore, 148 million Americans age 13 and older own smartphones and 72 million own tablets. And although Pew Research shows most users are between the ages of 18 and 29, there are other reports, such as one from Nielson that half of all mobile subscribers age 55 plus own smartphones. As for social media, Twitter knows most consumers check social media on their mobile devices, which is why Twitter just purchased Namo Media to offer businesses a native ad option on its platform.
While considering whether you should invest in mobile ads here are some more facts to consider:
- 1.7 billion of the world’s 5 billion mobile phones are smartphones (Microsoft).
- Apple and Android represent more than 75 percent of the smartphone market (ComScore).
- Targeting location in mobile ads and search results can increase click-through rates up to 200 percent (ThinkNear).
- 29 percent of mobile users are open to scanning a mobile tag to get coupons (Microsoft).
Mobile advertising is relatively cheap, so if mobile is where your customers are, mobile advertising is probably where you should be, too.