Mobile advertising in the UK has double in the past year, taking the total amount spent on mobile to over £1bn.
Research from the Internet Advertising Bureau and PwC revealed that mobile advertising now accounts for £1 in every £6 spent on digital advertising, which itself rose 15% year-on-year to £6.3bn in 2013.
The biggest relative increase announced was that tablet-specific advertising spending was up 400% year-on-year.
Getting smarter
Much of the rise in mobile advertising will be put down to a rise in tablet usage. One in four British consumers now own as tablet.
As well as the rise in tablets, three quarters of handsets are now smartphones, opening up a huge proportion of the market up to mobile advertising.
Tim Elkington, Director of Research & Strategy at the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau, added:
Digital advertising continues to grow at impressive rates simply because marketers are becoming more responsive and savvy to the increasing ways people consume content across different devices.
Not a magic wand
However, Elkington and others still believe there is a lot of work to be done.
Elkington believes that as the use of tablets moves more and more from the work place to households, advertisers need to continue to adapt.
Mike Harris, VP EMEA, Monetate, also reiterated the fact that there is still room for improvement with mobile advertising. He warned businesses that mobile advertising is not as simple as ‘waving a magic wand’:
With higher visibility, businesses need to ensure they target the right people with the right offers. If this isn’t done correctly, it can damage a brand in the eyes of a consumer.