When it comes to advertising, sometimes it’s just about putting it in the right place. That’s certainly the case for companies that have chosen to go with mobile advertising, as it’s on the move towards higher profits, according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Initially posted by Clickz, the report indicates that Internet ad revenues have seen a great first half of this year, up to $23.1 billion, which is a 15 percent increase from the first part of 2013. In addition, mobile revenues have also seen a boost, going up 76 percent to $5.3 billion, compared to the $3 billion from the year before.
The study also broke down ad revenues into different categories, including search and display. With that, Joe Laszlo, senior director of the mobile marketing center for the group, said that some numbers could overlap when it comes to mobile and desktop ad buying.
“If you do a search ad buy in Google, almost by default it’ll include desktop and mobile,” says Laszlo. “There’s a combination factor that’s going on there that’s very interesting.” He also believes there are blurred lines on the display side as well. “Technologies like responsive design make it easier to build an ad that changes size and shape to fit the devices audiences have. I think this line between the desktop world and the mobile world is going to get more blurry.”
Search revenues continued to be steady for this year, around $4.5 billion, but didn’t see as big a growth as mobile ads, as that was only a slight increase over last year’s $4.4 billion reported. “The underlying numbers are beginning to get very big,” explained Laszlo. “and as revenue numbers get big, growth percentages inevitably start to slow down. Attribute the deceleration of search more to the market beginning to mature than marketers losing confidence in it.”
Classifieds and directories are getting the low end of the stick in the report, with a number still holding at $1.3 billion, the same as what was reported last year. Said Laszlo about the decline, “Outside of very specific niche categories where directories have a lot of value to add, we are seeing the end of an era or a transition away from directories as a major ad opportunity. Directories as a way to navigate information are on their way out. Directory services need to reposition how people sort through, find, and access their content to stay relevant.”
Finally, social media is showing an increase in spending, with $2.9 billion for this year, compared to $2.6 from the year before. “This is the first time we’ve given the industry and the marketplace a sense of specifically how big social media revenues are. I think everybody’s very interested in social,” said Laszlo.
