DHAKA: The mobile advertising market is set to expand to over $100 billion in 2016.

According to a new report from research firm eMarketer, advertisers will spend $101.37 billion placing ads on mobile phones and tablets globally in 2016.

Mobile ads will account for more than 50 percent of the digital ad market for the first time.

From 2013 to 2016, the global mobile ad market will have expanded almost 430 percent, eMarketer said. For 2016, eMarketer is forecasting that mobile ads will account for about 16.5 percent of total advertising spending.

The growth in mobile advertising has been a staggering trend in the media and marketing world, which eMarketer says is driven largely by the spread of smartphones. More than 2 billion consumers worldwide will use smartphones next year, the research firm predicts.

The market expansion will be driven by the usual suspects: the U.S. and China, which will spend $40.2 billion and $22.1 billion, respectively, on mobile ads next year, eMarketer estimates.

The next-biggest spender, the U.K., is only expected to shell out $7.2 billion, and Japan is next on the list at about $5 billion.

Rapidly shifting media habits have ginned up marketers’ excitement over mobile phones. Last year, eMarketer predicted that mobile advertising would surpass legacy media like newspapers and magazines in U.S. ad spending.

Source: Wall Street Journal

BDST: 1344 HRS, APR 04, 2015