Mobile advertising impressions grew 19% in Africa over 90 days.
Independent mobile ad network InMobi released a network research report that provides a snapshot of mobile advertising trends for the period between July and October.
The report says increased mobile Internet adoption delivered over 520 million new monthly impressions.
“Africa continues to be a major market in the global mobile ad ecosystem. With nearly 19% growth in mobile ad impression inventory in just 90 days, it's clear Africans are increasingly connecting to the Internet via their mobile phone. It will be interesting to keep an eye on this market as smartphone penetration increases,” says James Lamberti, VP of global research and marketing at InMobi.
TV complement
A key finding of the report, according to the company, is that Africa broke the three billion impressions mark to reach 3.3 billion monthly impressions. This represents an 18.8% growth over just 90 days.
The report also says smartphones remain relatively nascent in the market, where 88% of all mobile ad impressions are on advanced feature phones.
“The Africa mobile ad market represents a primary digital reach medium for advertisers. With over 3.3 billion impressions monthly, advertisers should be thinking about mobile as a must-buy complement to TV. Mobile advertising has the reach and frequency to make a significant impact for advertisers,” says Lamberti.
No take-off
Acceleration director Richard Mullins says online advertising is becoming more sophisticated, and marketers can now make use of tools that will enable them to specifically target their consumers.
He says 2011 “is likely to be all about the continued maturing of the country's online industry, as marketers and publishers refine their digital strategies and extend their use of existing technologies”.
However, he says mobile advertising is not expected to “really take off” this year.
This year will, however, see the groundwork being put in place for strong growth during 2012 and 2013. “It will be a good year to experiment with the technology with a view to understanding what it can do for you,” says Mullins.
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