It is predicted that mobile marketing and advertising spend in SA will grow to R1 billion by 2012.
In the last year, mobile ad revenue in SA totalled R500 million, and year-on-year growth trends indicate this figure will double. Estimates are based on display, search and message-based ads.
The latest prediction comes from Vodacom, Mxit and Google, the hosts of the Mobile Media Mindblast Conference, set to take place in Cape Town, on 3 June this year.
“Previous estimates have dramatically underestimated the size of the mobile advertising industry as they focused on reports submitted to the DMMA by online publishers,” says head of Vodacom Mobile Media Jason Probert.
“When you take into account the entire mobile advertising ecosystem and include mobile ad networks like AdMob, operator services like Apple, mobile search and social networks like Mxit, the picture is dramatically different."
Global research shows that one-way media advertising such as print and radio are in steep decline. Print advertising is expected to drop by 6%, to $21.4 billion, by the end of 2011.
If current growth rates continue, it is predicted that global digital ad spend will overtake television spend in the near future. Last year, US online advertising already surpassed spend on newspapers and radio.
Evolving interaction
Head of international business development and marketing for Mxit Juan du Toit says SA will see substantial growth in media performance on mobile platforms.
“The way that consumers interact with brands is evolving rapidly. Media strategists know that mobile media campaigns deepen the engagement and relevance of brands within their target markets.
“One of Mxit's core strengths to an advertiser is our ability to create and grow communities of loyal brand consumers and activists, which in turn, offers an intriguing and difficult-to-ignore value proposition for the South African marketing industry.”
Mxit is currently the largest mobile social network in Africa, and reportedly continues to gain between 45 000 and 50 000 new users per day.
“Mxit is perhaps the best testament to the growth potential and interest in the South African mobile media space.
“It has more than tripled its user base to close on 37 million users in the last two years, and has a bigger reach than any other social network in southern Africa, including Facebook and Twitter.”
Head of Google Mobile Brett St Claire says: “Marketers feel that they can no longer ignore mobile's aggressive growth and that they need to learn more about this space.”
Mobile driving force
Reports say global mobile advertising spend is expected to grow by more than 50% annually. Display advertising takes the largest share of the market, currently accounting for $6.8 billion. Mobile search is at $3 billion, while in-app advertising is currently at $2.2 billion.
In the South African market, mobile messaging ads lead the way, followed by display and in-app advertising. According to statistics, 35 million branded Please Call Me messages are sent daily.
“In emerging markets, mobile is the primary means to the Internet. This, together with cheaper data rates and more affordable smartphones, is considered to be the main driving force of its phenomenal growth in SA,” say the conference organisers.
“The country's low Internet connectivity penetration (10%) and high broadband costs will further drive consumers to mobile.”
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