South Africa's mobile ad impressions in the third quarter of 2011 ballooned to 3.1 billion, from 2.6 billion in the second quarter.
This is according to InMobi's Mobile Insights Report, which reveals that the country saw a 20% growth in mobile ad impressions in the period.
According to InMobi, smartphone impressions grew 36% in the South African mobile market and they continued to outpace advanced phones. It also discovered that Nokia holds a 39% impression share, followed closely by Samsung with 30%, while Research In Motion (RIM) holds 19% of the impression share.
The mobile advertising network also points out that the RIM operating system continued to show strong growth, increasing by 5.7 share points from the previous quarter. Symbian OS reflected a slight decline this quarter, it adds.
Isis Nyong'o, VP and MD for InMobi Africa, says: “The latest data reflects the continued growth in the uptake of mobile media in SA. This positive growth in the region can only build well for Africa as a whole”.
She is of the view that the growth SA is seeing is being driven by the lowering cost of Internet-capable mobile devices, increased expansion of 3G networks, and growing consumer interest in content accessible by mobile. “Top content categories include gaming, social networking, sports, news and entertainment,” she explains.
“Mobile advertising is unique as an advertising channel as it has the potential to offer advertisers the ability to target users based on their location, for example. Location-based advertising brings a broader range of small businesses into the digital advertising space, enabling them to reach a new set of potential customers. This, in turn, drives economic growth, as advertisers gain easier, more targeted access to potential customers and [are] thus able to grow their businesses,” she says.
Nokia has a strong installed base of users in SA and other parts of Africa, Nyong'o points out, adding the cellular giant represents close to 40% of the devices on the country's networks.
“This means that 40% of the users seeing InMobi ads are viewing them from Nokia devices. Nokia has built a strong brand in SA by developing and distributing devices and services that cater to a wide range of mobile users in SA, from entry-level through to the high-end smartphone users.”
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