Mobile advertising in SA to double
2011-05-26 14:42
Cape Town - Advertising in the mobile space in SA is predicted to double by 2012, technology companies have said.
Vodacom, MXit and Google, hosts of the Mobile Media Mindblast conference, have predicted that mobile advertising revenues of R500m in 2010 will grow to R1bn in 2012.
"Previous estimates have dramatically underestimated the size of the mobile advertising industry as they focused on reports submitted to the DMMA [Digital Media and Marketing Association] by online publishers.
"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," said Jason Probert, head of Vodacom Mobile Media.
As mobile access becomes the dominant way for the majority of South Africans to connect to the internet, advertisers are slowly migrating to the platforms.
Growing market
Cheaper smartphones and data costs should also drive more users to access the web and this represents a growing market for advertisers.
One of the most popular mobile platforms, MXit, believes that SA will see huge growth on these platforms. It has grown its base to close on 37 million users - making it bigger in SA than Facebook or Twitter.
"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," said Juan du Toit, MXit head of international business development and marketing.
The Mobile Media Mindblast conference takes place in Cape Town on the June 3 and speakers will focus how on brands can harness mobile growth and use mobile marketing tactics to reach the target audience.
Global spending on advertising in social networks is expected to reach about $6bn, representing an increase of 71% in 2011.
In SA, mobile messaging advertising leads with 35 million branded Please Call Me messages sent each day.
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