UK mobile marketing to overtake print this year

New report predicts mobile marketing expenditure to hit £4.5bn by 2016

Mobile marketing will overtake print within the next year and exceed TV advertising spend by 2016, according to new forecasts published by marketing research firm eMarketer.

The report has predicted that ad expenditure on mobile channels in the UK will grow by 96% year-on-year to £2.02bn this year, marginally behind the £2.06bn expected to be spent on print adverts in national newspapers.

Mobile marketing spend is then expected to surge by a further 60% throughout 2015 to £3.2bn, surpassing the entire print advert market which is expected to contract to £2.7bn.

Although annual growth will slow to 38% in 2016, the forecasted mobile marketing spend of £4.46bn will have exceeded the £3.8bn expected to be spent on television adverts that year.

“Continued robust growth in the mobile channel is driving the bulk of digital ad growth in the UK,” the report read. “The dramatic growth of mobile and video ad expenditures will boost digital ad spending throughout the forecast period.”

The growth is being attributed to the explosion in mobile usage – particularly on tablet – within the UK, with the annual mobile advertising expenditure in 2010 standing at just £83m.

And online gambling operators are widely anticipated to embrace mobile advertising channels as regulatory bodies clamp down on the practice, with a ban on gambling adverts prior to the UK television watershed of 9pm expected to be introduced as part of a wider advertising overhaul.

Gambling firms have already been quick to embrace social media for advertising purposes, with Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat used to drive traffic in recent months.