Analyst: Mobile Game Ad Spending To Increase Tenfold By 2015

The next five years will see spending on mobile game advertising increase by more than 900 percent according to a new report by Juniper Research, though ad spending will still pale in comparison to direct player spending. The market analysts envision aggregate mobile game ad spending of $894 million in 2015, up from an estimated $87 million in 2010, as more brands show interest in targeting mobile game players. Despite this increase, however, Juniper thinks direct revenues from paid downloads and in-game purchases will continue to represent the vast majority of mobile game revenues in five years' time. The value of these revenues will be 10 times larger than those for advertising in 2015, according to the report. That lines up with an October report by analysis firm Flurry that showed in-game purchases currently representing roughly 80 percent of all revenue on games for iOS devices. The Juniper report specifically cites Rovio's Angry Birds and other titles that offer full, ad-supported versions as making a significant impact on the mobile game ad market. "Angry Birds has been a huge hit over the last year on the iPhone since its launch," says report author Daniel Ashdown, "but arguably its relative impact, in terms of downloads, has been bigger on Getjar and, more recently, on Android Market, as a result of offering the game free with ads." "Users get a great game for free, but advertisers get significant product/brand exposure; the same is true of mobile games as marketing tools," he continues. The report also see mobile ad platforms like Apple's iAd and promotional mobile games from the likes of Barclaycard and Volkswagen as key drivers for the market.