Global Mobile Advertising Market: $5.3 Billion in 2011

Mobile advertising reached $5.3 billion (€3.8 billion) in 2011. You might call that a good start, but still quite a smallish business, by tier one mobile service provider standards. The reason is simply that an entity booking scores of billions worth of revenue each year would need a market opportunity far bigger than that to become "really interesting."

But mobile advertising is a new and growing business, so most observers think the market eventually will grow to a size that is truly significant for mobile service providers.

Of current revenue, Europe represents 25.9 percent; North America 31.4 percent; Latin America 3.5 percent; Asia-Pacific 35.9 percent; Middle East and Africa 3.2 percent, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Obviously, mobile service providers in Europe, North America and parts of Asia are likely to reach a "critical mass" of revenue sooner than other regions.

2011: Mobile ad spend in $million

	Display	Search	Messaging	Total
Europe	367	900	114	1,380
North America	572	811	295	1,677
Latin America	31	74	83	188
Asia-Pacific	491	1,384	41	1,916
Middle East & Africa	44	124	4	172
Global	1,504	3,292	536	5,333