Executives attending Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris, New York and Seoul said the demand for mobile advertising was finally rising after years of high hopes in the industry. The more than $500 million mobile advertising market looks set to multiply in just a few years, helped by new technologies and the spread of more advanced phones. Randy Falco, head of AOL, the Internet division of Time Warner Inc. which this week purchased mobile advertising company Third Screen Media thinks that mobile is one of the great growth opportunities. He feels in five years mobile advertising will certainly be in the $4.5 to $5 billion range in terms of the marketplace. Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP Group sees mobile advertising as an interesting area, which has much growth ahead. Strategy Analytics, one of the most cautious forecasters on mobile advertising market growth, has forecast global mobile advertising market will reach $574 million this year and grow almost three-fold by 2010.
In addition to media firms and telecom operators, Internet players Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. and the world’s top cell phone maker Nokia are also keen to have a piece of the growing pie.