Analysts suggest mobile isn't quite ready for prime dollars

Mobile is growing very quickly but some analysts suggest that, though the future is bright, the present forms for mobile marketing aren't ready. According to a recent eMarketer report, mobile brand advertisers may outnumber the mobile advertising opportunities.

by Kristina Knight

According to the Mobile Brand Advertising report mobile brand advertising reached $123 million in 2006. That number is expected to skyrocket by 2011, however, to reach more than $3 billion worldwide.

The key, though, is "future". According to the report there are too many advertisers competing for too few mobile ad slots. Without knowing exactly how the mobile market is structured for inventory and without knowing exactly which demographics are signing on in the early days, many of the ad dollars being pushed into the mobile arena may be mis-spent.

"The bottom line is that many of the right pieces of the infrastructure puzzle are coming together, albeit at different speeds," said John Gauntt, senior analyst and author of the report.

Not all analysts agree. In a report from LocalMobileSearch, a subsidiary of Opus Research, analysts noted that unlike the Internet, the foundation for mobile exists and does not have to be invented. Advertisers know how users have latched on to the Internet and this, according to the report, is much the same as how users are already attaching themselves to the mobile web. That report suggests a combined growth rate of 115% for mobile ads through 2012 in the North American and European markets.