If the latest projections from Juniper Research published Wednesday prove accurate, the adspend on mobile games is about to explode.
According to the report, Juniper predicts a tenfold increase over the next five years in adspend on mobile games. By 2015, adspend on this platform will approach $900 million.
In 2010, adspend on mobile games was all but $87 million.
Driving the increase will be heightened brand interest in mobile as an advertising channel, and, of course, applications – a category that remains utterly dominated by games.
Daniel Ashdown, author of the Mobile Games report whitepaper, suggests that gaming apps that are free but display ads may very well continue to lead the growth within this sector.
“Angry Birds has been a huge hit over the last year on the iPhone since its launch,” says 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,” adds Ashdown, “but advertisers get significant product/brand exposure; the same is true of mobile games as marketing tools.”
The Juniper reports credits Apple with leading the charge for new opportunities in the mobile ad space with regard to gaming apps. According to Juniper, Apple’s iAd platform, which debuted in July 2010, will remain a catalyst for growth in the sector and continue to optimize the deployment of ads within applications.
