The budget for the mobile sector in online marketing is exceeding that for TV advertising for the first time. Experts are forecasting additional growth. Find out here which mobile trends will likely play a contributing role to this.
The importance of mobile marketing is growing
Seventy-three per cent of Germans would rather do without their car than their smartphone – according to a Bitkom survey (German) from the year 2021. This example underscores the significance of mobile end devices for consumers today and gives the impression of which possibilities are still slumbering in the mobile advertising market.
Worldwide, the turnover of mobile online value reached a record-breaking level in 2021 of nearly 260 billion euros – an increase of just under 27 per cent compared to 2020. And the forecast for the coming years is predicting even stronger growth.
This trend can also be seen in Germany: in 2020, sales of mobile online advertising exceeded those of TV advertising by just under 4.4 billion euros (compared to 4.1 billion euros for TV), according to the PWC survey German Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021–2025 (German). This is growth of 12.6 per cent compared to the previous year. The market share of mobile online advertising is about the same as for the PC segment. Smartphones and tablets are therefore developing into the most important devices for media usage. All in all, the market achieved sales of 8.9 billion euros for online advertising.
According to the PWC prognosis, the mobile market will be even larger in the coming years. In 2024, mobile paid searches will overtake classic PC paid searches. And mobile display advertising is forecasted to achieve strong growth rates, mainly thanks to a significant increase in the area of mobile video advertising. In total, the auditing firm PWC forecasts overall turnover for mobile advertising to reach 8 billion euros by the year 2025.
The most significant mobile marketing trends in 2022
What will presumably be the catalyst for mobile marketing’s significant gain in relevance? The analysis company App Annie set out to answer this question and announced the megatrends to be expected.
1. TikTok
App Annie forecasts the final breakthrough for the TikTok social network and video portal. The app just recently reached the billion mark of activated users, and another half a billion will be added in 2022. This means TikTok will rise slowly but surely into the league of Facebook and WhatsApp, which have already beat the 2 billion mark. All in all, more than 3 billion downloads of the app may follow worldwide by the end of 2022. This will also make mobile marketing via TikTok ever more interesting.
2. Metaverse
Even when there is no clear definition of Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse as of today, the hype surrounding the announcement of this project is unabated. Hiding behind this buzz word from the Facebook founder is a digital world whose technology is shaped by virtual reality and augmented reality, and which exists independently of single users. In this case, App Annie forecasts a turnover of 3 billion euros for the apps from the gaming, NFTs and crypto realms, all of which could be relevant for this “Metaversum”. The positioning of brands in Metaverse can indeed be part of the business model over the long term.
3. Social apps
Not only TikTok – other social apps, too, can profit from the mobile boom. The areas of social, entertainment and gaming will melt together more and more, so that social apps can earn money directly through in-app purchases in future. The live streaming platforms Bigo Live and Twitch were specifically mentioned in this respect.
4. NFTs and FinTechs
Some big brands have discovered Non-Fungible Tokens (unique digital asset value, NFTs for short) and are investing a portion of their marketing budget in this area. Apps which enable the distribution and sale of NFTs will be highly sought after in 2022, and thus attractive for advertisers. The future for apps of FinTechs also looks rosy: App Annie forecasts growth of 155 per cent compared to 2020.
