Informa has released a new market research which shows that in 2010 the global market for mobile advertising is forecast to reach US$ 3.5 billion.

Additionally, the market is expected to continue its rapid growth, expanding over six fold to reach US$ 24 billion in 2015.

The Informa study cites strong initiatives from them major market players such as Google and Apple as key reasons for the rapid growth over the past 12 months.

Some other key conclusions from the study include:

• During this same 2010 to 2015 time period, the portion of the mobile ad revenues that will go to mobile operators is expected to drop from 26% to 20%. Informa believes that many operators have concluded that “close partnerships with other value chain players is essential and is a better strategy than attempting to build an in-house mobile advertising solution and their own creative and sales teams.”
• There is a growing trend for mobile operators to build up large “opted in” databases of subscribers who have agreed to watch advertising on their phones in return for reward points or other valuable consideration.
• Finally, Informa believes that over the coming 18 months we will continue to see a consolidation in the industry, as large companies build up their capabilities by acquiring complimentary companies so that they can offer end-to-end mobile advertising capabilities.

Shailendra Pandey, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the Mobile Advertising study commented, “the launch of Apple’s iAd advertising platform is forcing rivals to speed up their own mobile advertising strategies. Google has responded by acquiring AdMob and has announced it is on track to generate US$1 billion in revenues from mobile in 2010, a significant portion of which will be mobile advertising revenues. Google has also reported a 500% growth in mobile search queries between 2008 and 2010.”

Pandey concluded, “The investments from big players such as Google and Apple validates the market opportunity, resulting in brands and agencies more actively considering mobile for their campaigns,”