Mobile advertising spending more than doubled globally last year, with increases set to continue for the next four years until the market is worth almost $37 billion by 2016.

The latest statistics from research firm eMarketer found that ad revenues on mobile were $8.41 billion in 2012, up from the previous year’s $4.08 billion.

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This incredible growth results from a broad movement as marketers focus increasingly on search and display advertising via smartphones and tablets. However, it’s estimated that last year’s expansion of 105.8% may represent the peak of growth, and is likely to expand 61.6% in the next year, dropping to just 29.6% growth in 2016.

North America led the charge with the fastest growing market, with the United States showing a 220% year on year increase. Western Europe followed with an average of 95% growth, spearheaded by Sweden and the UK, where ad revenue increased 170% and 120% respectively. The US also leads in terms of actual dollars spent, with $3.5 billion last year alone, set to rise to an incredible $21.39 billion in 2016.

The figures show that, perhaps not surprisingly, the fastest growing markets are those that are historically more mature in terms of mobile use. Penetration of high-end smartphones (such as the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy range) already accounts for more than 50% of the mobile market in these countries.

However, several emerging markets also showed promising signs, with China’s mobile ad spending up 138% in 2012, while Indonesia and India both saw rises of 110%. All global markets are expected to see continuing double-digit increases for several years.

16.01.2013    Tags: ad-spend, china, Scandinavia, UK, USA