What’s next for mobile?

The future of mobile is being redefined. There is serious growth in the spectrum for mobile in media, advertising software and programmatic. There is no doubt that we have moved into an age of mobile dependency with mobile video content fueling considerable growth.

Whilst smartphones have been on our radar for the past two decades, the new technologies that integrate with mobile offer the opportunity for invention and creativity. Advertisers are learning to adapt to trend changes in order to successfully target their audiences with a particular move to mobile and in-app advertising.

We have seen an enormous growth in native advertising in mobile throughout the past year. By 2020, we can expect to see media buyers spending $84.5 billion on mobile advertising alone and native in-stream ads will drive 63% of all mobile display advertising revenue by 2020.

Native advertising encourages higher levels of engagement than traditional banner ads, giving advertisers the opportunity to create content which is relevant to audiences, adding greater value when comparing to traditional advertising.

There is a greater demand for more sophisticated technology and advertisers are achieving this through adopting programmatic mobile advertising. Using automated technology, it improves the efficiency of the media-buying process for ads. By 2019, nearly 80% of programmatic ad spend will flow through mobile. Brands need to be onboard with mobile programmatic in order to fully engage with their audience.

Our dependence on our smartphones is growing and this has had a great impact on location-based advertising, with over 90% of smartphone owners in the US having used location-based services.

As more consumers are willing to share their location data with advertisers through their mobiles, advertisers can personalise ads for their audience, based on their specific location in real time. By personalising ads based on location, relevant advertisements will reach audiences, encouraging better targeting and more engagement with brands.

With the location-based ad spend expected to grow to $30 billion by 2020, we’re likely to see location data continuing to make the intersection between our digital and physical worlds, transforming the entire mobile ad landscape.

We will see huge leverage in mobile over the next two years. By 2020, more engaging and interactive forms of content will be reachable and mobile will be at the forefront of this change in advertising. The more advertisers can learn about what their audiences want, where and how they want it, the more they can utilise this to successfully reach audiences through mobile advertising.

Regardless of the format, mobile advertising is, and always will be, driven by technology and creativity. It is the technological advancements that enable advertisers to target the right audience, making ads more relevant, driving brand loyalty as they become more significant.