The Kelsey Group report entitled the US Mobile Advertising Forecast, estimates a CAGR for the mobile advertising industry of 112%, measured through to 2012.

Mobile technology and adoption has been one area where Europe and Asia have been miles ahead of the western world. If the North American trend follows even in a remote likeness to Eurasia, the Kelsey Group may be bang on with their assumptions.

The Kelsey forecast looks at the mobile advertising industry in three ways:

• Ad Sponsored Directory Assistance
• Mobile Internet
• Multi-Modal Applications

The area with notable growth, according to the forecast, is in the Ad Sponsored Directory Assistance. It is estimated that DA calls will go from 270 million to 2.1 billion by 2012 and DA search will represent a large stake of the growth in mobile advertising dollars (33.2 million in 2007 to 1.4 billion US by 2012). The Kelsey forecast also refers to carriers changing their pricing models on directory assistance calls and either going to a free model or a consolidated monthly fee program, all to promote an increase in usage and a story to sell to advertisers.

The concept can also be extended to publishers with online entities that enable browsers to send searched items to their mobile phones. This could open up a new media revenue stream that many offline publishers are in great need of finding. Offline publishers should also be made aware that many of the larger online search companies have acquired mobile 411 like organizations or have created applications internally. And although it has not been confirmed, these search entities that offer online classifieds ( Google, Microsoft) could easily move into offering commercial advertising on classified ads laymen’s choose to send to their cell phones.

Finally, the report assumes that all directory groups have started or will start to focus sales teams on Directory Assistance Advertising. I can safely say however, in Toronto Canada, a large enough market, 411 results on your mobile phone are void of advertising. All of that though, may change as more and more US Directory bodies begin show Directory Assistance Advertising revenue returns.

Further Independent Directory Assistance Resource: Free411

written by Beverly Crandon