UK mobile ad spend to overtake TV next year

UK mobile advertising spend will overtake television ad spend in 2016 after showing “significant growth in recent years”, according to eMarketer.

The research firm claims that TV’s share of UK total media ad spending will fall to 24.8% in 2016 as mobile increases its portion to 25.5%.

“Mobile ad spending has shown significant growth in recent years and is expected to rise 45% this year to over £3 billion and will account for 20% of total media spending in the country,” said eMarketer.

According to the report, mobile ad expenditure will also overtake spend on print ads for the first time this year, with mobile spend to come in at £3.26 billion and print spend at £2.67 billion in 2015.

This year UK television ad spend is tipped to come in at £4.12 billion, but will rise only slightly to £4.27 billion next year as mobile ads leapfrog it with expected spend of £4.40 billion.

“By 2016, one year after mobile passes print spending, TV’s share of UK total media ad spending will fall to 24.8% as mobile increases its portion to 25.5%. The following year, mobile will become the single largest ad channel in the UK market,” said eMarketer.

“Continued robust growth in the mobile channel is driving the bulk of digital ad growth in the UK. eMarketer estimates that mobile will account for 40% of all digital ad spending this year, with this figure rising to almost half by 2016.”