The pharmaceutical industry has done the most to increase mobile ad spending as of Q3 2013, according to data from Millennial Media based on campaigns run on its mobile network. But growth across industries was well over 100% as mobile ad spending overall grew substantially, according to eMarketer estimates.
Millennial Media reported the pharma industry upped mobile ad spending by 744% in Q3 2013 compared to the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, the news industry more than sextupled spending, while sports advertisers increased campaign spend by 411%.
Millennial reported that the No. 1 goal of mobile ad campaigns worldwide in Q3 was to increase mobile traffic to a site, chosen by 34% of respondents. One-quarter were looking for a sustained mobile presence, and 22% were trying to drive brand awareness.
eMarketer estimates that overall, worldwide mobile ad spending was up 105.9% in 2013, and expects further 62.1% growth in 2014.
By 2017, advertisers worldwide will spend $72.32 billion on mobile—nearly 10 times 2012 spending levels.