This week, MMW was privy to an advance look at a new BIA/Kelsey forecast, which indicates that mobile is on pace to become the fourth largest local media by 2019.
In the latest update to the team’s U.S. Local Media Forecast 2015, BIA/Kelsey forecasts location-targeted mobile advertising revenues in the U.S. “to grow from $6.7 billion in 2015 to $18.2 billion in 2019.”
That represents a 28.5 percent compound annual growth rate.
According to the forecast, mobile is driving most of the change in digital media, gaining traction with advertisers, and jumping to an 11.5 percent share of the total local media pie by 2019, up from a 4.8 percent share in 2015. This will make mobile the fourth largest local media in 2019, behind direct mail (23.6 percent share), over-the-air television (13.7 percent share) and pure-play online (12.9 percent share).
A provided statement from the company notes that mobile’s impact on the local media marketplace will be a key theme at BIA/Kelsey’s upcoming BIA/Kelsey NOW conference (June 12, San Francisco), which will examine the emerging local on-demand economy.
“Online spending is growing on ads viewed through desktops, but general online ad unit pricing faces headwinds as the attention of audiences and advertisers alike drifts more towards mobile,” says Mark Fratrik, SVP and chief economist at BIA/Kelsey. “Online will gain just a few points of local advertising market share, as mobile nearly triples its share.”
The U.S. Local Media Forecast 2015 spring update is available now in BIA/Kelsey’s online store here.
