The amount spent on mobile ads in the UK is forecast to reach nearly £7bn this year, accounting for 36.6% of the UK’s media ad investment by the close of the year, according to new research.
The data, from eMarketer’s latest UK ad spending forecast, indicate that overall digital ad spend will grow by 11% to £10.89bn in 2017 accounting for 57.9% of total media ad spend.
eMarketer predicts that mobile will grow to represent 53..8% of total media ad spending by 2021.
In 2016, mobile ad investment surpassed desktop for the first time – with mobile ads growing by 49.5% cent to £5.4bn, compared to £4.41bn spent on desktops.
eMarketer also predicts that Google will gain the largest share of UK digital ad revenues in 2017, with a 40.7% share, followed by Facebook at 16.4%.
“Google still attracts the lion’s share of digital ad spend in the UK,” said eMarketer’s UK senior analyst Bill Fisher. “However, Facebook is seeing strong growth thanks to investments in video and a stellar performance from Instagram.”