Global mobile ad spend to top $95bn by 2018
Report by digital marketing specialist eMarketer predicts Facebook to continue to eat away at Googleâs market share
 
Global annual mobile marketing spend is expected to reach almost $95bn (£57bn) by 2018, according to estimates published by digital marketing specialist eMarketer.
Spend is on course to reach $31.45bn (£19bn) by 2014, up 75% on the $17.96bn (£11bn) figure spent throughout 2013 as ecommerce continues to migrate towards mobile channels.
The research includes the amount spent on display and search adverts on platforms such as Facebook and Google â popular with egaming operators, but does not spend on SMS, MMS and P2P messaging-based advertising platforms, traditionally popular with egaming firms as part of CRM efforts.
Google will continue to be the most dominant mobile advertisement platform this year with a 46.8% share of the market, however this is down on the 49.3% share it commanded in 2013 with Facebook continuing to grow.
Facebookâs share is expected to rise by 4.2% to 21.7% this year while rival social networking site Twitter will increase its share to a far more modest 2.6% of the market.
âThe rapid pace at which mobile has taken over the companyâs ad revenue share indicated Facebookâs mobile future,â said the report, with the share of Facebookâs net advertising revenue from mobile rising from 11% in 2012 to 45.1% in 2013.
While both Facebook and Google are proven mobile advertising channels for egaming operators the landscape is expected to change with Apple having recently relaxed its anti-gambling stance and allowed operators access to its iAd platform for 2014 at least.