Mobile ads aren’t just a growing business sector—they’re an exploding business sector. In the U.K., they call them “mobiles.” In Germany, they’re “Handis.” The French call them “portables.” Nearly everyone has a cell phone in the 21st century, and almost everyone spends time playing mobile games that come with mobile ads. Here are 4 statistics that show why mobile ads are a growing business sector.
1. Mobile Ad Spending Is At More Than $300 Billion
In 2022, the worldwide mobile advertising spending totaled $327 billion. Estimates at the time indicated that by 2024, that amount would be closer to $400 billion. That’s an increase of 33% over just two years, and the trend shows no signs of reversing itself. These mobile ads appear as banners, inserted into YouTube videos or programs on subscription services, or even on social media feeds. They’re ubiquitous, and it doesn’t look likely to change.
2. Global Advertising Spending Was $792 Billion in 2024
Slightly more than half of all global spending on advertising was mobile spending. People fast-forward commercials when they record shows on television. In fact, ads that appear at the beginning or end of an ad break cost more because people are more likely to see those than they are the ones in the middle. In digital media, it’s either not possible to fast-forward an ad at all, or you have to watch at least part of it until the “skip” button appears. So, the general consensus among advertisers is that these ads are better than those on TV because not only do more people use social media than watch network TV anymore but also because they have to watch at least five seconds of an ad before skipping it.
3. Nearly 3/4 of All People Hate Digital Ads
However, 74% of people find digital ads annoying. By and large, they don’t trust digital ads as much as they trust ads on TV. Also, just about 2/3 of those surveyed thought that they saw the same ads again and again on digital media. Digital ad creators would do well to remember this when designing ads for mobile viewing. In 2023, the New York Times reported that a majority of digital users saw ads for products in which they weren’t interested and/or that had no relevance to them. In the future, companies should take better care, or they risk further alienating the people they’re trying to reach.
4. Over 30% of Users Try to Block Ads
With the nearly exponential growth of digital ads, the scammers have come out of the woodwork. In Canada, for example, there were many fake ads on X, and these ads made fraudulent claims about too-good-to-be-true investments. These ads used Canadian politicians, such as Jagmeet Singh, Pierre Poilievre, and Justin Trudeau, to hawk these scams. That kind of scam is called “attribution fraud.” An honest company would never do this kind of thing, but it’s rampant in the digital realm. The prevalence of scams, along with other factors, has led 31.2% of users in the whole world to simply block all ads. In fact, these people would rather pay money not to see ads in the first place than to accept free content with ads attached.
