F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
Mobile advertising records double digit growth in emerging markets
Mobile advertising rates surged globally for a third straight quarter in 2010, according to global mobile media company Buzzcity. These results were attributed to the falling costs of access and deeper internet penetration.
As part of their Global Mobile Advertising Index, the company gathered worldwide data over a three month period from July to September 2010. When compared to the second quarter of the year, BuzzCity reported traffic growth of 590-million impressions, which amounted to a 65% increase from first quarter figures.
African countries experienced large growth, with Kenya and Libya in particular both experiencing a staggering 116% and 154% rise respectively in impressions for the quarter. South Africa was recorded as the fourth most active country in the index, behind Indonesia, India and the United States.
A total of 54 global markets each managed to deliver monthly impressions of over 10-million, which is an increase from 44 countries in the second quarter of 2010 and 32 in the first quarter. “No less than 14 countries have witnessed double digit growth in mobile advertising over the last three months, with three markets, Libya, Korea and Kenya, seeing triple digit growth,” said BuzzCity CEO Dr KF Lai.
According to Lai, “India, Turkey, the United States, Malaysia, South Africa and Mexico have all seen three straight quarters of double digit growth. The key countries that stand out as showing strong sustainable growth are India, with an average growth of 79% over the last quarter, Turkey with 54%, and the US (49%).” BuzzCity suggests that these findings represent the measure of advertiser demand for mobile advertising and that it is not only driven by the drop in connectivity rates.
The South African mobile ad industry grew by 18%, which translates to more than 700-million impressions. By comparison world wide growth in mobile advertising came to 17%, placing South Africa above the global average.
The following table shows the top 20 most active countries in terms of the amount of ads served during Q3.
| Rank Country | Q3 2010 | Q3 Growth |
| 1 Indonesia | 3,685,538,814 | -16% |
| 2 India | 3,681,308,166 | 70% |
| 3 United States | 976,971,596 | 30% |
| 4 South Africa | 700,490,789 | 18% |
| 5 Kenya | 506,116,064 | 116% |
| 6 Saudi Arabia | 297,305,172 | 68% |
| 7 Vietnam | 293,177,502 | 8% |
| 8 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya | 255,180,248 | 154% |
| 9 United Kingdom | 239,048,780 | 25% |
| 10 Malaysia | 193,599,038 | 22% |
| 11 Canada | 157,398,150 | -22% |
| 12 China | 145,609,870 | 130% |
| 13 Mexico | 135,747,207 | 18% |
| 14 Bangladesh | 134,419,000 | -9% |
| 15 Thailand | 128,012,118 | 31% |
| 16 Australia | 113,504,284 | 44% |
| 17 Nigeria | 111,534,669 | -27% |
| 18 Korea, Republic of | 105,241,661 | 97% |
| 19 Egypt | 100,780,012 | -39% |
| 20 Turkey | 100,476,860 | 66% |
