It isn’t uncommon to find mobile app developers that are frustrated at the low amount of revenue they received on their apps. App development can require a significant investment, and earning back that investment can be a challenge. Many developers have versions of their apps that are ad-supported, but making money from advertising can be hit or miss. For every success story, there are hundreds of people struggling to break even. It doesn’t help that there aren’t very many advertising dollars set aside by advertisers for mobile apps.
Don’t worry too much developers. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The Atlantic recently posted an article by Richard Ting called Why Mobile Will Dominate the Future of Media and Adversting. In it, Ting examines the amount of advertising growth expected in the mobile market. It is worth a read for anyone interested in advertising or mobile app development.
The article was written in response to a statistic stating that consumers are spending 10% of their attention on mobile apps, while only 1% of advertising dollars are spent there. While this number is still far below the 26% of attention that is spent on internet browsing, and the 43% spent on TV, the large discrepancy between the amount of attention given versus the amount of dollars spent is quite large. Every other form of media measured, besides print, had the percentage of ad dollars spent pretty close to the percentage of attention given by consumers. When looking at those numbers, Ting concluded that there will be an increase in ad dollars on the way for mobile developers. He states, “While the ad-spend numbers don’t quite match the perceived growth, a closer look shows us that we are actually beginning to enter the golden age of mobile and that the advertising spending will follow.”
Smartphone adoption has been increasing. With the number of smartphone owners now surpassing feature phone owners, it’s only a matter of time before advertisers are forced to pay attention. If the trend set by other mediums holds true, then we could expect to see the amount of money being spent on mobile advertising increase by 800% or more.
That’s good news for app developers who are depending on ad revenue.
Have you been kicking around an idea for an app, just waiting for the right time to start on it? That time might be now.
What do you think?
Source: The Atlantic
