What is the trajectory of U.S. mobile ad revenues? Is the emerging on-demand economy the “Anti-search?” And what is Facebook’s master plan for SMB localized marketing? These are a few topics we tackled over the last week, curated and aggregated into the Local Media Watch newsletter.

LMW has recently doubled its frequency to weekly, so we’ll also be posting it here. Entire issues are available on the web in addition to email. So you can get it here every Friday or subscribe (free) to get it in your inbox during its regular Thursday circulation. Click below for the latest issue.

The post LMW Issue 20: U.S. Mobile Ad Revs to Reach $42 B by 2019 appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

U.S. mobile ad revenues will grow from $13.3B last year to $42.4B by 2019. That’s according to BIA/Kelsey’s latest Local Media Forecast, released last week. The forecast is broken down into media such as online, television, and YP. Today we highlight the mobile piece.

The mobile projections above include search, display, SMS, video and native social (i.e. Facebook news feed ads). The latter are the fastest growing mobile ad format. It’s also important to note that these figures do not include tablets (for reasons mentioned here).

In addition to ad formats, the mobile ad pie can be segmented by targeting scope: Location targeted mobile ad spend will grow from $4.3 billion last year to $18.2 billion in 2019. That equals about a third of overall mobile ad revenues, growing to 42 percent by 2019.

Drivers for this growth include mobile usage (which skews towards local intent) and advertiser evolution to follow that usage. Another important factor is the premiums associated with location targeted ads, which result from performance and growing demand.

We’ll release more data soon that drills down further into the mobile numbers and many inputs. Also expect more from the forecast’s other media types as we unpack them here and at upcoming conferences. Meanwhile the mobile highlights are below.

— U.S. location-targeted mobile ad revenues are projected to grow from $4.3 billion in 2014 to $18.2 billion in 2019 (34 percent CAGR).
— This is defined as mobile advertising targeted based on a user’s location; or including proximity-relevant content to trigger local offline conversions.
— It includes large national advertisers and SMBs.

— National advertisers continue to drive the majority of localized mobile ad revenues
— Innovation among ad networks and ad tech providers (e.g., Google, xAd) will accelerate this draw to location targeted mobile ads.
— SMB adoption — a slow but growing share of localized mobile advertising — will likewise impact revenue.
— BIA/Kelsey sees evolving SMB savvy and propensity to self serve with offerings like Google AdWords and Facebook (pull).
— Local media companies will also accelerate adoption through innovation, sales and bundling efforts (push).

— Localized mobile ad share will also grow as a result of premium ad rates.
— Premiums will result mostly from higher performance (i.e., CTRs, phone calls, store visits).
— Performance deltas are in turn a function of:
— Higher relevance, immediacy and alignment with consumer local buying intent, all of which are more prevalent in mobile than in other digital and print media.
— For example, half of mobile searches have intent to find local information or products, compared to the 20 percent of desktop searches that carry comparative local intent.
— Advertisers increasingly include calls-to-action to capture this high local intent (i.e. in-unit click-to-call buttons).

Read More…

The post U.S. Mobile Ad Revenues to Reach $42B by 2019 appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Local ad spending reached $137.9 billion in 2014, and will see a slight boost to $139.4 billion in 2015. We talked with BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist and SVP Mark Fratrik about the new research (interview below).

Every year, BIA/Kelsey issues a five-year forecast on local spending in the fall, and then updates it in the following spring based on full year reporting, current trends and anticipated events.

This year’s update shows more spending than originally forecast in 2014, and modest increases in our 2015 given several factors, including a rapid rise in mobile spending.

BIA/Kelsey: We’re seeing a slight uptick from our original forecasts for 2014-2015. What’s driving that?

Mark Fratrik: Local TV spending was stronger in 2014 than we predicted, primarily due to political advertising from many Senate, House and gubernatorial races. And television still drives local political spending, even though its overall growth rates are much lower than online. Television growth rates average 3-4 percent. Online growth is always in double digits, but starts at a much smaller base. To be sure, we aren’t downplaying the shift from traditional advertising to more digital/online/mobile outlets. These new media provide a more focused and efficient advertising vehicle for national and local advertisers to reach their audiences. The shift is especially felt in traditional print outlets, such as newspapers.

BIA/Kelsey: Hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, are being raised for the next presidential election. Won’t that drive spending with local television outlets?

Mark Fratrik: We should see an amazing amount of spending coming up in late 2015 into early 2016-15. With a tightly competitive Presidential race on the Republican side, it won’t just be in the early stats of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. And we want to make the point again about online and digital. While political campaigns are increasingly using digital outlets, local TV and cable still see a much larger part of that spending. They’re an important part of that message building.

BIA/Kelsey: The big new local channel is mobile. We see how the Internet pure plays like Google, Facebook and Yahoo are reporting that mobile revenues are moving towards parity with other digital advertising.

Mark Fratrik: Mobile is driving most of the change in the digital space, gaining traction with advertisers, and jumping to an 11.5 percent share of the media pie by 2019 from 3.1 percent a year ago. We are constantly updating and increasing our estimates for mobile spending . By 2019, it will be the fourth highest channel for local media spending in terms of share. Mobile is also driving our increased forecast for social media spending, which will grow by almost 1/3, or 31 percent.

BIA/Kelsey: We’re seeing a lot of activity for digital audio services like Pandora, I Heart Radio and Spotify. How much will they impact local spending, and especially, traditional radio?

Mark Fratrik: Radio is a good illustration of the gap between digital and traditional media revenues. Take Pandora. It will generate nearly $153 million in 2014 in local advertising revenue, which represents really healthy growth. But that is just $153 million of $139 billion in local media spending. And it is only in the Top 50 markets. Conversely, Radio stations continuously to basically hold its own with $14.4 billion in over-the-air advertising spending in 2015, or 10.3 percent.

Chief Economist and SVP Mark Fratrik

The post $139 Billion in Local Ads: The Word with BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The digital audio space is really just beginning to hit its pace and so this is a perfect time for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to come out with its authoritative A Digital Audio Buyer’s Guide developed by IAB’s Digital Audio Committee (on which BIA/Kelsey serves).

The digital audio market felt a seismic rattle with the news yesterday of Spotify’s expected $400 million capital raise which would bring its valuation to $8.4 billion more than twice that of leading competitor, Pandora, who closed out yesterday with a $3.55 billion market cap.

As BIA/Kelsey noted in a digital audio report we released last year (sponsored by XAPPmedia), “The Internet radio revolution has been brewing for some time. Streaming audio has gone mainstream for audiences and advertisers. This revolution is foundational, meaning that new business models are forming around new audience behaviors supported by technology advances.”

IAB’s Digital Audio Buyer’s Guide is a comprehensive but very digestible 26 page educational and reference document that lays out in a clear fashion everything from “what is meant by ‘digital audio'” to sizing the digital audio market, providing best practices and digital audio ad samples to providing insights around planning and buying.

“Digital audio” is defined as comprising broadcast AM/FM stations online, pureplay online radio stations, streamed audio content with selections influenced by consumer input, and audio-on-demand (i.e., podcasts). With over 50% of the U.S. population as current monthly users of various digital audio services, IAB cites eMarketer data showing this will grow to over 190 monthly digital radio listeners by 2019.

In BIA/Kelsey’s updated forecast for broadcast radio, we’re estimating that the advertising revenue from AM/FM stations streaming online will double from $1 billion in 2014 to $2 billion by 2019. That’s a significant growth component for an industry that otherwise won’t see much revenue growth. And we see a lot of new competition both for listeners and in selling access to local audiences.

In the pureplay digital audio world, Pandora will be releasing its latest earnings report on April 23, 2015. We’ll see then how it stacks up in its drive to increase local ad revenues and how Spotify’s raise may impact its share price. Since Pandora beefed up its local sales force presence, it managed to grow its local ad revenues by 155% to over $150 million in 2014.

It appears that the local digital audio market is no longer so sleepy as it may have appeared as social, mobile and video digital advertising claimed all the headlines.

The post IAB’s New (Free) Digital Audio Buyer’s Guide – Informs a Breakout Category appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The digital audio space is really just beginning to hit its pace and so this is a perfect time for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to come out with its authoritative A Digital Audio Buyer’s Guide developed by IAB’s Digital Audio Committee (on which BIA/Kelsey serves).

The digital audio market felt a seismic rattle with the news yesterday of Spotify’s expected $400 million capital raise which would bring its valuation to $8.4 billion more than twice that of leading competitor, Pandora, who closed out yesterday with a $3.55 billion market cap.

As BIA/Kelsey noted in a digital audio report we released last year (sponsored by XAPPmedia), “The Internet radio revolution has been brewing for some time. Streaming audio has gone mainstream for audiences and advertisers. This revolution is foundational, meaning that new business models are forming around new audience behaviors supported by technology advances.”

IAB’s Digital Audio Buyer’s Guide is a comprehensive but very digestible 26 page educational and reference document that lays out in a clear fashion everything from “what is meant by ‘digital audio'” to sizing the digital audio market, providing best practices and digital audio ad samples to providing insights around planning and buying.

“Digital audio” is defined as comprising broadcast AM/FM stations online, pureplay online radio stations, streamed audio content with selections influenced by consumer input, and audio-on-demand (i.e., podcasts). With over 50% of the U.S. population as current monthly users of various digital audio services, IAB cites eMarketer data showing this will grow to over 190 monthly digital radio listeners by 2019.

In BIA/Kelsey’s updated forecast for broadcast radio, we’re estimating that the advertising revenue from AM/FM stations streaming online will double from $1 billion in 2014 to $2 billion by 2019. That’s a significant growth component for an industry that otherwise won’t see much revenue growth. And we see a lot of new competition both for listeners and in selling access to local audiences.

In the pureplay digital audio world, Pandora will be releasing its latest earnings report on April 23, 2015. We’ll see then how it stacks up in its drive to increase local ad revenues and how Spotify’s raise may impact its share price. Since Pandora beefed up its local sales force presence, it managed to grow its local ad revenues by 155% to over $150 million in 2014.

It appears that the local digital audio market is no longer so sleepy as it may have appeared as social, mobile and video digital advertising claimed all the headlines.

The post IAB's New (Free) Digital Audio Buyer's Guide – Informs a Breakout Category appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

To kick-off BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL, the analyst team sits down to review 2015 – 2019 local advertising across 12 different channels and 94 industries, summarizing key issues for marketers over the next half decade.

Michael Boland, Chief Analyst and Vice President of Content, BIA/Kelsey
Peter Krasilovsky, Vice President, BIA/Kelsey
Steve Marshall, Research Director, BIA/Kelsey
Stacey Sedbrook, Vice President of Strategic Sales Consulting

Steve Marshall opens with our Local Commerce Monitor results on franchisees. They send $87K-plus, the highest level of marketing spend among the SMBs BIA/Kelsey tracks. They are highly engaged in digital — 42.9 percent of 2015 spending will be on digital; again, far ahead of the average SMB.

Franchises also spend at least 10 hours a week on social networks. About 85 percent maintain customer lists (compared to only about half of SMBs have customer lists in digital form). Seventy-one percent of franchises will have a loyalty program this year. This is a vindication of loyalty programs. Hand in hand with these loyalty programs, franchises are driving huge investments in discounting — 50.7 percent of revenue will be due to discount sales tied to loyalty programs.

This is the wave — loyalty and discounting — that will sweep the local space. There will be a much deeper, more committed relationship between the franchises and customers.

Franchises tend to favor buying through on-premise sales reps (feet on the street), even though many have national agency relationships. The franchises buy most through agencies and are extremely satisfied. Sixty-three percent are extremely satisfied with their agency relationships, though they prefer making individual purchases with assistance (expertise) from the agency. “They like a partner for these activities versus doing it themselves.”

Co-op advertising represents about $50 billion in U.S. spend annually and franchisees are the most prevalent users of co-op (more than 50 percent of all co-op monies flow through franchises). As a result, they want more analytics and analysis for their planning and assessment of campaigns.

Next up, Mike Boland discusses technology, particularly mobile.

Mobile ad revenues will grow from $13.25 billion in 2014 to $41.63 percent in 2019. In mobile, brands are the majority early adopters. YP, Yelp and other directories participate, but more than half is brand spending.

There are many flavors of ad targeting in mobile. It is no longer a matter of simply being geo-targeted, but must include contextually relevant information on the mobile devices. Using local area codes perform better than 800# listings, because they are perceived as actually local.

Bringing local inventory to bear on these opportunities, bringing POS inventory online as Google is doing, will be critical to market growth.

The static display ad is dying as live targeting takes on the role of providing context to mobile users.

Location-based programmatic ads are making headway. Weather, for example, can be used to address a customer with a topical offer. For example, a gym can send a coupon to a runner when it is raining: “Come in and run out of the rain.” These ads are starting to perform well.

Competitive conquesting works in retail, but struggles in restaurants. “There are so many different shades to these new opportunities, and it requires a lot of testing,” Boland said. Think of location as an audience profiling tool — where are consumers going and what does it say about the consumer that brands can use to create resonant messaging for consumers.

Contextual location targeting, such as a consumer at Wrigley Field, is a rich starting point for engagement. Drawing in other activities around that location and demographics.

“Everything I just mentioned can only happen when the location is accurate,” Boland concluded. “But the dirty little secret is that many location tags are wrong.” That’s a critical area for the market development and we have a session about this later this week.

Now Stacey Sedbrook: Are companies really learning use national and local brand targeting. Brand is centric, the location is subservient to the brand. And it is all over the board (for the same reasons that Gregg Stewart identified earlier). Talent development is going to be essential.

Stacey suggests it is important to “super-serve” the brand behind franchises, so we still need to be near the national brands, such as locating near Detroit for auto. The relationships matter more, and sales will continue to thrive.

Programmatic ads do not replace the human relationships that media companies have built with brands. Steve Marshall adds that he sees a tremendous need for integrators who do consultative selling with brands. Stacey: Make the local franchise group happy. So, send out a “hunter” to bring in brand deals, but hand fulfillment and account management to the local staff. Relationships matter.

Programmatic feels like “a buying method” to talk about targeting demographic, location with the “humble display ad.” Mike Boland: “This is bringing the tenants of search to the local display ads.”

That’s the session.

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Location Services Will Kill Traditional Display Advertising appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Interestingly, traditional local media has a disproportionate share of 2015 spending (87.2 percent). Yet, the online/digital local will grow substantially in the next few years, reaching 20 percent by 2019. This online/digital will be with pure plays, as well as the traditional media that have expanded their services and see the opportunities with this group of advertisers. These health care providers will be extremely interested in greater integration of digital marketing services.

More information on this vertical advertising spending is now available in the recently released report, Insights in Local Advertising – Health Care Vertical, which examines traditional and digital spending trends, profiles the market ad share by media, and details the advertising trends of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

To read the executive summary of this report, just click on “Insights in Local Advertising – Health Care Vertical.“

The post Health Care Vertical – Important to Understand for All Local Media appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Like we do every year, BIA/Kelsey analysts huddle to formulate predictions for the coming year in respective areas of domain expertise.  Last month, we released a report that highlights picks across these coverage areas.

For more color on the predictions that pertain to mobile, below is the “director’s cut.” These are areas I’ve been watching, and where I think they’re moving. It’s pretty clear from the momentum that it’s going to be an action-packed year for mobile.

1. Apple Pay Won’t Take Over the Universe (Yet)

Apple pay will not “mainstream” mobile proximity payments in 2015. It will however cause a dent in in-app payments for offline fulfillment (a la Uber). The numbers don’t work out given that the iPhone 6 will not reach ubiquity until late 2015. And merchants will not be incentivized to upgrade POS hardware without that critical mass. It’s an issue of compatibility and network effect. Furthering the above points, neither consumer nor merchant will be incentivized to adopt unless there is a more compelling value proposition for Apple Pay. That includes saving time, money, or skipping lines, as opposed to the current value proposition which is the marginally different process of tapping rather than swiping. That’s not enough to alter such an entrenched and comfort-driven consumer behavior.  In the meantime, Apple Pay’s killer app will be with in-app payments for offline services, such as “order ahead” functionality or on demand local services (OLDS) like Uber.

2. The Uberification of Local

Mobile payments, search and discovery will culminate in the area of on-demand local services (ODLS). The segment is exploding in use and investment, a la Uber. This is real world products and services summoned by mobile and fulfilled offline. This outweighs M-commerce (i.e. ordering things on your phone for shipment a la Amazone) because more than 93 percent of U.S. retail spending (and near 100 percent of service transactions) happen offline. The factors that will drive ODLS and make it a more predominant area of attention and investment in 2015 include:

— ODLSs create liquidity, transparency, and supply/demand balance in traditionally opaque two-sided marketplaces (like finding a cab)
— ODLSs will be the killer app for near term adoption of mobile payments like Apple Pay (see above).
— ODLSs will create a long missing analytics “bridge” to the offline world, given that the mobile device is with you throughout. That trackability will bring more data to offline commerce,  opening the door to better analytics, user targeting and next gen functions like dynamic demand-pricing for local services.

3. Swipe Left

Given escalating share of location based search and discovery happening via mobile, content formats will evolve in ways more native to that use case. Currently most content delivery formats are inherited from the desktop, such as list views or “ten blue links” SERPS. We’ll see a revolution in design standards for mobile local search and discovery products. These will be more visually oriented and card based. Scrolling and tapping will give way to swiping, a la Tinder. This is not only more conducive to mobile, but it will naturally enable more user inputs in order to algorithmically determine user sentiment and refine content delivery accordingly (a la Pandora). Content delivery will be much more algorithmic and push based, accelerating the discovery trend that has been underway for years, replacing active search queries.  Google now will be a model for this, and companies like Weotta are doing cool things.  Meanwhile, the visually oriented nature of these interfaces will also result from better hardware such as camera optics and larger screens to view striking imagery. Some of that multimedia will be pushed from advertisers and publishers, while some will structure and organize user generated content, a la social sharing.

4. Becoming Selfie-Aware

The social sharing trend — capturing and sharing moments via instagram, vine, stapchat etc. — has been driven by better smartphone optics and larger screens (i.e. iPhone6). That has begun to reach the local level as consumers likewise share their experiences in transactional contexts such as dining out. This phenomenon will accelerate in 2015, specific to certain visual and sharable local verticals such as arts & entertainment. We’ll see most local media players embrace this trend by launching products that support the use case (i.e. Yelp’s video capture feature). This will be the foundation for clear monetization that aligns with existing models. For example, visual content shared by users aides in content marketing, SEO, and SMB landing page development. Paid tiers of merchant offerings will include things such as highlighting user generated multimedia through slideshows. Mobile will be a big user touch point to not only capture and share that media, but to also consume it via larger screens.

5. U.S. Mobile Ad Market Reaches $19B

The U.S. mobile ad market (excluding tablets) will reach nearly $20 billion in 2015. And the location targeted portion of that ad spend will be about one third. This counts all mobile ad formats including developing areas like social native ads (i.e. FB mobile news feed ads). Our figures also take into account the growth of search ads (currently the largest share of mobile ad revenue) and Google’s Enhanced Campaigns which will continue to accelerate mobile advertiser adoption. More populated search bid marketplaces that result will also raise bid pressure and increase cost per click rates. Higher CPCs will in turn boost mobile ad revenue further for Google and mobile publishers and developers. The longstanding imbalance in mobile ad rates will also begin to reverse as sources of premium ad rates continue to be found. That includes native social ads on places like Instagram, better attribution metrics, and higher performing location targeted ads from companies like xAd, Verve, and YP.

The post 2015 Mobile Predictions: The Director’s Cut appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Like we do every year, BIA/Kelsey analysts huddle to formulate predictions for the coming year in respective areas of domain expertise.  Last month, we released a report that highlights picks across these coverage areas.

For more color on the predictions that pertain to mobile, below is the “director’s cut.” These are areas I’ve been watching, and where I think they’re moving. It’s pretty clear from the momentum that it’s going to be an action-packed year for mobile.

1. Apple Pay Won’t Take Over the Universe (Yet)

Apple pay will not “mainstream” mobile proximity payments in 2015. It will however cause a dent in in-app payments for offline fulfillment (a la Uber). The numbers don?t work out given that the iPhone 6 will not reach ubiquity until late 2015. And merchants will not be incentivized to upgrade POS hardware without that critical mass. It’s an issue of compatibility and network effect. Furthering the above points, neither consumer nor merchant will be incentivized to adopt unless there is a more compelling value proposition for Apple Pay. That includes saving time, money, or skipping lines, as opposed to the current value proposition which is the marginally different process of tapping rather than swiping. That’s not enough to alter such an entrenched and comfort-driven consumer behavior.  In the meantime, Apple Pay’s killer app will be with in-app payments for offline services, such as “order ahead” functionality or on demand local services (OLDS) like Uber.

2. The Uberification of Local

Mobile payments, search and discovery will culminate in the area of on-demand local services (ODLS). The segment is exploding in use and investment, a la Uber. This is real world products and services summoned by mobile and fulfilled offline. This outweighs M-commerce (i.e. ordering things on your phone for shipment a la Amazone) because more than 93 percent of U.S. retail spending (and near 100 percent of service transactions) happen offline. The factors that will drive ODLS and make it a more predominant area of attention and investment in 2015 include:

— ODLSs create liquidity, transparency, and supply/demand balance in traditionally opaque two-sided marketplaces (like finding a cab)
— ODLSs will be the killer app for near term adoption of mobile payments like Apple Pay (see above).
— ODLSs will create a long missing analytics “bridge” to the offline world, given that the mobile device is with you throughout. That trackability will bring more data to offline commerce,  opening the door to better analytics, user targeting and next gen functions like dynamic demand-pricing for local services.

3. Swipe Left

Given escalating share of location based search and discovery happening via mobile, content formats will evolve in ways more native to that use case. Currently most content delivery formats are inherited from the desktop, such as list views or “ten blue links” SERPS. We’ll see a revolution in design standards for mobile local search and discovery products. These will be more visually oriented and card based. Scrolling and tapping will give way to swiping, a la Tinder. This is not only more conducive to mobile, but it will naturally enable more user inputs in order to algorithmically determine user sentiment and refine content delivery accordingly (a la Pandora). Content delivery will be much more algorithmic and push based, accelerating the discovery trend that has been underway for years, replacing active search queries.  Google now will be a model for this, and companies like Weotta are doing cool things.  Meanwhile, the visually oriented nature of these interfaces will also result from better hardware such as camera optics and larger screens to view striking imagery. Some of that multimedia will be pushed from advertisers and publishers, while some will structure and organize user generated content, a la social sharing.

4. Becoming Selfie-Aware

The social sharing trend — capturing and sharing moments via instagram, vine, stapchat etc. — has been driven by better smartphone optics and larger screens (i.e. iPhone6). That has begun to reach the local level as consumers likewise share their experiences in transactional contexts such as dining out. This phenomenon will accelerate in 2015, specific to certain visual and sharable local verticals such as arts & entertainment. We?ll see most local media players embrace this trend by launching products that support the use case (i.e. Yelp’s video capture feature). This will be the foundation for clear monetization that aligns with existing models. For example, visual content shared by users aides in content marketing, SEO, and SMB landing page development. Paid tiers of merchant offerings will include things such as highlighting user generated multimedia through slideshows. Mobile will be a big user touch point to not only capture and share that media, but to also consume it via larger screens.

5. U.S. Mobile Ad Market Reaches $19B

The U.S. mobile ad market (excluding tablets) will reach nearly $20 billion in 2015. And the location targeted portion of that ad spend will be about one third. This counts all mobile ad formats including developing areas like social native ads (i.e. FB mobile news feed ads). Our figures also take into account the growth of search ads (currently the largest share of mobile ad revenue) and Google?s Enhanced Campaigns which will continue to accelerate mobile advertiser adoption. More populated search bid marketplaces that result will also raise bid pressure and increase cost per click rates. Higher CPCs will in turn boost mobile ad revenue further for Google and mobile publishers and developers. The longstanding imbalance in mobile ad rates will also begin to reverse as sources of premium ad rates continue to be found. That includes native social ads on places like Instagram, better attribution metrics, and higher performing location targeted ads from companies like xAd, Verve, and YP.

The post 2015 Mobile Predictions: The Director's Cut appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

32 percent of mobile ad spend in the U.S. is from location targeted campaigns, according to BIA/Kelsey forecast data. But a question that keep coming up is how much of that is from SMBs, as opposed to national companies (brands, agencies, etc.), that do location targeted mobile advertising?

We examined this question at our September SMB Conference in New Orleans (video below). The answer: less than 10 percent. That can be expected, given mobile advertising’s still-nascent status, and the fact that SMBs tends to trail larger advertisers that generally have more resources and savvy.

But interestingly, this SMB share will grow to one third by 2019 — thus approaching the 36 percent SMBs hold in overall location targeted advertising. In other words as mobile local advertising matures, it will resemble the split seen in the overall local media pie (YP, radio, TV, online, etc.).

The SMB mobile adoption itself will come from 1. their own natural evolution to self serve, which is in turn supported by available tools like Google’s Enhanced Campaigns. 2. The efforts of local media companies like YP and Yelp to better push mobile advertising, and make a stronger case for it.

See the video below for more. We’ll continue this discussion and many others at our Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media conference, only 2 weeks away in San Francisco. Hope to see you there.

The post Conference Video: How Much Mobile Local Ad Spend Is From SMBs? appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.