Facebook and Google Take Big Slices of Global Mobile Ad Market

When it comes to the larger overall market for mobile advertising, the clear winner in the field is Google, which by itself represents over half the market. But there are signs that other competitors are gaining, and mobile advertising is getting some big new names involved, like Facebook (News - Alert), which recently saw huge gains in the market.

Google is top of the heap when it comes to the global mobile ad market, accounting for fully 53.17 percent of the overall market, according to studies from eMarketer (News - Alert). This is actually up slightly from 2012 numbers of 52.36 percent, and vastly up from 2011's score of 38.11 percent. But Facebook now holds the third largest chunk of the market behind “other” sources at 15.8 percent. That's up enormously from the 2012 numbers of 5.35 percent, and in 2011, Facebook had no share of the market at all.


Image via Shutterstock

The rest of the market is looking to approach insignificance. The second largest chunk of the market—that “other” market—has been in steady decline since 2011, where it began as 55.58 percent of the market in 2011, dropping to 34.33 percent in 2012 and reaching 23.82 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is holding in the single digits, with, on average, very small changes to attribute from one brand to another.

Interestingly, though many companies are holding a smaller chunk of the market than previously held, these companies actually hold a smaller chunk of a growing market. Estimates suggest that, by the end of 2013, the mobile ad market will reach fully $16.65 billion, representing 89 percent growth. Google's massive chunk of the market comes from a combination of mobile search use and the further monetization of YouTube (News - Alert), which has a massive following.

But the numbers carry on in terms of all digital advertising as well. Google and Facebook both hold the top slots in the digital ad revenue share stakes, with Google at 32.84 percent and Facebook at 5.41 percent. Both numbers are up over both 2012 and 2011 numbers, and rounding out the top five in that market is Yahoo with 2.97 percent, Microsoft with 2.49 percent and IAC at 1.37 percent. However, it's worth noting that the eMarketer numbers show only Yahoo and AOL (News - Alert)—along with the “other” market—as showing declines in the share of global digital advertising revenue share. Additionally, the overall market for digital advertising is up, and in a big way, reaching $117.60 billion in 2013 as compared to $104.04 billion in 2012, and $86.43 billion in 2011.

This likely reflects the move of a lot of customers to Web-based services and stores for making purchases. We saw just last Black Friday how eBay (News - Alert) successfully incorporated the idea of ultra-stressful holiday shopping with the idea of a relaxing spa day, and there were plenty of other signs that shoppers were looking to stay out of stores and hit the Web instead, shopping online for the various treats that would arrive for gift giving. Advertising must go where there are eyes to see it and shoppers to follow up on it, so the move to mobile makes some sense as businesses frantically try to find customers. This is a development that's likely to only grow in the coming months as more people take to the Web to find the bargains craved.