US Mobile Advertising Growth (2019–2024)
With more people using smartphones year after year, the number of eyes on mobile ads is undoubtedly growing. For businesses, this translates to a potential increase in sales and revenue from investing in mobile advertising.
But just how big is the mobile ad market size?
According to the latest data, mobile advertising spend in the US in 2022 is expected to reach $137.13 billion, after surpassing $100 billion for the first time in 2021. This refers to expenditure on everything from classified ads and display ads to email, lead generation, and search on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
This will represent a whopping 16.86 percent year-over-year increase in mobile ad spend, a slowdown from 2021’s 22.15 percent growth rate.
US mobile advertising spend is expected to continue increasing after—albeit at a slower rate. In 2023, the US mobile ad market size is projected to grow 14.04 percent to $156.38 billion. There will be a slight deceleration in 2024, but expenditure is still expected to hit $174.14 billion.
If it does continue to grow as experts forecast, this will mean that mobile ad spend will have doubled in the few years from 2019 to 2024.
Mobile Advertising Spend: Biggest Spenders
Recent statistics show that the retail industry is the biggest spender on mobile ads. Expenditure in 2021 reached $30.91 billion, a 35.6 percent year-over-year growth. This also makes up 23.8 percent of the total mobile ad spend in the US. In other words, nearly one out of every four dollars spent on mobile ads in the US came from retail businesses.
The second-biggest spender on mobile ads is the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry with $21.83 billion spent. This is followed by the financial services sector with $17.24 billion.
Drivers Behind US Mobile Advertising Growth
What’s driving the mobile advertising growth in the US? For starters, the large and growing number of internet users and mobile device owners. As many as 97 percent of US internet users today own mobile devices and 90.2 percent of them use these devices to access the internet.
That’s not all. On average, these mobile internet users spend over three hours every single day using the internet on their devices, and every minute they’re connected on their mobile devices is brand exposure and sales potential.