In its new report Juniper Research forecasts that ad spend on mobile games will increase tenfold over the next five years, climbing from $87 million in 2010 to $894 million in 2015. There are two key factors to consider – increasing brand interest in mobile as an advertising channel, and apps – of which games are the dominant sector.
Unsurprisingly, Juniper mentions wildly popular Angry Birds, which is available free of charge to Android smartphone users with Rovio (developer of the game) getting its money from advertising.
On the other hand, some games have been successfully deployed as marketing tools by brands such as Barclaycard and Volkswagen, providing new revenue opportunities for developers like Fishlabs and Firemint.
However, despite the fact that the growth in ad spend on mobile games will be higher than end-user revenues, this latter business model will continue to be the primary source of revenue for players in the industry. By 2015, revenues comprising from pay-per-download and in-game purchases will still be ten times higher than ad spend…
And you can get additional details from Juniper’s website.