Almost three quarters – 3.7 billion – of global internet users will be mobile-only by 2025, according to projections from GSMA Intelligence. Five countries are expected to account for half of all growth in mobile users over the period: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan. The price of smartphones in these markets continues to fall, while the burden on income from mobile data prices is also reducing.
Facebook, Google, Netflix, WeChat and other large online platforms have already redefined their approach to mobile-first, helping to establish social and online video services among mobile users. Google and Facebook amassed more than $150bn in advertising revenue last year, while WeChat reached one billion monthly active users (MAUs).
Mobile advertising spend is set to top TV across WARC's 12 key markets this year. The boom in mobile adspend has reflected a surge in daily consumption, which has more than doubled since 2012; rising by over two hours to 3:14 (h:mm) per day in 2018, according to GlobalWebIndex. ComScore data show that more than 90% of this time is spent in-app.
5G rollout, which begins in earnest this year, will facilitate higher connection speeds and data transfer. Ericsson believes 5G will cover over two-fifths of the global population in 2024, by when 18.4% (1.5bn users) will have a 5G subscription.
This Data Point was drawn from January's Global Ad Trends report, which focuses on investment and consumption trends within mobile advertising, in addition to ad performance, measurability and data privacy concerns.