Mobile Ad Spending Trends in BRIC Countries

Messaging currently offers marketers the greatest opportunity

NEW YORK (Mar. 17, 2010)—For marketers looking to break into mobile and get the most from their investment in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), targeting a more specialized audience may help them ring up dividends.

eMarketer projects that mobile ad spending will reach $11.8 million in Brazil, $6.4 million in Russia, $35.4 million in India and $223.2 million in China in 2010.

“Mobile advertising is still in a relatively nascent stage across the BRIC countries, and each market will develop along a different trajectory,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the report, “BRIC Mobile: Emerging Markets Mature.”

China, which has the largest mobile subscriber and Internet population, will emerge as a significant mobile advertising market by 2012, although spending will still be low relative to the size of its user base. In Brazil, India and Russia, spending levels across the primary mobile advertising channels—messaging, display and search—will remain modest.

The small vanguard of smartphone users does represent an attractive audience, but it is not yet sizable enough for marketers to make it their exclusive focus. Given the high concentration of SMS usage, especially relative to the low level of mobile Internet usage in all the BRIC countries but China, messaging-based campaigns will provide marketers with the widest exposure to mobile consumers. However, as smart devices proliferate and consumers’ appetites for advanced applications such as video increase, marketers will have more sophisticated opportunities to engage mobile users.

Segmentation is a key success strategy. All the BRIC countries have rising middle and upper-middle classes with increasing disposable incomes, and it is these consumers who are purchasing smartphones with data plans to access the Web.

Source: eMarketer