Mobile advertising to be a $1.2 billion market by 2020: Report

Mobile advertising will be a $1.2 billion market by 2020, says a recent research report by Singapore-based global mobile advertising and discovery platform InMobi.

The report, which highlights the shift in Internet usage pattern in the country from desktop to mobile, says that 80 per cent of all web traffic emanates from mobile.

"As a media vehicle, the engagement levels provided by smartphones is unparalleled. An average user spends approximately 4.5 hours daily accessing the Internet on their smartphone. This is 37 per cent higher than the time spent on TV," says the report.

It also reveals that apps account for 88 per cent of India's mobile time and in 2017, India ranked third and continued to surpass the US as the leading app download capital of the world -- it had a 12 per cent share of the world's app downloads.

"Encouraged by the in-app offers and discounts, Travel and Retail apps have become the most downloaded apps by Indians. Additionally, offers on first time app use are drawing in the late adopters," the report claimed.

Video content, too, is growing rapidly in the country, the report said and by 2021, 75 per cent of India's mobile data traffic will be from videos.

"India is the 6th largest market for mobile video ads in terms of user consumption. Cheaper smartphones, and better connectivity is driving a 124 per cent increase in video ad consumption. The most preferred genre of video ad content consumed by Indians is retail, entertainment and tech," it revealed.

The report says that the arrival of new mobile network operators has driven the cost of mobile internet prices lower, making it affordable for people across income brackets to access high-speed internet. Only 39 per cent of mobile video ads are viewed on Wi-Fi, it added.