Mobile advertising market will be worth over $12 billion by 2011

Worldwide mobile advertising market alone will be worth over $12 billion by 2011 as telecom carriers around the world are turning their attention to advertising as a potential source of revenue, according to a new forecast by Gartner.

The Gartner report conclude that telecom operators will need to overcome some key challenges to realize their advertising ambitions. Those challenges include the need to disrupt the current distribution of advertising money between competing media channels and convince advertisers and marketers that their various channels, customer knowledge, analytics and network control features can reach the intended audience more effectively than traditional channels.

"If a carrier can execute its advertising strategy well and overcome the key challenges, it could move quickly to reap the benefits," said King-Yew Foong, research director at Gartner. "Carriers can expect to become an integral part of consumers' lifestyles when they can reliably deliver relevant advertisements to them. This will require closer cooperation and partnerships with other businesses, such as retailers, restaurants and cinemas."

The report entitled "How Carriers Can Position Themselves to win in the Advertising Market" also said that if telecom carriers are to compete effectively for advertising revenue, they must convince advertisers and marketers of the effectiveness and value of their approach while distinguishing their value proposition from companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and traditional media such as television broadcasters and newspapers. By developing the skills to enable them to do these things, telecom carriers will also improve their understanding of the advertisers' perspective and how to meet advertisers' requirements, such as audience validation.