Much Ado About Not Very Much

When I first saw the results of O2’s survey into major brands’ plans for spending on mobile marketing (see story below), I must admit I was a little sceptical. A 150% increase in any budget in the current climate looks slightly optimistic at first glance. Then I looked a little closer and thought again. The projection is over the next five years. Seen against that timeframe, a 150% increase hardly seems like something to shout about.
To put things in perspective, in 2002, online advertising in the UK amounted to £196.7 million, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau. Take a 150% increase in that figure over five years and you end up with a figure of £491.75 million for 2007. In fact, online ad spend in the UK last year was £2.81 billion. Yes, billion. Or 1330% more than it was five years previously. The figures are so far out, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve got my maths wrong; percentages were always a bit of a nightmare at school. But I don't think I have. 
Yes, you can argue that online has boomed over the last few years, as brands have finally ‘got’ the web and started to plough serious money into it. But isn’t that exactly the outcome that everyone in the mobile marketing business is working towards too? Seriously, if a 150% increase in already-small mobile marketing budgets over the next half decade is the best prognosis on the table, I think we might as well all shut up shop and head home.

David Murphy
Editor