US Mobile Advertising Growth (2017–2026)
With more people using smartphones year after year, the number of eyes on mobile ads is undoubtedly growing. For businesses, this translates to a potential increase in sales and revenue from investing in mobile advertising.
But just how big is the mobile ad market size?
According to the latest data, mobile advertising spend in the US in 2023 is expected to reach $355.1 billion, surpassing $300 billion for the first time. This refers to expenditure on everything from classified ads and social media ads to email, video, and search on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
This will represent a whopping 13.3% year-over-year increase in mobile ad spend, a slowdown from 2022’s 19.4% growth rate.
US mobile advertising spend is expected to continue increasing in the following years—albeit at a slower rate. In 2024, the US mobile ad market size is projected to grow 10.8% to $393.4 billion. There will be a slight deceleration in 2025, but expenditure is still expected to hit $429.6 billion. By 2026, it is forecast to reach $463.6 billion.
If mobile ad spend does continue to grow according to experts’ forecast, this will mean that it is set to more than quadruple in the 10 years from 2017 to 2026.
Mobile Advertising Spend: Biggest Spenders
Recent statistics show that the retail industry is the biggest spender on mobile ads. Expenditure in 2021 reached $30.9 billion, a 35.6% year-over-year growth. This also makes up 23.8% of the total mobile ad spend in the US. In other words, nearly one out of every four dollars spent on mobile ads in the US came from retail businesses.
The second-biggest spender on mobile ads is the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry with $21.8 billion spent. This is followed by the financial services sector with $17.2 billion.
Drivers Behind US Mobile Advertising Growth
What’s driving the mobile advertising growth in the US? For starters, the large and growing number of internet users and mobile device owners. As many as 96.6% of US internet users today own mobile devices and 90% of them use these devices to access the internet.
That’s not all. On average, internet users spend 3.5 hours every single day using the internet on their mobile devices, and every minute they’re connected on their mobile devices is brand exposure and sales potential.