South Korea mobile ad market triples in 2012

Summary: Country's mobile advertising market nearly tripled last year in line with the growing penetration of smartphones and high-speed Internet.

South Korea's mobile advertising market nearly tripled in 2012, boosted by the growth of smartphones and high-speed Internet.

The country's mobile ad market reached 216 billion won (US$198 million) last year, up from 76.2 billion won (US$69.9 million) the previous year, according to a report by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).

South Korean mobile ad market to more than double in 2013 to hit US$382 million.

In a report Wednesday, Yonhap news noted, search advertising had jumped more than three-fold to 125.2 billion won (US$114.9 million) last year, while display advertising more than doubled to 90.7 billion won (US$83 million).

The KCC expects the mobile ad market in 2013 to hit 416 billion won (US$382 million), with both search advertising and display advertising more than doubling.

According to a Gartner in a study last month, global mobile ad revenue is expected to reach US$11.4 billion this year, up from US$9.6 billion in 2012. This will be partly due to the increased adoption of tablets and handsets.

http://www.zdnet.com/south-korea-mobile-ad-market-triples-in-2012-7000010895/>