Advertisers are spending way too much on print, too little on mobile

In a report by mobile analytics company Flurry, it appears the advertising industry still doesn’t seem to understand the potential mobile advertising has, despite the fact that it’s where consumers are spending tons of their time.

It’s no surprise that larger agencies aren’t quick to jump to an emerging and potentially risky platform, but the staggering growth that the mobile industry has seen over the past few years is a sign that these companies need to act faster to reach customers. According to the report, there’s a huge gap between the number of advertising dollars spent by media companies versus the amount time consumers are actually spending with each media.

As you can see in the chart below, money continues to be poured into traditional mediums like print, radio and TV, despite the fact that Web and mobile platforms appear to be far more engaging with highly trackable and measurable results.

Flurry dug deeper to reveal the most valuable demographic behind the emerging potential of mobile advertising. The study shows that men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 are predictably most desired by advertisers. More specifically, women between the ages of 25 and 34 with an income of $60-80k are the most valuable of all.

Flurry believes that these users specifically will end up driving the eventual growth in mobile spending, once advertisers finally realize the true potential mobile platforms have.

Right now, consistency, standards and best practices don’t really exist on the mobile frontier. That’s exactly why it’s prime time for advertisers to jump the gun and get a head start. It’s like the wild west out there — not to be confused with the Wild Wild West.