Mobile display advertising up 128% in the U.S. over last two years

According to a study conducted by international research firm ComScore, display advertising on mobile devices in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last two years.

Hans Fredericks, comScore vice president, attributes the surge of mobile ad consumption to the wide adoption of smartphones, 3G/4G networks and unlimited data plans. This allows advertisers to find alternative ways to reach consumers through mobile browsers, apps, SMS, and other platforms.

In April 2011, 689 advertisers used mobile display advertising campaigns to reach American consumers, up 128 percent from two years ago.

The report adds that “mobile content and publishing” accounted for 50 percent of mobile ads, followed by 26 percent for “consumer discretionary goods.” “Information technology” accounted for 7 percent, while “financial services” and “telcos” accounted for 6 and 5 percent respectively.

ComScore highlights the difference between the use of smartphones and feature phones as the report suggest that 82.3 percent of smartphone users accessed their mobile browser compared to only 19.1% percent for users of featured phones. The same goes of application use with 85% for smartphone users, while only 15.9% for featured phone users.

The opportunity to reach consumers through the mobile channel is expected to continue to improve. Currently, 31 percent of mobile users now own a smartphone device, up from just 20 percent a year ago.