MANILA - Advertising on mobile phones is gaining ground as analysts say functionality and affordability help build up the potentials for the industry.

According to Pudding Media Inc. founder Ruben Eduardo Maislos, mobile advertising spending in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to hit $2.108 billion this year, increasing by nearly 74 percent next year to $3.655 billion.

Maislos noted that this is due to the penetration of mobile phones faster than Internet connection, at 56 percent in the Philippines versus only 3 percent for the latter.

“The speed of mobile device proliferation has surpassed that of previous technologies like television, radio and the Internet,” Rohit Dadwal of Mobile Marketing Association said in a report titled Asia Mobile Telecommunication Innovations.

The paper estimates that over 2 billion cellphone subscriptions are active in the Asia-Pacific region, more than half the global count.

“As emerging and mature markets coexist in the region, mobile is the common connector, greatly exceeding personal computer [PC] penetration in a number of countries. In the Philippines, for example, we see over 70-percent mobile penetration as compared to PC penetration of less than half.”

Hence, the paper noted that in-application advertising among other channels provides the platform to target customers.

“Mobile advertising is rapidly growing sector providing brands, agencies and marketers the opportunity to connect with consumers beyond traditional and digital media and directly on their mobile phones.”

However, the paper admits “the delivery of advertising within mobile applications is still at an early stage.”

Nonetheless, Maislos, who present his paper during the 21st Philippine Ad Congress last week, noted that downloading ring tones is the topmost activity for mobile use, followed by short message services, and multimedia services.

He cited as example advertisements can be placed in message alerts such as load transfers to promote a brand, interactive marketing through balance inquiry messages, engaging customers to visit a certain website, and Click-to-WAP even in personal messages.

“The [advertising] revenue may be used to partially or completely subsidize the price of mobile games or services that the application provides,” Dadwal, MMA marketing director, said in the paper.