Google and Facebook Will Dominate Mobile Ad Market in 2014

The rapid integration of mobile technology by consumers has resulted in a whopping increase of 105 percent in global mobile ad spending by marketers in 2013, with another 75.1 percent predicted increase in 2014, according to research firm eMarketer.

Total ad spending reached $17.96 billion in 2013, and it’s projected to reach $31.45 billion in 2014. Much of the growth can be attributed to two giants in the mobile app industry: Facebook and Google.

Both companies are taking mobile seriously by updating their popular mobile apps and introducing new ones, such as Facebook’s recent launch of the Paper app and Google’s new Google Now app. They’ve also fine-tuned some of their mobile ad delivery systems, like the video ads currently rolling out to a Facebook Newsfeed near you.

Facebook in particular has seen a significant shift in the method users take to access the site. While desktop-use minutes on Facebook per unique viewer have declined year over year, from 439 in 2012 to 351 in 2013, those losses come as mobile usage doubled, from 508 per unique viewer in 2012 to 914 in 2013, according to comScore.

“Engagement remains a concern for some, but we continue to believe that Facebook’s strong mobile usage is offsetting desktop declines and that competing services are having only a modest impact on Facebook,” said Doug Anmuth, J.P. Morgan analyst, in a research note.

Together, Facebook and Google increased their net mobile ad revenues by $6.92 billion, claiming 75.2 percent of the additional $9.2 billion that went toward mobile in 2013. The two companies account for more than two-thirds of mobile ad spending last year—a figure that will increase slightly this year, according to eMarketer.

While Google still leads the pack with nearly 50 percent of the mobile ad revenue in 2013, Facebook is likely to start taking a bigger cut in 2014. The social media behemoth has already seen its percent of the global advertising market grow from 5.4 percent in 2012 to 17.5 percent in 2013. It’s set to hit 21.7 percent in 2014, dropping Google’s share to 46.8 percent this year, according to estimates from eMarketer.