Hampshire, UK: The Mobile Context and Location Services market will reach $43.3 billion in revenue by 2019, rising from an estimated $12.2 billion in 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research forecasts.
The report highlighted that over two-thirds of revenues will be driven through highly targeted and contextually aware ad-supported apps by the end of the forecast period.
According to the report, Mobile Context & Location Services: Navigation, Tracking, Social & Local Search 2014-2019, Social apps are forecast to be the primary driver behind app ad-supported revenues. Apps such as Facebook enable marketers to focus on specific audience segments using location and other user-generated contexts.
Local Search apps will follow in terms of ad-spend, and although these will not generate the equivalent of mobile web search, Google’s opening of its deep linking API (application programming interface) to developers will undoubtedly close that gap.
Additionally, the report found that the IAP (in-app purchase) model will grow on average over three times as rapidly per annum as the classic pay-to-download model. IAP will be particularly prevalent in Navigation, Social and Tracking apps, with consumers preferring the low- to zero-entry cost and developers leveraging LTV (Lifetime Value) rather than one-off sales.
“Even in the case of navigation apps where paid-for apps have remained popular, large brands such as Garmin are beginning to emphasise this revenue model”, added report author Steffen Sorrell.