Mobile advertising, long criticized for its relatively puny size compared to TV and desktop ads, will hit $41.9 billion in 2017, Gartner estimates.
That's still a far cry from the $196.5 billion spent on TV advertising and the $110 billion spent on print in 2013, according to Magna Global. However, it's larger than the $32.5 billion spent on radio advertising, a category that is contracting, not growing.
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"From 2015 to 2017, growth will be fueled by improved market conditions, such as provider consolidation, measurement standardization and new targeting technologies, along with a sustained interest in the mobile medium from advertisers," Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, said in a statement.
For 2014, Gartner estimates mobile ad spending will hit $18 billion, a 37% jump over the estimated $13.1 billion spent on the category in 2013.
Gartner's estimates are in line with those of eMarketer and Starcom MediaVest, which predicted that global mobile ad spending would hit $15.8 billion in 2013.