The latest UK advetising spend figures from the IAB’s survey conducted by PWC show that mobile marketing is still rising at an incredible rate.

With 58% of the UK now owning smartphones, mobile advertising in the latest year has grown on a YOY basis by 132% to £181.5 million in the first half of 2012. That means it now accounts for 7% of all digital ad spend.

This will continue to grow as more marketers like ourselves will start to use device targeted campaigns at a granular level. The opportunities for the advertiser to reach and engage with their audience as and when they feel like it are fantastic. Ad spend on tablets is estimated to be £2.4 million in the first half of 2012, this is one specific area where it will grow even faster because of the difference user experiences that these devices have.

Advertising using SMS, MMS, Display, video, on mobiles grew by 91% to £49.9 million but the star of the show unsurprisingly was mobile search as it grew by 152% to £131.6 million which is 72% of mobile ad spend.

With the majority of UK’s top advertisers not having websites that are either mobile friendly or device specific, this will be undoubtedly the most largest area of growth over the next few years. Savvy brands should be gearing up, like every other evolution in the digital landscape, there is only a small window of opportunity before it becomes a mainstream marketing commodity, where the profits are slimmer against the advertising spend. Next years going to be massive.