BIA/Kelsey ILM West 2012

A wave of innovation in social media advertising will spark an exponential increase in ad spending on the medium, driving annual revenue to $19.2 billion by 2016, according to BIA/Kelsey executives speaking at the ILM West conference. Mobile advertising will triple during the same period, they said, as advertisers catch up to the strength of location-based advertising.

Consumers are maturing in their smartphone usage, and while it may be a critical turning point for mobile advertising, those ads must move beyond the simple banner. “Ads with code that can change and adapt in a particular situation” will be key, digital veteran Bill Gross told attendees at the ILM West conference on Tuesday.