Mobile Advertising: Economics, Evolution and Policy

Posted by Social Science Research Network

Mobile Advertising: Economics, Evolution and Policy

David S. Evans
(Global Economics Group; University of Chicago Law School; University College London)

Abstract:      Consumers have shifted their consumption of online content dramatically from websites that they browse from a personal computer to apps that they use on mobile devices. Marketers have moved with the eyeballs, particularly since people use their smartphones much of the day and carry them wherever they go. These changes have disrupted the online advertising industry. This paper provides a primer on the mobile advertising business, particularly on how the economic structure of the online advertising industry has changed as a result of the move to mobile, and explores some of the issues that policymakers will need to consider as the digital economy moves from websites browsed from fixed devices to apps used on mobile devices.