The latest report from the IAB and PwC has been released, bringing the news that mobile ad spend increased 63 per cent year-on-year in 2014, hitting £1.62bn and accounting for almost a quarter of all digital ad spend in the UK for the year.

With the news of mobiles increasing importance, we asked several industry experts what they thought this meant for the future of mobiles role in marketing, both within digital and the overall market, and where we have to go to from here.

“The growth figures for mobile and tablet spend reiterate that consumers are now accessing information through multiple devices,” said Owen Sagness, general manager of Microsoft Advertising & Online UK. “Microsofts recent Digital Trends research found that consumers expect online and real life experiences to be seamless.

“As an industry we must listen to consumer demands and anticipate their changing behaviours in order to produce creative experiences that push the boundaries of what is possible in digital advertising today.”

Simon Bailey, CEO of mobile ad exchange Axonix echoed Owens optimism, and pointed towards the growth of programmatic as one of the key drivers of mobiles rapid growth.

“Its great to see the UK digital ad industry continuing to flourish, but what is even more encouraging is that mobiles potential is finally beginning to be realised,” said Bailey. “When you consider that reports reveal that more than 40 per cent of people consider their mobile as the most important resource for information, yet only 10 per cent of ad budgets get allocated here, it demonstrates there is plenty of scope for even more growth.

“The advent of programmatic advertising is undoubtedly responsible for mobiles growth in these figures. Its brought the ability to buy and sell ads in real-time and target audiences with the right messages at scale. In the next five year, advertising will undoubtedly be led by insights gathered from mobile data.

“Properly taking advantage of the programmatic opportunity will accelerate both mobiles share of the advertising pie and the UKs overall digital adspend, which can only be good for the industry and the economy.”

Jon Myers, managing director and vice president of EMEA for Marin Software, also spoke about mobiles power as a data resource as part of its key use in the future, as well as the growth of the multi-channel customer journey.

“The rise of mobile is nothing short of astounding, and while clicks on mobile ads dont always lead to direct conversions, they often influence desktop or in-store purchases later,” said Myers. “In fact, consumers now use as many as 10 different platforms, channels and devices during the 20-30 days it takes to buy.

“For advertisers, this means its essential to adopt cross-channel advertising strategies that reach consumers across devices and platforms. Bringing audience data together with intent data from search will therefore become a powerful form of marketing over the next year.

“This is a good start, but when the IAB reveals its next report, I expect the rise in click-throughs, rather than spend, to be the headline-grabbing figure, as advertisers start to generate a powerful picture of not just what a consumer is looking for, but also who they are and how likely they are to convert.”

Zac Pinkham, managing director for EMEA at Millennial Media, focused on the trend towards video advertising as a massive boost in digital ad spend, as more and more marketers rely on rich media content to promote their brands.

“The fact that mobile now represents almost £1 in every £4 spent on digital in the UK is a tremendously positive progression for the industry, which in two short years has seen mobile cement its importance in the digital mix, as revenues have grown from just £1 in every £10 in 2012,” said Pinkham.

“Mobile video is the hot topic for 2015, and were seeing more and more advertisers approach mobile video in creative new ways to engage consumers. Coupled with a continued move to mobile programmatic buying, which in turn is stimulating growth as more advertisers run always on, real-tome campagns efficiently, there are still huge opportunities and new developments to come for the mobile market.”