Worldwide social-media revenue may rise 41 per cent to US$10.3 billion in 2011 as advertisers seek long-term ties to consumers, said research company Gartner.
Sales of online display advertising and digital video commercials accessible on personal computers, mobile phones and tablets will total US$5.5 billion ($7 billion) this year and grow to US$8.2 billion in 2012, Gartner said.
Social-game sales, coming partly from users who buy game tools such as swords or tanks, will amount to US$3.2 billion in 2011 and rise to US$4.5 billion next year.
Marketers will allocate more of their advertising budgets to social-networking sites as they aim for "ongoing engagement" with consumers, said senior research analyst Neha Gupta He said subscription revenue, mostly for premium pages on services including professional-contact sites LinkedIn and Xing AG that are otherwise free, will amount to US$236 million in 2011 and rise to US$313 million next year.
"From a revenue perspective, the social-media market is still in its early stages, even though it has a large number of users who, in some cases, are exhibiting increasingly mature usage patterns," Gupta said. "Market participants need to build new business models to tap into this increased usage and users' increased level of engagement."
