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The market for online and mobile advertising patents is large.\u00a0 In 2012, total ad spending for all media is set to reach nearly $200 billion.\u00a0 Of particular significance, online advertising is expected to account for a third of total ad spending,[1]<\/a> and is projected to surpass print for the first time this year.\u00a0 Specifically, online advertising is expected to generate $39.5 billion in ad sales in 2012 \u2014 a 23.3% increase from 2011 \u2014 compared to a sum of $33.8 billion on print. \u00a0By 2016, total online ad expenditures are projected to hit $62 billion, with Facebook expected to account for one out of five digital display ads in 2015.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 This advertising evolution is of critical importance as the spread of viral media content is heavily reliant upon the connectivity of social networks.<\/p>\n Mobile devices are quickly becoming the primary means of communication for social networks.\u00a0 In 2012, mobile-ad spending in the US is projected to grow to 2.61 billion, which represents an 80% increase over 2011. As such, online advertisers are keenly interested in leveraging the opportunity of pairing their advertisements with the widespread distribution of viral media content.\u00a0 Accordingly, mobile advertising represents a major growth segment across all consumer demographics.<\/p>\n To highlight the market value of ad servers, mobile ad networks and mobile-ad intellectual property, Google acquired mobile-ad network, AdMob, in 2010, and Apple bought Quattro Wireless the same year.\u00a0 Likewise, smaller players such as Jumptap and India-based InMobi are vying for U.S. display ad dollars too.\u00a0 Microsoft paid $1.1 billion to AOL for 800 patents related to advertising, search, mapping and multimedia.\u00a0 Yahoo! sued Facebook in January, claiming that the social network violates 10 patents related to advertising, among other things.<\/p>\n The fluidity and level of competition in the display advertising market means new entrants can come in and be successful.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Therefore, the licensing opportunities for Patent No. 8,185,431 will be significant.<\/p>\n To learn more about this patent, visit Google Patents<\/a>.<\/p>\n