Mobile advertising is not a large component of total advertising in Africa, but you can expect that market to grow “with startling speed” in 2014 as mobile-first Africans get ever-more plugged in to their devices, experts said in a report in IBTimes.

Research from Gartner shows that the global market for mobile advertising will reach $18
billion in 2014, and grow to $41.9 billionby 2017.

African consumers don’t need smartphones to access bank accounts, send money or even get medical advice, since these services are more available through regular cell phone networks, according to IBTimes.

The market for mobile advertising via text message and other means has been developing
with startling speed – especially in a continent where households are more likely to have a cell phone than a computer.

“It’s almost as if Africa’s leap frogging across the Internet through their mobile device because we didn’t have personal computers and desktops proliferation like the rest of the world,” said Yaron Assabi, founder of Digital Solutions Group, an online media firm, in a CNBC Africa interview.

Since many consumers don’t have home computers, the most valuable digital
advertising will come through their cell phones, Assabi said. Advertisers have the added benefit of knowing people’s location, which will help them with consumer research and target content accordingly.

The market in Africa is very different to other continents, said Candice Goodman, chairwoman of the Mobile Marketing Association of South Africa, in an interview in The Financial Mail.

According to a report from research firm Informa Telecoms and Media, African telecom firms specifically will generate $1.3 billion in advertising revenue by 2016 through ads in text messages, mobile apps and downloads. As of June 2013, there were 778 million mobile subscribers on the continent.

Experts are urging companies to start focusing on this kind of marketing in the future.

There are just a few major mobile advertising companies on the continent, but more are expected, IBTimes reports.

TwinPine is a Nigerian startup that launched in 2011 and already has partnerships
with Nokia, Google and Pepsi, along with other local companies.

Last week, it announced a new partnership with MTN Nigeria to provide advertisers a chance to serve content through “MTN Play,” the telecommunication company’s
mobile portal.

“Being an indigenous mobile advertising network, we have the advantage in that we understand the local market and can better help brands to reach their target audiences,” said Elo Umeh, TwinPine’s managing director, to ITNews Africa.

More than 74 percent of TwinPine’s mobile ads are on feature phones, not smartphones, which are more common and affordable for average consumers.

In 2013, the company claims it exceeded its target for monthly “impressions,” reaching 500 million ad impressions monthly.