Forecast: Mobile entertainment market to reach $77B by 2011

According to a Juniper Research report issued today, the total global mobile entertainment market--music, gambling, adult content, the whole ball of wax--will grow from $17 billion in 2006 to $47 billion by 2009 and $77 billion by 2011, galvanized by the growth of broadcast mobile television and mass-market casual games. Juniper anticipates the Asia Pacific market will remain the most lucrative, accounting for 37 percent of global mobile entertainment revenue over the next five years; Europe will contribute 35 percent of revenues.

While mobile music is currently the largest sector of mobile entertainment, Juniper says traditional core products like ringtones and wallpapers will wither as next-gen technologies and applications become commonplace. "Busy lifestyles in both developed and developing markets means that consumers will have to grab entertainment and relaxation as and when they can," Juniper Research senior consultant Bruce Gibson said in a prepared statement. "Growing disposable incomes, next generation mobile technology and the metamorphosis of the mobile handset into a multifunction communications and entertainment device will enable them to achieve this in a way hitherto thought impossible."

For more on the Juniper report:
- read this release