Juniper Research has released a report on spending on mobile search advertising, predicting it will hit $445 million this year and rise to more than $2 billion by 2013. The analysts predict that total spending on mobile advertising will grow from $1.3 billion this year to $7.6 billion in 2013—by these figures mobile search advertising will lose some percentage points of the total market, but will still make up a significant chunk. Interestingly, Juniper predicts that mobile search revenues including data charges will reach $4.8 billion by 2013, which implies the lion’s share of the revenue will stay with the carrier even if only through data charges.

Spending on mobile advertising will be highest in the Far East/China region, followed by Western Europe and North America. Juniper said that successful mobile advertising campaigns will use a number of channels, and predicted that nascent channels such as MMS and idle-screen advertising attracting a combined annual adspend of more than $1 billion within five years.

Going the other way Nielsen reports that companies in the mobile phone business spent $4.088 billion on advertising in 2007, a 12 percent increase over the amount they spent in 2006. Most of it was on network television. Last year the carriers focused on promoting data services, putting $959 million (25 percent of the total) into promoting data compared to $734 million (19 percent) promoting their voice services. I don’t know what else was advertised, but the figures do indicate that carriers are seeing data as increasingly important.

There was also a lot of product placement: The top 10 broadcast TV programs in 2007 in terms of product placements for the wireless telephone industry had 1,068 occurrences. American Idol (FOX) had 445 placements, Dancing with the Stars (ABC) had 127 placements, and On the Lot (FOX) had 114 occurrences.

Meanwhile, Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) has chosen to go with AOL’s (NYSE: TWX) mobile ad system, joining Verizon (NYSE: VZ), and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has started selling display ads alongside its mobile e-mail and IM services reports RCR News

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