Despite a sluggish domestic economy, mobile advertising has rapidly grown in South Korea thanks to widespread usage of smartphones and advanced mobile platform, data showed Wednesday.
  

Once regarded as uncharted territory, mobile ad spending is estimated at 940 billion won ($798.3 million) this year, soaring about 1,800 times since 2010 when the data were first compiled by Digieco, an economic research institute run by mobile carrier KT.
  

The PC advertisement budget is estimated at 2.4 trillion won this year.
  

Marketers have shifted to the mobile platform in droves to grab the attention of users of smartphones and other ubiquitous gadgets as Internet connection via mobile platform has reached over 60 percent of the total use.

  
Mobile ads have also evolved by taking advantage of the latest technology, combining their contents with social media and location-based service to better target customers.
  

Digieco expected the mobile ad market to take over the PC ad market in the near future, expecting mobile ad spending to reach 3.3 trillion won to account for 52 percent of the online ad market in 2019. (Yonhap)