Mobile ad spend is about to skyrocket in Australia, as advertisers realise that mobile is becoming the norm, according to the head of Omnicom’s Airwave APAC.

Harry Dewhirst, head of the business that combines the mobile strategic and activation capabilities of OMD and PHD, told yesterday’s Future of Digital Advertising conference in Sydney that mobile ad spend in the Asia Pacific region will jump from $47.5m last year to $177m within the next five years.

Dewhirst said: “It’s not just about smartphones – it’s about where they are being integrated. Voice, touch and gesture are becoming the norm and are already being integrated into cars. Chrysler, Ford and Audi have all announced they are trying to make their in-car devices not just connected but similar to a tablet.”

Mi9 CEO Mark Britt reminded the conference of GroupM Australia CEO John Steedman’s words last year: “There will be more change in the next five years than we have seen in the last 20.”

Britt added: “The storm clouds of change just started to assemble last year – last year was one of the toughest years in media that I have ever seen. But, it’s also the most exciting time I have ever seen.

“Online media will become the mainstream media for Australia. Data has gone from being almost irrelevant to being a $30m business in the last 12 months.

“There are now about 5,000 media companies in the world who are taking money from advertisers for Australian audiences on Australian sites. We have an amazing global offering for media, but the concern I have is it’s getting messy. Context and environment matters, but one question we have is how to maintain that.”