WASHINGTON: The market for mobile device advertising doubled in 2013 to $17.9 billion and is on pace for strong gains this year, led by Facebook and Google, a market tracker said on Wednesday.

The research firm eMarketer said mobile ad spending increased 105 per cent last year and is expected to jump another 75pc in 2014 to more than $31.45bn.

Facebook and Google grabbed the lion’s share of the increase in 2013.

Google remained far ahead of its rivals, but saw its market share dip to 49.3pc in 2013 from 52.6pc in 2012, eMarketer said. The biggest gains came from Facebook, whose market share jumped to 17.5pc from 5.4pc a year earlier.

Twitter also saw strong gains but its share was a modest 2.4pc from 1.5pc in 2012. For 2014, eMarketer sees Google at 46.8pc, Facebook at 21.7pc and Twitter at 2.6pc.

The huge growth in mobile ads shows why these companies are concentrating on their mobile platforms.

Just 11pc of Facebook ad revenues worldwide came from mobile in 2012, but last year, that figure jumped to 45pc and the figure will be around 63pc this year. eMarketer said.