• by Wayne Friedman , January 27, 2012

Global mobile entertainment revenues will grow by one-third in four years.

Vancouver-based IE Market Research Corp. expects mobile entertainment revenues to climb to $53.9 billion by 2016 from $39.6 billion in 2011, which is a compounded annual yearly growth rate of 6.3%.

Looking at specific areas, the survey says global music revenues will be a particularly fast-moving category -- doubling in four years from $9 billion in 2011 to $18 billion in 2016.

It forecasts that India will be a rising market -- with total revenue in mobile entertainment almost tripling, rising to $1.79 billion in 2016 from $670 million in 2011. That represents a compounded annual growth rate of 18.2% for those four years.

Some months ago, the group said that U.S. mobile operators were about six months to a year ahead of their Western European counterparts when it comes to the launch of faster 4G networks.

The research covers more than 50 countries and interviews with approximately 50,000 consumers globally.

Back in February, the group forecast similar results -- that the mobile entertainment business would hit $52 billion by 2015. At the same time, the survey forecast that global mobile TV revenues would rise to $6.6 billion in 2015, up from $2.52 billion in 2009.