Total U.S. mobile and social media revenue including consumer and business access, content, advertising and marketing increased 30.2 percent to $45.38 billion in 2011, according to media econometrics provider PQ Media. Mobile advertising and marketing was the fastest growing segment of the market last year, expanding 53.7 percent to $3.39 billion, while mobile content and access led all sectors at $39.17 billion. Mobile and social media revenue grew at a compound annual growth rate of 28.7 percent between 2006 and 2011, PQ Media adds.

Mobile and social media revenues are expected to increase another 30.8 percent in 2012, PQ Media forecasts. The firm identifies 44 distinct revenue streams fueling growth, including mobile search advertising, mobile coupon marketing, paid mobile video downloads, business data access fees, social network advertising, blog marketing and podcast business content.

"The mobile media sector alone reached the $1 billion revenue mark faster than any communications industry in history in 2008, taking only five years compared with 16 for the Internet," said PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn in a statement. "Mobile will also reach the $100 billion mark in 2015 faster than any other communications industry, driven by several key growth drivers, including strong growth in overall mobile device penetration, the transition to smartphones and tablets, the torrent of new mobile content launches and the continued growth of consumer and business time spent with mobile media."

Mobile and social media together accounted for 4.1 percent of overall U.S. communications industry revenue in 2011, up from 1.3 percent in 2006, PQ Media states. Eleven of the 44 mobile and social media revenue streams exceeded $1 billion last year, and 23 will eclipse the $1 billion benchmark by the end of 2016.