Devices on display
With their acquisitions of AdMob and Quattro respectively, in early 2010, Google and Apple bet heavily on mobile display advertising being a major new revenue stream. A year and a half down the line that bet is starting to pay off.
New data released by ComScore reveals that the number of companies using mobile display advertising in the US has more than doubled in the past two years. Furthermore mobile content accounts for more than half of all products advertised on mobile devices.
"Although mobile advertising is still in its relative infancy, it is quickly gaining importance as new advertisers come into the fold," said Hans Fredericks, comScore VP. "As consumer usage and technology continue to advance, look for advertising to play an increasingly important role in the development of the mobile ecosystem."
689 advertisers used mobile display advertising campaigns in April of this year - 128 percent more than a year ago. Here's the breakdown the types of products advertised.
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Percent of Advertised Categories via Mobile Display Advertising* |
|
|
|
% of Advertised Categories |
|
Mobile Content and Publishing |
50% |
|
Consumer Discretionary |
26% |
|
Information Technology |
7% |
|
Financials |
6% |
|
Telecommunication Services |
5% |
|
Consumer Staples |
3% |
|
Industrials |
2% |
|
Other |
1% |
Unsurprisingly comScore concludes that smartphones are critical to the mobile advertising opportunity. But it is worth noting just how big the difference is in certain mobile data consumption activities between smartphones and feature phones.
|
Smartphone and Feature Phone Service Penetration |
||
|
|
% of Mobile Phone Users |
|
|
|
Feature Phone |
Smartphone |
|
Used Browser |
19.1% |
82.3% |
|
Used App** |
15.9% |
85.0% |
|
Saw Ad on Web/In App |
5.0% |
27.5% |
|
Responded to SMS ad |
3.5% |
7.7% |
**Except native games
Meanwhile analyst In-Stat has predicted that mobile app downloads will reach 48 billion by 2015, by which time 45 percent of total phone shipments will be smartphones.
"The prevalence of handset touchscreens is a significant development impacting the mobile applications market," said senior analyst Amy Cravens. "The projected rapid penetration of touchscreen-enabled devices will allow more users to easily interact with mobile applications, thereby driving growth. Increased on-board memory capacity will also lead to a better user experience."
