Apple significantly increases mobile advertising performance across the globe
METRICS JULY 2010 HIGHLIGHTS:
- Apple significantly increases mobile advertising performance across the globe
- Android unable to sustain US success from June’s Metrics
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The Smaato Metrics for July show a significant increase by Apple in click through rates (CTR) globally and as well for the US and the European market, while Android decreased enormously in the US and lost its solid position from June. Smaato serves over 16 billion ad requests in its network of more than 7,000 registered mobile publishers and over 40 mobile ad networks.
Highlight: Click Through Rates USA
The most exciting region is again this month the USA. Like the months before Smaato’s metrics reveal that Symbian still dominates the region in terms of CTR. Compared to last month however, Symbian’s CTR Index has decreased by almost by 100 (from 329 to 235). During July, Windows Phone has closed the gap with a CTR Index of 153. The Apple OS rises from fifth to third place, after nearly doubling its CTR Index of 140 (73 in May), it is also the only OS that managed to gain points this month in the US.
Highlight Chart: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) USA, July 2010
Worldwide CTR Index (Click Through Rate) by Handset Operating System
Symbian and Feature Phones have continued to perform well in terms of CTR across the world and top the table of performance, with minimal change from last month. Symbian achieved a CTR Index of 145 (144 in June) and Feature Phones reached 118 (135 in June).
Chart 1: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) worldwide, July 2010
Windows and Apple made the largest gains in the CTR Index this month, with an Index of 98 (Windows) and 95 (Apple), as they both climb above Android, which fell back to fifth position with 54. Interestingly, all OS improved their CTR Indexes, except for Android and Feature Phones.
The Index consists of the average CTR of all devices and this number is set to 100.
Monthly Comparison: CTR Performance Worldwide
Symbian remains the leading OS in terms of click through rates worldwide. Apple and Windows Phones are closing the gap, closely following Feature Phones. Putting this into perspective, we have to consider the sheer number of Symbian devices compared to Apple devices, but it also demonstrates to brands the power the iPhone has with regards to advertising. It’s also interesting to note the similarity in growth between iPhone and Windows Phone devices.
Chart 2: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) worldwide, January-July 2010
Fill Rate Worldwide
The Smaato Metrics demonstrate the performance of mobile ad networks globally and the fill rate is measured as the percentage of ads delivered per ad request and varies by different factors, like country, device and content type.
The ad networks are not published in the monthly Smaato metrics, but are revealed in the dashboard of registered Smaato publishers reporting and analytics tools here.
Chart 3: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks (worldwide), July 2010
Chart 4: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks (worldwide), January – July 2010
The fill rates of the global top 10 ad networks dropped rather dramatically from an average of 22% to an average of 16%. All the ad networks couldn’t reach their performance from June. After only having four ad networks last month performing above average, this month the number of ad networks rose to a total of six.
These monthly fluctuations help to prove that an ad network aggregation system can help partners achieve the best possible return and the highest possible fill rate, across the globe.
Fill Rates: USA vs. Europe
Chart 5: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks (USA), July 2010
Chart 6: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks Europe: UK, Germany, France, Italy Spain, July 2010
The average fill rates decreased in both territories from June to July: in the US the average dropped by 12 percentage points (from 31% to 19%); in Europe the fill rate decreased by 15 percentage points from 42% to 27%. Europe’s fill rate is still well above the worldwide average of 16% and still is ahead of the US. Unfortunately this month none of the top performing ad networks could improve their fill rates. Similar to the worldwide fill rate, all the ad networks in these two territories performed worse this month compared to June.
Click Through Rates: USA vs. Europe
Due to the significant differences in CTR’s in the US and Europe, it is interesting and vital for understanding the market to compare the variations between these two regions.
While Symbian ranks number one in the USA (235 CTR Index), Windows Phone dominates Europe with a CTR Index of 170, pushing Symbian down to third place (120 CTR Index). Compared to Europe, Feature Phones and Blackberry play a smaller role in the US (Feature Phones: 82, Blackberry 42 while in Europe Feature Phones: 108, Blackberry: 82).
Chart 7: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) USA, July 2010
Chart 8: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) Europe: UK, Germany, France, Italy Spain, July 2010
Interestingly in Europe Apple has overtaken Symbian with a CTR Index of 137 (in June 118). Also the US has seen a significant increase in the CTR Index of Apple devices, from an Index of 73 in June to almost double with 140 in July. Blackberry’s growth has surged in both regions. Even though it ranks last in USA with an Index of 42, compared to last month (24) it’s another OS that has almost doubled. In Europe, Blackberry’s CTR Index rose from 75 to 82. For the first time Palm made it to the metrics for Europe as the number of devices grew significantly here.
Ad Network Response Time worldwide
Smaato has taken another look at the response time of the top-performing ad networks in the Metrics for July 2010. The top 15 ad networks show a broad spectrum of performance.
Chart 9: Smaato Index – Response Time for Mobile Ad Networks (worldwide), July 2010
The fastest response time in July was measured at 32 milliseconds, from 27 milliseconds in June. The fastest responding ad network is almost twice as fast as the second quickest, with 53 milliseconds.
Publishers should consider response times when adding several ad networks within a page load and therefore an allotted time to fill the ad space reserved.
This is a significant consideration for mobile publishers as for them; the best user-experience comes with the quickest loading time of a mobile web site or for in-app advertising. If an ad is requested from a mobile ad network and no ad is available, then a faster response time allows for this request to be sent to one or more ad networks for a chance to get an ad delivered.
08.11.2010 | Metrics | Smaato
