Android topples iOS in mobile ad revenue share

Opera Mediaworks, in its State of Mobile Advertising report, reveals that Android leads with 45.8 per cent ad revenue share.

Mobile advertising data from the first quarter of 2015 shows Android not just leading in traffic, but also revenue, with 45.8 per cent share of total revenue generated on the platform, Opera Mediaworks discloses in its State of Mobile Advertising report.

In terms of monetisation potential, or the ratio of revenue to impressions, iOS is still the leader, with the iPad generating more than four times its traffic volume in Q1. For mobile video ads only, iOS outperforms Android in both traffic and revenue, and video completion rates for Apple users are higher (87.1 per cent vs. 76.7 per cent).

Meanwhile, social networking and games generate the most revenue. Music, video and media have been the traditional revenue leaders on the Opera Mediaworks platform, but this quarter - for the first time - both social networking and games trumped the category.

In emerging economies, mobile advertising is in a high-growth phase. While United States is still the top producer of impressions and revenue, there is notable year-over-year traffic growth in Asia (19 per cent), the Americas (61 per cent) and Africa (32 per cent).

Mobile video advertising is booming. In one year, video-ad impression share increased six-fold, from 2.5 per cent in Q1 2014 to 15 per cent in Q1 2015. And, video accounts for more than half of all global revenue generated on the platform.

Some regions, however, are adopting mobile video at a faster rate. US mobile users, for instance, view more video ads than those any other country; United States' video market share is 2.5X its share of total user reach.

Different types of advertisers, too, are showing preference for mobile video units. Movie and television entertainment spend the most money on video and use the most impressions; food and drink and automotive brands are also using the format significantly more than other types of advertisers.

As part of its examination of mobile advertising data from Q1, Opera Mediaworks found that, in some regions, over 85 per cent of mobile ad campaigns are being targetted at an audience that was created specifically for that one campaign.

To find out how these audiences are formed, the company took a closer look at audience creation methodology, or how advertisers are using contextual, behavioural and demographic data to home in on very specific subsets of consumers that will be the most receptive to the ad messaging of their campaigns.

The concept, while lightly introduced in the quarterly report, is the subject of an in-depth study that Opera Mediaworks is releasing in conjunction with its SMA report.

Opera Mediaworks is the first mobile ad platform built for brands, delivering breakthrough marketing at scale. A fully-owned subsidiary of Opera Software, Opera Mediaworks is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices worldwide.