The rise in global mobile consumption in 2015 will drive increased revenue for publishers and advertisers across all major global regions, a study has found.
PubMatic’s inaugural Quarterly Mobile Index for Q3 2015 showed continuous improvement in mobile ad performance as a key growth driver for publishers and advertisers.
This was driven by an increased number of mobile optimised sites, new mobile opportunities in emerging markets, expanding mobile opportunities in mature markets, and premium private marketplace (PMP) performance.
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“Contrary to most industry averages, we saw higher mobile CPMs in Q3, compared to desktop CPMs, said Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO of PubMatic. “From our perspective, the ‘mobile gap’ is closed.
“Improved mobile infrastructure, advanced targeting capabilities and better overall customer experience offerings have enabled media organisations to take greater advantage of their mobile revenue opportunities.”
The research, which analysed billions of daily impressions, found five key trends that demonstrate mobile monetisation growth.
1. Mobile CPMs are higher and growing faster than desktop CPMs
Targeting consumers more accurately increased the value of mobile impressions, with mobile CPMs increasing 12% year-over-year, and desktop up 10%, resulting in mobile CPMs that are 34% higher than desktop CPMs.
2.Soaring growth in global mobile advertising
New mobile adoption in Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin America (LATAM) in combination with mobile scalability in mature markets, North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), drove year-over-year growth in monetised mobile impressions in Q3.
North America and EMEA CPMs showed year-over-year increases, 17% and 47%, respectively. While APAC and LATAM CPMs saw year-over-year declines, 17% and 6%, respectively, those declines were offset by triple-digit year-over-year growth in monetised impressions in both regions.
3. Apple app ads are increasing the fastest in price and volume, while mobile web inventory continues to grow
Advertisers continue to aggressively pursue mobile ad campaigns, driving increased volume across all mobile platforms.
In Q3, on a year-over-year basis, monetised mobile impressions increased by 133% on iOS apps, 42% on Android apps, 24% on mobile web and 44% on tablet web.
CPMs increased, year-over-year, on iOS app inventory, Android app inventory and mobile web, by 109%, 11% and 30%, respectively, while tablet web CPMs declined 26%.
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4. Mobile optimisation is progressing rapidly and improving mobile web inventory quality
Average CPMs for mobile-optimised (i.e. mobile browser-friendly) inventory rose 48% in Q3, year-over-year, and fell by 26% for mobile non-optimised inventory.
5. Private marketplace (PMP) CPMs are higher than non-PMP CPMs, by a factor of 5-6x for mobile PMP
PMPs attracted higher CPMs in Q3, largely due to transparency of the buy, as well as access to high-quality inventory. Generally, PMP inventory ensures a high level of engagement on premium sites that is well suited for valuable brand marketing campaigns.
