With the mobile advertising landscape constantly evolving, there are always new and fascinating facts popping up. It is extremely important for marketers, advertisers, brands, agencies and other people working within the mobile advertising industry to keep on top of emerging trends and important statistics in order to fully understand the mobile ad world.
1. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Android’s market share is nearly 6x bigger than iOS[/clickandtweet]
Most people tend to think that Apple rules the mobile world. However, it is actually Android that owns the majority of the mobile browser market share with nearly 82.8% of all new smartphones shipped being run by Android in Q2 of 2015. This is compared to just 13.9% of smartphones using the iOS browser, which declined from 22.3% from the previous year (IDC, 2015). However, other research from Device Atlas does show that even though Android is the leading browser in the majority of countries, there are 10 countries where iOS dominates, including Japan, Denmark, UK and Australia.
2. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Mobile web audiences are 2x bigger than mobile app and web is growing 1.2x faster[/clickandtweet]
Morgan Stanley, a US-based financial services firm conducted research which greatly highlights the role of mobile web usage in comparison to mobile app use. Morgan Stanley’s research shows that mobile browser audiences are in fact twice larger than app audiences and have grown 1.2 times faster over the past three years, signifying that mobile web browsing is more popular than many people believe.
3. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Only 12 out of the top 50 US websites have app traffic larger than web[/clickandtweet]
Morgan Stanley also found that 38 out of the top 50 websites in America saw the majority of their website traffic come from mobile web browsers rather than apps. This goes against popular belief, as many people believe that app traffic makes up the majority of all mobile web traffic. This statistic just shows how popular mobile web is and also gives some insights into how mobile apps are actually being used by consumers. For example, the websites where the majority of traffic was coming from app were well-known household names such as Google, Yahoo, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, to name a few. Others included useful apps such as banking, weather and email apps. From this, it is fair to say that consumers are spending the majority of their time inside apps which they have brand loyalty to or have downloaded for a specific purpose or to carry out day-to-day tasks.
4. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Southeast Asian countries have skipped the PC trend to become mobile-first countries[/clickandtweet]
Most western countries went through many digital phases, namely the PC trend, before mobile became the predominant device. The computer was a staple in the homes of people in western countries and was the only device used for accessing the internet during the 1990s. However, people in SEA seemed to completely skip this phase, with few households using desktop or laptop computers. Currently, only 15% of people own a desktop or laptop computer in Indonesia, 27% in Thailand and just under half of the population of Vietnam (46%) and Philippines (43%) own a PC (We Are Social, 2016). The introduction of affordable smartphones has led to a huge rise in smartphone sales in Southeast Asia which in turn has led to most people owning a smartphone as their primary device. This device has therefore become the pocket PC and is used to carry out most tasks from shopping, playing games, listening to music and day-to-day tasks such as banking, without need for a desktop computer.
5. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Smartphone addiction is a thing[/clickandtweet]
Can you imagine being without your smartphone for a day or even a couple of hours? Most of us probably start to feel slightly uncomfortable at the thought of this. The term Nomophobia, which was coined after YouGov completed a survey on the issue, is the fear of having no mobile. 81% of people keep their phones near them almost all the time during waking hours, with 63% even doing so while they are sleeping. The more reliant you are on your mobile increases in younger ages, with 50% of teens admitting to being addicted to their smartphones! One quite worrying piece of research highlights the huge importance of the role of smartphones in some people’s lives. A 2015 study from the University of Missouri found that the students surveyed felt they had lost their sense of identity without having their mobile nearby and even reported a ‘physical lessening’ of themselves.
6.[clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””] In South Korea, 72% of children aged 11-12 own a smartphone and spend 5.4 hours per day on them![/clickandtweet]
Nomophobia is especially prevalent in Asian countries. South Korean children are a great example of this, with 25% considered to be medically addicted to their smartphones. In Asian cultures where the PC trend has been skipped, smartphones are the go-to for most activities. With 2.5bn smartphone users and growing (BBC, 2015), Asia is the smartphone continent of the world and Singapore has become the smartphone capital of the world with a 96% mobile penetration rate (We Are Social, 2016). 91% of users in Singapore see their smartphone as a form of ‘happiness’.
7. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]More searches take place on mobile browsers than they do on desktop[/clickandtweet]
Google stated in a blog post in May 2015 that they receive more web searches from mobile browsers than desktop in 10 countries worldwide, including the US and Japan. What is more interesting is that this only captures devices with screen size less than 6 inches, meaning that the majority of searches are coming solely from mobiles, not including tablets. Google has worked to improve on their search options, offering Google Now, which is a personal assistant, similar to Siri on Apple phones. This was developed to aid people’s ease of search on mobile. We can probably expect to see mobile search become more popular than desktop more and more in the coming months and years.
8. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Mobile is paving the way for e-commerce[/clickandtweet]
Mobile is outperforming PC growth rates in relation to online commerce. For example, Amazon UK saw a 87% growth rate in the number of users accessing from a mobile device compared to desktop, which saw a 0% increase. M-commerce also now makes up 30% of all US e-commerce and is expected to grow three times faster in 2016 than it did in 2015.
9. [clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]200 million people are using ad blockers globally[/clickandtweet]
Ad blocking has been a significant issue since the end of 2015. The introduction of ad-blocking software for mobile devices has posed a significant threat to advertisers, brands and publishers alike. In Q4 of 2015, 42% of mobile users had used an ad blocker and 37% were interested in using ad blockers. Ad-blocking behavior does tend to differ among demographics, with younger uses more likely to use an ad blocker. 40% of 16-24 year-olds and 25-30 year-olds admit to using an ad blocker, compared to just 20% of 31-50 year-olds (Global Web Index, 2016).
10.[clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””] Outstream advertising is becoming the most popular format[/clickandtweet]
Mobile advertising has evolved significantly and new ad formats are always being created. Unlike instream advertising, such as pre-roll, where the ad is only playable within a video player, outstream allows for a video advert to be placed within the content of a webpage, e.g. in between paragraphs on text-heavy websites. Outstream ads aim to promote increased viewabilty, only playing when the ad is between 50% to 100% in view – depending on the ad network. The choice is up to the user whether or not they continue to watch the ad, which ultimately leads to valuable eyeballs if the advert is watched. If the user does not engage with the ad and continues scrolling, the ad will stop playing and slide out of view. Morgan Stanley conducted a survey which found that 77% of agencies said that outstream advertising would be more important to their clients’ portfolio than instream and banner ads. To find out more about AdSpruce’s outstream ad solutions, click here.
11.[clickandtweet handle=”” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””] 83% of mobile ad buying will be done programmatically by 2017[/clickandtweet]
Programmatic ad buying has really taken off over the last couple of years and is now being used over many channels such as TV, social media, video and even radio. It has become more sophisticated and in turn is consistently growing. However, it is mobile that is pushing programmatic’s growth, with it accounting for more than two-thirds of all programmatic digital display ad spending this year. 2017 is set to be the year that mobile will surpass desktop programmatic for the first time.
12. [clickandtweet handle=”@AdSpruce” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Advertisers lack knowledge of programmatic[/clickandtweet]
Despite the huge soar in programmatic ad spend, advertisers and marketers lack understanding into mobile programmatic. For example, despite more than half of those surveyed admitting to using programmatic in mobile ad buying, 44% admitted to having very little knowledge of it. Less than a third (29%) said that their knowledge of programmatic was ‘excellent’ and nearly a quarter admitted to their understanding to be ‘poor’. As more and more advertisers begin to utilise mobile programmatic, hopefully the more knowledge they will gain.
13. [clickandtweet handle=”@AdSpruce” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Mobile drives ad spends growth[/clickandtweet]
This year in the UK alone, mobile ad spend is expected to grow 35% to reach over £4.5billion. This figure accounts for over a quarter of the UK’s media ad spend meaning that mobile ad spend will overtake TV ad spend.
To get more mobile advertising industry insights check out some of AdSpruce’s weekly blogs here. If you have any comments, let us know through our Facebook, Twitter or Google+ pages.
