The smartphone is the most exciting device invented in the current century. The smartphone essentially is a computer that fits into your pocket and comes with the applications that people use on the go. There has been a rising trend in smartphone ownership and use as the devices have become much more versatile and affordable. By August 2017, there were more than 3.5 billion unique smartphone internet users8.
Smartphone penetration and usage statistics have driven businesses to leverage it as an avenue for advertising because it’s more personalized than desktop computer platforms. And the result has been an exponential increase in revenues as businesses have broken into the once inaccessible market now made possible by the smartphone. Here are some of the stats happening in the mobile advertising industry.
1. Mobile devices take up 53% of all paid search clicks
Because of the enhanced features on the latest smartphone devices, users are now switching over from desktop to mobile internet browsing. The larger screen sizes and intuitive and interactive mobile web designs now allow users to willingly click on search ads. And this has resulted in mobile accounting for 53% of all paid search clicks1.
2. Google was responsible for 95% of smartphone paid search clicks in 2016 in the US
The tech giant Google is way ahead of its competitors in monetizing its mobile search traffic. The company has eclipsed Bing and Yahoo, the two competing search platforms. In the first quarter of 2016, 57 percent of all paid clicks originated from mobile devices. This represented a 101 percent growth in the smartphone paid clicks from the previous year, while desktop and tablet paid clicks were almost constant.
When Merkle interviewed its clients, it found that 95% of all smartphone paid search clicks generated in Q1 came from Google which represented an increase from the previous year’s 86%. In contrast, Bing Ads accounted for 19% of desktop, 13% of tablet clicks and only 3% of smartphone clicks, while Yahoo only secured 3% of desktop and just 1% of smartphone paid search clicks.
3. Facebook receives 87% of its advertising revenue from mobile
Facebook, another US-based tech giant is setting the pace as far as mobile advertising is concerning. The social media platform currently has 1.32 billion users who interact on the platform on a daily basis. The firm’s primary platform of operation is the smartphone.
Facebook reportedly posted a whopping $9.16 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter of the year 2017. This was an increase of 47% from the previous year’s results. And an interesting statistic is that 87% of this revenue usually comes from mobile ads.
