JANUARY 2015 Mobile Advertising Trends Report Q4 2014
Table of Contents Overview... 1 Benchmark Data... 2 Advertister Recommendations... 5 About the Data... 6
OVERVIEW 1 Overview Digital advertising is critical in Q4 as marketers vy to capture the attention and dollars of ready-to-spend consumers. This year, mobile played a larger role than ever before. Marketers across verticals and objectives outspent their 2013 Q4 Facebook and Twitter advertising budgets by leaps and bounds, while ad prices and audience engagement spiked to previously unseen levels. HIGHLIGHTS Mobile advertising spend hit an all-time high, growing 290% year-over-year. The holidays drove an overall 23% increase in CPM and 22% increase in CPC quarter-over-quarter. Marketers continued to shift focus and budget from branding campaigns to direct response campaigns tied to measurable business objectives. Ad spend on direct response campaigns grew 119% while spend on brand campaigns flatlined quarter-over-quarter. The increased adoption of mobile as a customer acquisition channel for e-commerce caused spend to rise greatly year-over-year, and 95% quarter-over-quarter. EMEA saw the biggest bump in ad spend, which grew 89% quarter-overquarter, followed by APAC.
AMPUSH MOBILE ADVERTISING TRENDS REPORT Q3 2014 BENCHMARK DATA 2 Q4 Overall Facebook & Twitter Mobile Advertising Performance $6.04 $0.71 0.96% $6.74 Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) Cost Per Click (CPC) Click-Through Rate (CTR) Cost Per Install (CPI) GROWTH INDEX: MOBILE ADVERTISING SPEND Q4 2013 Spend = 100 500 400 300 200 100 0 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 MOBILE ADVERTISING PERFORMANCE BY QUARTER CPM +10% CPC +121% YEAR-OVER-YEAR YEAR-OVER-YEAR Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 $5.50 $3.50 $4.26 $4.90 $6.04 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 $0.32 $0.29 $0.35 $0.58 $0.71 CPI +133% YEAR-OVER-YEAR Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 $2.89 $2.84 $3.13 $4.80 $6.74
BENCHMARK DATA 3 Market Trends Snapshot GEOGRAPHIC TRENDS GROWTH INDEX: SPEND BY REGION Q4 2013 Spend = 100 500 400 300 200 100 0 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 AMERICAS APAC EMEA AVERAGE CPM $3.51 $2.61 APAC has the largest market for mobile games with $12.2Bn expected in revenue for 2014. $6.62 North America tops the list for app monetization with paying players spending $6.21 per month, on average. MARKETING OBJECTIVE TRENDS GROWTH INDEX: SPEND BY OBJECTIVE Q4 2013 Spend = 100 800 600 400 200 0 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 BRAND DR (NON-MAI) MAI
BENCHMARK DATA 4 Market Trends Snapshot TRENDS BY VERTICAL 1200 GROWTH INDEX: SPEND BY VERTICAL Q4 2013 Spend = 100 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 CPG E-COMMERCE/ RETAIL FINANCIAL SERVICES GAMING TRAVEL BENCHMARKS BY VERTICAL (Q4) CPC CPM CPG $0.37 CPG $7.31 E-COMMERCE $0.69 E-COMMERCE $7.98 FINANCIAL $0.82 FINANCIAL $12.24 GAMING $0.73 GAMING $5.07 TRAVEL $0.92 TRAVEL $8.36 ENTERTAINMENT $0.94 ENTERTAINMENT $6.58 CTR CPG E-COMMERCE 1.35% 1.98% Gaming companies generally spend more in international markets where impressions FINANCIAL 1.85% tend to be cheaper, driving down CPM. GAMING 0.77% Holiday shopping on mobile devices caused TRAVEL ENTERTAINMENT 1.11% 1.38% CTR to spike for retail, while increased competition for ad inventory boosted CPM.
ADVERTISER RECOMMENDATIONS 5 Advertiser Recommendations Looking Ahead 1) It s All About the Data. Facebook and Twitter s data-driven targeting tools - Custom Audiences and Tailored Audiences, respectively - have proven incredibly effective for pinpointing brands most valuable audiences. Advertisers across objectives and verticals should leverage not only data from their CRM, but also their website and mobile app to identify, retarget, and activate new customers cost effectively. 2) Personalize Campaigns by Platform. Expanding advertising efforts cross-platform to encompass both Facebook and Twitter is the first step, the second is catering campaigns - specifically the creative - to the user experience and audience of each platform. Quick tip: For Twitter, directly tie copy and creative to the specific interests of the target audience for optimal performance. 3) Strategically Time Re-engagement Campaigns. Advertisers in Q4 used reengagement campaigns for their intended purpose, but also in lieu of customer acquisition campaigns on peak competition days when prices shot up. Prioritize customer acquisition early in the month, then re-engagement later in the month when brands dump budgets and cause prices to spike. 4) Test New Advertising Strategies in Q1. The demand for ad space is typically at its lowest in January as brands shift from a spending to planning mindset. Use this extra cushion to try out new tactics or ad units, such as Facebook multi-link ads and Twitter offers, or test out new, untapped targeting groups 5) Embrace Video Creative & Sequencing. More and more evidence shows that video ads can drive downstream action, especially when used in a sequence of ads that is matched to the audience s stage in the buying cycle. Use an engaging 15-30 second clip to attract a wide audience, then retarget strictly those users who viewed the clip with a stronger, downstream driven call-to-action.
ABOUT THE DATA 6 About the Data The data in this report was aggregated across a portfolio of advertisers leveraging Ampush s AMP platform to manage and scale their mobile advertising campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Ampush customers include leading direct response and brand advertisers across gaming, e-commerce, travel, financial services, CPG, and other verticals. Data in this report is specific to the advertisers and objectives represented in Ampush s customer portfolio, and should not be used as a proxy for spend or pricing trends on Facebook, Twitter, or the broader mobile advertising marketplace. Data in this report should not be compared to any prior or future publications due to the dynamic nature of the data set each period. Grow Your Business Ampush makes brands successful on Facebook and Twitter. Learn more about our campaign management and optimization solutions at www.ampush.com.