Global mobile programmatic trends
A MOPUB MARKETPLACE REPORT | Q1 2016 PUBLISHED MAY 2016
FOREWORD
An emerging channel just a few years ago, mobile programmatic has grown immensely to become one of the largest sources of investment for advertisers. While it has always been an effective channel for performance advertisers, the influx of brand buyers has brought realities like seasonal pricing and event-based spending to become the norm.
Last year, we saw mobile advertising explode during the 2015 NFL Super Bowl. This trend of reaching mobile in-app audiences during key moments continued when we found major campaigns spike in spend in sports apps during college and professional football game days last Fall. Event-based campaigns have continued to expand. In this report, we explore how presidential candidates focused their spending around key voter events as well as how tax services companies sought after customers leading up to federal and state taxes being due in the US.
We also look into how seasonal trends impacted mobile advertising — similar to the most established advertising mediums. Fortune 1000 brands made up the majority of mobile in-app ad spend in Q4. This quarter, performance buyers capitalized on lower eCPMs in Q1 by spending 10% more in early Q1 than early Q4. As we progressed through the quarter, advertiser spending increased each month, as did eCPMs.
Our report also delves further into how competition is evolving for ad formats, and how continued growth is impacting the mobile programmatic landscape in EMEA and APAC. All of the trends we have seen point to mobile programmatic advertising reaching a state of maturity and becoming cemented into the budgets and campaign planning of the world’s advertising ecosystem.
SUMMARY
Mobile programmatic — from emergent to
established
Industry embraces mobile-focused ad
formats
Savvy buyers and sellers spur growth in EMEA and APAC
Event-based and seasonal trends early this year now
point to alignment with the most established
advertising channels.
High impact ad formats like interstitials, native, and
video see growing adoption and strong results among
buyers and publishers.
Growth in mobile programmatic advertising
continues in region for EMEA and APAC with
increased adoption of high impact ad formats
Mobile programmatic — from emergent to established
Event-based and seasonal trends early this year now point to alignment with the most established advertising channels.
Politicians sought to reach their audiences on mobile in order to drive support — particularly around key debates and voter events.
Presidential candidates harnessed voters’ attention on mobile around key events
DEMOCRATS OUTSPENT REPUBLICANS ON MOBILE IN-APP ADVERTISING IN Q1 2016
>
Q1 2016 presidential candidate political ad spending
1/1/16 2/1/16 3/1/16
Lead up to Iowa Caucus
Feb. 1
Mid-March primaries
Mar. 12-15
Late March primaries
Mar. 22
AD
SPE
ND
AD
SPE
ND
Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 2016
Tax services companies also focused major ad spend in Q1 on reaching their audience on mobile during the time of year that matters most: the weeks and months leading up to the collective national due date for federal and state taxes.
Tax services companies poured in budgets leading up to Tax Day to reach their audience on mobile
30xhigher spending in
VSQ1 2016
Q4 2015
eCPM
s
Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 2016
Quarterly eCPMs Q1 2015 - Q1 2016Similar to the most established advertising mediums, mobile programmatic saw a slight dip in eCPMs in Q1 2016 vs. Q4 2015. Lower seasonal prices coincided with broader distribution of spend, as non-Fortune 1000 companies spent more ad dollars in early Q1 than early Q4. eCPMs still increased over 26% in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015.
Spend shifted from Fortune 1000 dominance in Q4 to more distribution across the ecosystem in Q1
51%share of Q4 2015
spend that came from F1000 companies
+10%increase in non-
F1000 spend Q1 2016 vs. Q4 2015
Following the laxed pricing in early Q1, advertisers across the ecosystem increased spend each month in conjunction with steadily rising eCPMs through the quarter. February and March has 1.4% and 4.8% higher eCPMs than January, respectively.
eCPMs rise again through the quarter as advertisers across the ecosystem increase spend each month
eCPM
s
January February March
+1.4% higher than January
+4.8% higher than January
Monthly eCPMs Q1 2016
Industry embraces mobile-focused ad formats
High impact ad formats like interstitials, native, and video see growing adoption and strong results among buyers and
publishers.
There was more competition from buyers for larger and higher impact ad formats like interstitials and video, versus traditional banner inventory. Competition is measured by bid depth — which refers to the average number of buyers bidding on an available impression.
Demand was greatest for larger, higher impact ad formats
Com
peti
tion
Banner Interstitial Video
Competition by ad format Q1 2016
+36% higher than banner
+53% higher than banner
In addition to competing for higher impact formats on the open exchange, buyers strived to secure interstitial and native inventory through private marketplaces. In fact, these same buyers were willing to pay 77% higher eCPMs on average on interstitials in private marketplaces vs. the open exchange.
Buyers leveraged private marketplaces to secure even more high impact ad format supply
88%
9%
3%BannerNativeInterstitial
+77%These same buyers paid
higher eCPMs on interstitials in private marketplaces vs.
the open exchange
Private marketplace spend by ad format Q1 2016
Rev
enue
In the span of just one quarter, publishers added over 32% more video supply. Meanwhile, revenue from video ads more than doubled in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015.
Video ad revenue Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015
Publishers continued to bring on video supply and saw revenue increases
+121%increase in video ad inventory
32%
VSQ1 2016
Q4 2015
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
Similar to video, publishers showed substantial growth in adoption of native ads — which coincided with tremendous revenue gains in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015.
Publishers also increased adoption of native ads alongside revenue gains
Inve
ntor
y
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
Native ad inventory Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015
+531% Native ad revenue increase in
305%
VSQ1 2016
Q1 2015
Case Study: Major auto brand drives 150K+ dealership visits in two months with native ads
OBJECTIVEIncrease awareness for their brand and drive visits to local car dealerships.
APPROACHReach consumers with native ads on MoPub and encourage people to come to dealerships and test drive new cars
RESULTS
In just two months, they achieved the following: • Reached consumers on more than 21.8
million unique devices • Generated 3.53% click-through rate • Spurred 150,000+ dealership visits
Native ads use a single set of creative assets, but automatically reassemble across MoPub supply to match the
unique look and feel of each app.
Test Drive Test Drive
Test Drive
*Read the full case study online. Campaign managed by demand-side partner Adelphic and location measurement handled by Placed.
Savvy buyers and sellers spur growth in EMEA and APAC
Growth in mobile programmatic advertising continues in region for EMEA and APAC with increased adoption of high
impact ad formats
Widespread adoption of mobile programmatic continued in EMEA, with 52% more inventory and 97% more spend on our exchange in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015.
EMEA sees major overall growth in mobile programmatic
Inve
ntor
y
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
+52%
Ad
Spen
d
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
EMEA inventory Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015 EMEA ad spend in Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015
+97%
Similar to trends seen globally, native and video were key focus areas for publishers and advertisers in EMEA over the past year. Publishers continued to open up inventory rapidly for both formats, while demand grew significantly.
Sophisticated buyers and sellers in EMEA are quickly scaling higher impact ad formats
NATIVE AD INVENTORY
+287%
NATIVE AD SPEND+217%
Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015
+62%
+228%
VIDEO AD INVENTORY
VIDEO AD SPEND
APAC publishers and advertisers continued to buy-in to mobile programmatic, showing strong growth in overall inventory and ad spend.
APAC continues to grow rapidly for buyers and publishers
Inve
ntor
y
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
+127%
Ad
Spen
d
Q1 2015 Q1 2016
APAC inventory Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015 APAC ad spend Q1 2016 vs. Q1 2015
+104%
56%44%
BannerAll Other Formats
Banners make up nearly half of APAC supply, but higher impact formats are growing fasterJust a year ago in Q1 2015, banners made up 77% of all APAC supply. They still make up close to half, but higher impact formats like video, interstitials, and native are the fastest growing inventory segments.
APA
C A
nnua
l Sup
ply
Gro
wth
Banner Interstitial Video Native
+31%+52%
+189%
+1,345%
In line with inventory growth, more buyers are looking for larger, higher-impact, ad formats like interstitials and video — leading to more competition from advertisers for those ad formats.
APAC demand is strongest for larger interstitial and video formats
Com
peti
tion
Banner Interstitial Video
+83% higher than banner
+117% higher than banner
Competition by ad format in APAC Q1 2016
Summary
Seasonal and event-based trends in mobile programmatic point to alignment with the most established advertising channels. Key events like tax season and presidential primaries saw major spending from tax services companies and presidential candidates, respectively, during this past quarter. Likewise, performance buyers capitalized on lower ad prices — reflecting seasonal trends of the overall advertising technology industry.
Exciting trends emerge and continue
Mobile programmatic advertising has matured1
High impact ad formats like interstitials, native, and video see growing adoption and strong results among buyers and publishers. Interstitial and video ad inventory saw the greatest competition from buyers. One large automotive brand drove over 150,000 visits to local car dealerships by reaching their audience with native ads.
Exciting trends emerge and continue
Industry embraces mobile-focused ad formats2
Growth in mobile programmatic advertising continues in region for EMEA and APAC for publishers and advertisers alike. Sophisticated buyers and sellers in EMEA have quickly scaled inventory and spend for video and native. And even though banners still make up 44% of inventory in APAC, that decreased from 77% in Q1 2015 as native, interstitials, and video were the fastest growing inventory segments.
Exciting trends emerge and continue
Savvy buyers and sellers spur growth in EMEA and APAC3
GLOSSARY
MOPUB MARKETPLACE: The MoPub Marketplace is a real-time bidding exchange for mobile ads where advertisers, agencies and their trading desks, and demand side platforms can bid on ad inventory from thousands of mobile application publishers in an efficient, real-time market.
PRIVATE MARKETPLACE: A private marketplace is a programmatic trading environment whereby a publisher makes a segment of inventory available to an advertiser or group of advertisers at a defined price.
eCPM: Effective cost per thousand advertising impressions is the most common way to refer to prices in mobile programmatic advertising.
CTR: Click-through rate is the number of clicks that an ad receives divided by the number of times that ad is shown. This is a common metric to measure consumer engagement with an ad.
eCPC: Effective cost per click is a metric used by marketers to gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns. Sometimes it is referred to as estimated cost per click. It is calculated by the price paid for mobile ads divided by the number of clicks generated from that campaign.
CLEAR RATE: Clear rate is an important metric for demand-side partners that helps them measure their buying efficiency. It refers to the rate at which a purchased ad impression renders and displays in a publisher’s mobile app.
BID DEPTH: Bid depth is a metric that measures how many demand-side partners bid in any given auction for an available ad impression.
DSP: Demand-side platforms are technology companies who build software used to purchase advertising in an automated fashion. DSPs are most often used by advertisers and agencies to help them buy display, video, mobile and search ads.
BANNER AD: Banner ads in this report refer to mobile in-app ads, which are typically anchored to the bottom of the screen and measure in dimensions of 320x50 or 728x90.
INTERSTITIAL AD: Interstitial ads in this report refer to fullscreen mobile in-app ads that measure in dimensions of 320x480, 480x320, 768x1024, or 1024x768. This type of advertisement can be a static image or a video.
NATIVE AD: Native ads in this report refer to mobile in-app ads that match the form and function of the app in which it appears. Typically, they appear in content feeds of apps. Native ads are comprised of up to 5 separate components from advertisers, which can render in many different ways to match the look and feel of a publisher’s application.
VIDEO AD: Video ads in this report refer to mobile in-app video ads. Video ads typically play in a full screen interstitial setting and are either 15 or 30 seconds in length.
GLOSSARY
ABOUT THE REPORT
The Global Mobile Programmatic Trends Report provides market data from real-time bidded auctions for mobile ad impressions, aggregated from mobile applications, advertisers, and demand side platforms on MoPub Marketplace, one of the world’s leading advertising exchanges for mobile apps.
MoPub Marketplace is a real-time bidding exchange for mobile ads, where advertisers, agencies and their trading desks, and demand side platforms can bid on ad inventory from thousands of mobile application publishers in an efficient, real-time market. MoPub Marketplace data is representative of over 45,000 active mobile apps, more than 450 billion monthly ad requests, more than 1 billion unique devices, and 175+ demand-side platforms.
The data reflected here is solely representative of exchange-traded media on MoPub Marketplace and does not include any ad network or ad network mediation data.
The information contained herein is based on internal data and data from a third-party that we do not control, and could be subject to errors and omissions.
Questions, comments, or data inquiries about this report can be sent to [email protected]
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ABOUT MOPUB
MoPub, a Twitter company, is the trusted, mobile-first monetization platform that powers a high-growth revenue strategy for mobile app publishers. MoPub’s platform ensures publishers earn more revenue by combining powerful ad serving, flexible network mediation controls, rich ad formats, and access to the one of the largest sources of advertiser demand, MoPub Marketplace. MoPub Marketplace provides mobile publishers with unparalleled programmatic revenue and highly relevant ads by enabling buyers such as demand side platforms to reach a high quality audience on mobile apps through a powerful interface, strict supply quality measures, and a transparent bidding experience. MoPub’s world-class service and years of proven expertise benefit both publishers and DSPs with insights to grow their businesses and adapt to their changing needs.
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© 2016 MoPub, Inc. TWITTER, MOPUB and the Bird logo are trademarks of Twitter, Inc. or its affiliates. All third party logos and trademarks included are the property of their respective owners.