Quick Links:
e-Marketers say that approximately $101 billion was spent on mobile ads globally last year alone. This sum is more than 5 times bigger than the corresponding one from 2012. Digital advertising began its conversion from desktop to mobile in 2008 and ever since mobile APP advertising rates have been increasing day by day. Mobile ad spending got a remarkable lift in the 2012-2013 periods with the introduction of bigger screen smartphone models as well as when the tablet computer market began to mature.
Average CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand) is one of the core metrics for digital advertising, specifically in mobile app advertising. In a nutshell, it tells the advertiser how much a thousand ad impressions in a specific mobile app costs and in this way publishers can get an idea about how much revenue can be generated from every 1,000 impressions served. Among all digital ad metrics CPM, CPC, and CPA are the most important and reliable metrics for digital advertisers. CPA (Cost-Per-Action) is the most valuable to mobile advertisers because it measures the cost of a specific action that people take within a digital product.
Let’s have a look on Key Mobile Advertising Rates data points:
Knowing these app ads revenue data points, we will analyze a few data points collected for the last several years.
Mobile advertising spending has grown from $19 billion in 2013 to $133 billion in 2017. The fastest growth took place in 2013 and 2014, when year-over-year mobile ad spending grew up more than 100%. This year it’s forecasted that collectively, companies will spend $166 billion or roughly 25% up from the previous year.
When we look over desktop and mobile ad spending volume over time together, it becomes crystal clear that starting around 2015 desktop spending is in decline and mobile advertising spending flourished day by day. Companies were spending progressively more from $40 to about $100 billion from 2006 to 2015.
How much money is spent on mobile advertising by a country in a particular year reflects the size of that country’s economy.
Have a look at Global Mobile Advertising Spending Forecast, 2013-2018, by country.
The Zenith Optimedia agency report from Q3, 2016 compares advertising spending from multiple ad formats and here the result.TV ads presented 36% of the total ad spendings pie in 2016, this percentage is projected to shrink to just 33% in 2019, meanwhile, mobile advertising will almost double, from 15% to 27%.
Let’s have a look at Global Advertising Spending by Format, 2016 vs. 2019:
According to data from March of 2016, the total spending in 2016 passed $192 billion and is projected to reach $234 billion by 2020. The overarching trend is that during the five year period, from 2015-2020, mobile ad spending is to more than double, from $32 billion in 2015 to $77 billion by 2020.
US Total Media Ad Spending, by media 2015-2020, $ billions:
CPC is equally important as like CPM in digital ad marketing. CPC stands for cost-per-click. Just like CPM, CPC also varies for different advertising platforms.
Let’s take a look at a chart of Mobile app install ads CPC trends, 2015-2016
Here is another chart of Cost per click by device in dollars, 2015-2016:
Facebook is the biggest advertising platform on the planet and it provides a broad spectrum of advertising tools to reach the targeted audience through its app on desktop and mobile, as well as on Instagram and via its Audience Network which serves thousands of app developers with target ads that match their app users interests.
Let’s have a look at Facebook cost-per-click in dollars.
Here is another chart which shows countywide CPC of Facebook
So we know about CPM but what about eCPM? The difference between CPM and eCPM is that CPM (cost-per-mile or a cost of 1,000 impressions) defines how much ad impressions are valued before an ad campaign takes place. On the other hand, eCPM is calculated by advertisers after an ad campaign is finished and regardless of what buying model was used – CPM, CPC, CPA. Because of some over or under delivery by the ad network or the publisher, an eCPM price may vary from a CPM rate.
Now, to get an idea about average CPM, we will review the market research of top five mobile advertising networks (Chartboost, AppLovin, AdMob, InMobi & Admob).
For better understanding, let’s have a look at top mobile ad networks Android and iOS eCPM Rates, 2015-2017
In the realm of the mobile advertising market, Facebook is the biggest shareholder. Facebook ad rates are tied to the condition of the local economy as well as the size of a local digital market. Among a number of European, Latin, Asian and North America countries the highest CPM rates are in Sweden – $1.8, Denmark – $1.7 and Taiwan – $1.5.
Let’s have a look of few charts and table for better understanding.
Facebook Ad CPM Rates, by country in 2015:
US Facebook Ads CPM Rates, by industry in 2016:
Facebook CPM by ad format in Q2 2017:
Final Opinion:
The Mobile Advertising Market is flourishing day by day and it has become a major source of digital publisher’s revenue nowadays. Because of Mobile Advertising, the advertisers can reach their targeted audience more effectively. Mobile ad eCPM rates vary by industry, mobile OS, geo location and specific mobile ad network. Facebook and Google control the major part of the mobile advertising market together and this scenario aren’t likely to change anytime soon.
About the author