Mobile devices are now reaching market penetration levels previously unseen in developed economies. The Pew Center for Research recently reported that smartphone adoption in the US has crossed the 50% threshold for the first time ever recorded. The looming presence of web-capable mobile devices has contributed to the rapid growth of online advertising and pushed it to the forefront the industry. Emarketer reports, that online ad spending will post growth above 20% in 2012 to reach nearly $40 billion in annual revenues. With the prevalence of mobile devices and online advertising only continuing to grow as we move into the future, Chitika Insights sought to investigate how advertisers and publishers would benefit from this influx of new business.
To quantify this study, Chitika Insights measured the click-through-rate (CTR) of cellphone carriers within the vast Chitika Ad network. This study was conducted using a sample of hundreds of millions of impressions, from the US and Canada, taken from the time period of February 9th to February 15th. After determining what particular device was in use by the user via the user agent string, we referenced this result to the particular cell phone provider to determine approximate CTRs of the individual carriers. A graph depicting this analysis can be seen below:
Of the major telecom carriers, AT&T finds the top spot with a CTR of .84%; this is significantly higher than the next closest carrier, MetroPCS, which has a CTR of .73%. Verizon and Sprint take third and fourth place respectively, with relatively equal CTRs of .67% and .64%. T-Mobile has the lowest CTR of the major telecom carriers, with a CTR of .55%.
Publishers and Advertisers can use this information to their advantage when segmenting their traffic in order to best optimize their revenues. Targeting advertisements and monetization opportunities to segments which are more likely to engage will not only improve performance metrics but the bottom line as well. For instance, due to the relatively high CTR of AT&T, targeting to that carrier specifically could lead to a higher volume of clicks, and a better overall CTR. Stay tuned to future Chitika Insights studies focusing on click through rates and the mobile space.
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