Welcome to the first in a series of studies looking at what someone who clicks on ads uses to consume the Internet. “Portrait of a Clicker” will break down the technographic profile of ad-supported websites’ best friends, and help you determine how and when to target ads to your users.
For this first edition, we’re looking at operating systems. Look through your analytics and you’ll find a breakdown of the operating systems used by visitors to your site. For example, insights.chitika.com traffic is 71% Windows 19% Mac, 2.5% iPhone, 2.5% iPad, and 2% Linux.
What does that mean, though? Which operating systems provide the most valuable traffic to you as a publisher? We took a look at a sample of over 141 million impressions to find out.
Best Operating System for Ad Clicks:
Windows takes the cake with a CTR of 0.77% in this sample. The big driver of this appears to be people still using Windows XP – although it has a smaller CTR than ’95, ’98 or 2000, those operating systems drive so little traffic that it’s not really worth much to web publishers. XP is still the top-used operating system across the Chitika network, and with its relatively high clickthrough rate, it’s a publisher’s best friend.
Worst Operating System for Ad Clicks:
Surprisingly, it’s Mac OS X. I expected Linux to take the “least likely to click on ads” trophy, but Mac users click just a tiny bit less often than Linux users. In fact, the latest build of OS X – Snow Leopard – is the single worst OS version for ad clicks, with less than half the CTR of Windows XP.
What Should I Do?
Keep in mind that your results may vary, but consider different landing pages/website layouts for different operating systems. If a Mac user is unlikely to click on an ad, show less volume and more targeted ads (like Chitika’s search-targeted ads… had to get the shameless plug in, but they really do work well). Eventually a Mac user may click on an advertisement, but by only showing a select few targeted ads, you can improve your user experience by de-cluttering your site and serving only ads for what they’re looking for right at the moment.
Next week, we’ll do the same analysis for web browsers. Taking all bets – which browser gets the most clicks? Tell us what you think on our Facebook page, and we’ll tell you in the next installment of Portrait of a Clicker.
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