Mobile Data Growth in Mobile Advertising

Smaato is a leading global mobile real-time bidding (RTB) ad exchange (SMX) and Supply Side Platform. The company recently released its RTB Insights Report for Q4 2013. The report, compiled from exchange data, auctions, bids and impressions served globally across Smaato’s RTB ad-exchange (SMX) and Supply Side Platform, showcases the growing importance of data in mobile advertising and the rise of mobile RTB on a global scale.

“Real-time bidding was the growth engine for mobile advertising in 2013 at Smaato and reached the next level of efficiency and relevance in the market. It is also great to see increased shift in spend from some of the largest online demand players to our platform further validating the importance of the mobile-ready ecosystem,” said Ragnar Kruse, Smaato CEO. “This global mobile RTB report will help our mobile publishers, developers and demand partners gain deep analytical insights into market behaviors so that they can further understand and align their mobile and monetization strategies.”

Smaato is the largest independent global mobile RTB ad-exchange and SSP. Smaato’s SMX platform helps 76,000+ publishers monetize their inventory across 190+ Ad Networks and Demand Side Platforms, SMX generates more than 500 billion bid requests and 49 billion+ ad impressions per month.

Key learnings and highlights from the quarterly report are:

Data drives eCPM’s higher

Through the efficiencies and technological advances of RTB ad exchanges, advertisers were better able to match brands and messages with their target audiences in Q4 2013. When location and device ID data are present in a SMX bid request, eCPMs increased by up to 264%. Presence of gender and age data increased eCPMs by more than 150% as well.

Demand for mobile publishers and developers is on the rise

The growth in mobile RTB continues to produce staggering numbers, as aggregate RTB performance on SMX saw a 466% increase throughout 2013. Furthermore, fill rates also grew significantly in Q4. The largest fill increases were seen in the U.S. market: +72% for ad networks and +106% for RTB respectively in Q4 in comparison to Q3.

Mobile RTB ad spend is the fastest growth channel going into 2014

In Q4 2013 the U.S. clearly led the global mobile RTB revenue followed by United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Certain APAC and Latin America markets have seen the largest % increase in ad spend. Some of the notable countries were: Brazil (+440%), Netherlands (+142%), Australia (+107%), and Canada (+92%) all experiencing double-or-triple digit RTB growth in Q4 compared to Q3.

Entertainment and CPG were the top spending advertiser categories

Furthermore, the advertiser category with the highest percentage of mobile RTB ad spending in Q4 was entertainment and media with 20%, followed by food and retail (18%), technology and telecom (18%) and business and finance (12%). Overall Q4 2013 saw increased brand attention and budget towards mobile RTB as data and targeting continuously improved.

*Smaato

About Smaato

Smaato is the leading global mobile RTB ad exchange (SMX) helping mobile app developers and publishers increase ad revenues worldwide. As an industry pioneer and leader, Smaato operates the leading mobile RTB ad exchange and Supply Side Platform across 76,000+ mobile app developers and mobile publishers. On demand side Smaato globally connects 90+ Ad Networks and 100+ DSPs. Smaato is an initial member of the OpenRTB Mobile subcommittee and an active member of the Mobile Marketing Association, Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), Singapore Infocomm Industry (SITF), Singapore IT Federation and the German Digital Media Association BVDW. Smaato received a Top 100 Private Company Award by AlwaysOn Media (2013, 2012, 2011, 2009 & 2007), is one of the AlwaysOn Global 250 winners in the Mobile category (2013, 2012 & 2011) and was named a “company to watch in 2010″ by Financial Analyst Company GP Bullhound.  Smaato’s global headquarters are in San Francisco, California.