Android phones may have pulled ahead of iPhones in Q4 mobile phone ad traffic share, according to Opera’s latest quarterly report [pdf] covering Q4 2013 activity, but the opposite trend was true when it came to ad monetization. The iPhone accounted for 40% of mobile ad monetization, per the report, up from 36.4% a quarter earlier and distancing itself from Android phones’ 30.1%. Overall, iOS devices captured 43.4% of ad traffic (down from 44.4% in Q3) and an outsized 55.7% of revenue (up from 49.5%).
Those revenue figures represent gains not only on a quarter-over-quarter basis, but also on a year-over-year one. (For reference, in Q4 2012, iOS devices comprised 41.9% of traffic and 51% of revenue.) Between Q4 2012 and Q4 2013, while Android devices increased their share of ad traffic from 30.9% to 37.7%, their share of revenue only grew by a couple of points, from 30% to 31.7%.
As with the iPhone, the iPad punches above its traffic share when it comes to revenue generation. At 10.6% of traffic on the platform, the iPad dwarfs Android tablet (1.9%) traffic. But while Android tablets generate a smaller share of revenues (1.7%) than traffic for publishers, iPads generate an outsized 12.7% of revenues.
Other Findings:
- Opera registered a 13% increase in new iOS and Android users in the 3-day span including from Christmas Eve through to the day after Christmas. That’s consistent with research showing a rise in new device activations on Christmas.
- Music, video and media lost its lead as the top category for impression volume to social, but took over the top spot by monetization.
- Business and finance generated the highest revenue per impression yet again.
- 48.5% of ad requests came from the US, up from 47.5% during Q3, but down from 49.3% in Q2, 50.7% in Q1 and 60% in Q4 2012. The US still accounts for 70% of revenue, steady on a year-over-year basis. Opera reports a 52% worldwide increase in mobile ad traffic, though it’s unclear whether that’s on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis.
About the Data: Information contained in the report is based on aggregated information obtained from the Opera Mobile Ad Platform and Opera Mobile Ad Exchange servers. The data presented represents traffic and monetization metrics and statistics compiled across multiple advertising campaigns delivered by Opera to its mobile publisher customers. The data includes ads requested from and delivered by Opera on behalf of multiple ad networks as well as directly sold campaigns created by its customers themselves. Country-level details are based on IP addresses of the originating ad requests as forwarded to Opera by its mobile publisher/app developer customers. Device details are similarly based on device user agents provided by these same customers.
