Publishers Harnessing the Power of Data Tripled Revenue in Q4 2015, According to New Report from Smaato

SAN FRANCISCO - March 23, 2016 - Smaato, the leading global real-time advertising platform for mobile publishers and app developers, today released its Q4 2015 Global Trends in Mobile Advertising Report. Smaato analyzed data from billions of mobile ad impressions served on its exchange during the fourth quarter of 2015 to reveal the extent to which data brings in higher eCPMs for publishers. Smaato’s platform shows that ads with GPS coordinate data increase eCPMs by 162 percent, and on average publishers who leveraged Age and Gender data saw eCPMs triple during Q4 2015. As the world continues to shift to mobile - by 2020, 90 percent of the world’s population will have a mobile phone - data represents a powerful new tool for app developers looking to monetize.

Advertisers pay significantly more money to publishers that provide accurate data. But in addition to being more valuable in the absolute, passing data is also becoming more valuable over time. While eCPMs for ad impressions without data still rose throughout 2015 (by 42 percent), ad impressions that passed data saw eCPMs rise by a staggering 120 percent.

Smaato found that over 2015:

1. The more accurate your location data is, the better. eCPMs based on ZIP/postal code data increased by 74 percent, while eCPMs based on GPS coordinates increased by 162 percent.
2. Gender matters. Publishers who are able to identify male users saw eCPMs increase by 115 percent, and those identifying female users saw an uptick of 177 percent.

“Data truly is the new mobile currency,” said Ragnar Kruse, CEO and co-founder of Smaato. “It’s a win-win-win. Making use of this data maximizes revenue for publishers, it allows advertisers to reach their target audience effectively, and the end user gets a better, more relevant ad experience. Now more than ever, it pays to know who your users are.”

Additional findings in the report include:

1. Mobile ad spending in the U.S. exceeded desktop for the first time. Propelled by rising ad spend globally, mobile grabbed a majority share - 51.9 percent - of all digital ad spending last year.
2. Mobile ad spend in China is growing at a staggering pace. While the U.S. remains the most valuable ad market in the world - and it continues growing at a healthy clip - China experienced a mobile ad spend uplift of 1,246 percent in Q4 2015.
3. Apps continue to dominate mobile websites in terms of global ad spend. In the Americas, in-app share grew from 64 percent to 77 percent in Q4 2015.
4. Android’s eCPM growth rate was much stronger than that of iOS during Q4 2015. iOS users are no longer 1.55 times more valuable than Android users, and Smaato’s data shows that Android eCPMs are projected to pull even with those of iOS as early as Q4 2016.

Smaato serves up 10 billion ads each day, across one billion mobile devices each month, and works with 90,000 mobile app developers and publishers. The Global Trends in Mobile Advertising Report reflects the detailed activity and trends that have developed over the fourth quarter of 2015 across Smaato’s global base of publishers, advertisers and users.

To learn more about Smaato’s solutions for mobile app developers and publishers, please visit: www.smaato.com.

About Smaato
Smaato is the global real-time advertising platform for mobile publishers and app developers. Smaato runs the world’s largest independent mobile ad exchange and has been pioneering innovative, mobile-first solutions for publishers since 2005.

Smaato’s SPX is a global, intelligent and free to use platform that brings native, video and real-time advertising to over 90,000 mobile app developers and publishers. The company’s worldwide reach and extensive network of demand partners provides a massive variety of advertisers with one single integration. Smaato manages up to 10 billion ads every day around the world, across over 1 billion mobile devices each month.

Smaato’s global headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The privately held company was founded in 2005 by an experienced international management team. Smaato’s European office is in Hamburg, Germany. The APAC office is in Singapore. Learn more at www.smaato.com.

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