The “Shift to Video” In Full Swing for Publishers and Apps as Video Becomes Fastest-Growing Ad Format in Q2, According to Smaato

Smaato, the leading global real-time advertising platform for mobile publishers and app developers, today released its Q2 2017 Global Trends in Mobile Advertising Report. Smaato conducted an in-depth analysis of the 1.5+ trillion ad impressions delivered on its platform in the second quarter of 2017, and found new data to support the massive growth of video advertising globally, and particularly in-app, which is growing faster over mobile web as a share of digital ad dollars.
 
Publishers are doubling down on digital video – a trend characterized as the great “shift to video” – as consumers increasingly desire highly engaging and interactive content. Led by especially strong momentum in mobile, video has absorbed a much larger share of total ad budgets. According to Smaato, video was the fastest-growing ad format during Q2, with spending on video ads more than doubling (142 percent).
 
Smaato took a deeper dive into video and found that certain formats are growing more rapidly than others. While full-screen interstitials remain advertisers’ darlings today, accounting for almost two-thirds of total mobile video ad spending, rewarded video was the fastest-growing format. In Q2 2017, rewarded video ad impressions almost doubled (96 percent), ad spending increased 153 percent and eCPMs grew 48 percent.
 
Gaming apps in particular have quickly embraced rewarded video, as the positive user experience and high engagement rates keeps audiences hooked. According to Smaato, ad spending on rewarded video in gaming apps increased +242 percent from Q1 to Q2 2017. Rewarded video’s growth in gaming apps also outpaced non-rewarded interstitial by +74% from Q1 2017 to Q2 2017, suggesting that advertisers and publishers recognize the future value of this engaging format.
 
“In a recent IAB survey, advertisers suggested they plan to spend more than half of their ad budgets on video this year. We are seeing this become a reality across Smaato’s platform, as mobile video is the fastest-growing segment of our business,” said Ragnar Kruse, CEO and co-founder of Smaato. “Based on what we are seeing, we expect mobile video to continue its high growth and become the dominant medium in the years ahead.”
 
The report offers additional insights into global mobile advertising, including:
 

• The Americas fueled global Q2 mobile ad spending growth. Brazil, Colombia, the US and Canada contributed to the Americas seeing the highest Q2 mobile advertising growth over the same quarter last year. However, APAC was the top performer in terms of eCPM growth, with average eCPMs more than doubling versus the same quarter last year.
• In-app mobile advertising surpassed global milestone. In-app ad spending achieved a record-high share of total mobile ad spending (94 percent) on the Smaato platform this quarter. Advertisers’ shift to in-app drove eCPMs up 79 percent from Q2 2016 to Q2 2017, resulting in in-app ad spaces becoming 224 percent more valuable on average than those on mobile web.
• Android reigned supreme in mobile advertising spend in Q2, while iOS dominated eCPMs. Android owned 57 percent of total global mobile advertising spend in Q2 on the Smaato platform, reaching 75 percent of total unique mobile users worldwide. However, in a quarter marking the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, iOS users commanded 18 percent higher eCPMs than Android users, and generated almost twice as much revenue for publishers on a per-user basis.
• Gender data was one of the most important metrics for determining value of ad space. If an ad request contained gender data, the value of the ad space increased on average by 158 percent. While in the minority in terms of share of total mobile ad spend, female users were 25 percent more valuable to advertisers. In China, for example, advertisers paid 219 percent higher eCPMs to get in front of female users.
• China’s love affair with apps continues to create massive opportunities for mobile publishers and advertisers. As Chinese mobile users spend 99 percent of their time in apps, advertisers are closely following them. The share of in-app ad spending in China was a whopping 98 percent in Q2, five points above the global average. Meanwhile, in-app ads in China were three times more valuable than mobile web in China in Q2.

 
Each quarter, Smaato offers key insights into the worldwide mobile programmatic advertising landscape based on in-depth analysis of the 1.5+ trillion ad impressions delivered on the Smaato platform in that quarter, which are auctioned through a network of over 450 of the world’s largest DSPs and ad network demand partners. The Global Trends in Mobile Advertising Report reflects the activity and trends that have developed within the second quarter of 2017, and analyzes trends across quarters and against the previous year.
 
To download the full report, click here.
 
About Smaato
 
Smaato is the leading global real-time mobile advertising platform, connecting 10,000+ advertisers – including 91 of the Top 100 Ad Age brands – with over 90,000 app developers and mobile web publishers. Smaato manages up to 19 billion mobile ad impressions daily and reaches over 1 billion unique mobile users monthly. Founded in 2005 by mobile pioneers Ragnar Kruse and Petra Vorsteher, Smaato has global headquarters in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Hamburg, Germany, New York and Singapore. Learn more at www.smaato.com.

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