MoPub's quarterly Mobile Programmatic Trends report explores the current state of the mobile programmatic landscape. The report provides market data from real-time bidded auctions for mobile ad impressions, aggregated from mobile applications, advertisers, and demand side platforms on MoPub Marketplace, one of the world’s leading advertising exchanges for mobile apps.
The Q3 2015 report focuses on the uncharted inventory opportunity, Q4 holiday outlook, and the idea that moments continue to matter on mobile.
3. There’s an Uncharted Inventory Opportunity
Demand partners are discovering and buying
new inventory, and seeing strong
performance.
Q4 Holiday Outlook Building on Recent Growth
eCPMs and volume are trending higher as the
holidays approach, while gaming and
entertainment apps perform best for
advertisers and publishers alike
Moments Continue to Matter on Mobile
Marketers continue to look to mobile in order to
reach people during key moments and events.
HIGHLIGHTS
7. Seasoned Apps New Apps
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (eCPM)
+67%
Publishers adding new inventory also generate strong results
Publishers opening up new
inventory in Q3 had 67% higher
eCPMs on average than apps that
have been on the exchange for
longer amount of time. Across the
exchange, eCPMs increased by 24%
in Q3 2015 vs. Q3 2014
higher eCPMs
67%
8. One DSP diversified spend by buying on 957 new apps between May and September 2015. This buyer
accessed 22% more impressions and increased spend by 52%. In addition to this scale, they were able to
increase CTR by 23% and decrease eCPC by 26% more than all other DSPs on the exchange.
May September
Total Apps with Purchased Ads in May
vs. September
Case Study: Diversifying spend helps DSP drive a higher
CTR and lower eCPC
+95722%more impressions
Access to
26%more than all
other DSPs
Decreased eCPC
23%more than all
other DSPs
Increased CTR
11. In the Q4 2014 Marketplace
Report, we saw brand spend
overtake performance spend
during the holidays. In fact,
brand spend even came to
gaming — with 54% of spend on
the popular Trivia Crack app
from Etermax coming by way of
brands in December 2014. We’ll
keep a close eye on how these
trends continue in Q4 2015.
Looking back at the Q4 2014 report…
12. 40%
60%
While it remains to be seen if brands will overtake
the majority of spend in the open marketplace
during the holidays again, the trend of brands
spending in private marketplaces continued in
Q3. In the most recent quarter, we found that
brands comprised 60% of the top 25 advertisers
running campaigns via private marketplaces.
BIG BRAND SPENDING
IN PRIVATE MARKETPLACES
Performance Brand
13. +25%+9%
eCPMs Exchange Volume
+36%
+24%
+9%
+55%
Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q4 2015
eCPMs and volume trending higher as Q4 holidays approach
Last year, eCPMs increased by 9% between Q3 and Q4. Additionally, Q3 2015 saw eCPMs increase 24% year-over-
year compared to Q3 2014. We’ll track closely what happens in Q4 2015 to see what coincides with the 580 new
apps that launched in Q3 this year.
+9%
$
$$
$$$
$$$$
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14. Entering Q4, gaming and entertainment apps still see
highest eCPMs across categories
In the Q4 2014 Marketplace Report, we looked at how eCPMs varied for different publisher categories. Gearing up
for holiday spend this year, Gaming and Entertainment still lead the pack. Across categories on the exchange,
eCPMs increased 24% in Q3 2015 vs. Q3 2014.
SocialNetworking
News
Lifestyle
Health&Fitness
Utilities
Sports
Entertainment
Gaming
Health&
Fitness
News
Lifestyle
SocialNetworking
Utilities
Sports
Entertainment
Gaming
eCPM by Publisher Category Q4 2014 eCPM by Publisher Category Q3 2015
$
$$
$$$
$$$$
$
$$
$$$
$$$$
15. CTR by Publisher Category Q3 2015
Highest CTRs found in gaming and entertainment apps,
coinciding with high eCPMs
CTR by Publisher Category Q4 2014
In the Q4 2014 Marketplace Report, we also looked at how CTRs varied for different publisher categories. As
we gear up for holiday ad campaigns, Gaming and Entertainment again showed the highest click-through
rates in Q3 2015. Perhaps unsurprisingly, publisher categories ranked in the same order for both highest click-
through rates and highest eCPMs.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Health&
Fitness
News
Lifestyle
Social
Networking
Utilities
Sports
Entertainment
Gaming
Health&
Fitness
News
Lifestyle
Social
Networking
Utilities
Sports
Entertainment
Gaming
16. Banner Interstitial
+25%+9%
Bid Depth Q3 2015
BidDepth
Ad Format
Interstitials are most competed-upon inventory
+41%
Buyers continue to bid most
competitively for full-screen
interstitial inventory. Interstitials saw
a 41% higher bid depth from DSPs
than banner inventory in Q3 2015 —
pointing to more DSPs on average
bidding for interstitials.
higher bid
depth
41%
17. +25%
Banner Quarterly Revenue Native Quarterly Revenue Video Quarterly Revenue
+36%
+92%
+42%
+97%
+54%
165%
Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q3 2015 Q4 2015
Ad formats have seen continual growth since Q3 2014 as
we approach the holidays in 2015
Last year, we saw revenue increase between 36% - 54% for publishers across banner, video, and native ad formats
between Q3 and Q4. We also saw Q3 year-over-year revenue growth for each ad format between 92% - 165%. Will
Q4 2015 reward publishers with major revenue growth again?
19. In the Q1 2015 Marketplace
Report, we saw a major NFL
moment bring big increases in
advertiser spend.
Unsurprisingly, brands
contributed to 73% of overall
spend during the Super Bowl
in-game spending spree.
Looking back at the Q1 2015 report…
20.
21. Continuing the trend from Q1,
advertisers picked up spend in
sports apps once NFL and
NCAA football seasons began.
Average daily spend on the
weekends was 66% higher
than on weekdays once NCAA
football (Saturdays) and NFL
football (Sundays) kicked off.
23. Exciting trends
emerge and continue
Advertisers find 2x higher CTRs with 46%
lower CPCs when buying inventory in apps
that were new to the exchange in Q3
1
Uncharted inventory presents
a major opportunity
24. Exciting trends
emerge and continue
Publishers found the highest eCPMs and
advertisers enjoyed the highest CTRs in
gaming and entertainment apps
Gaming and entertainment apps
continue to perform well
2
25. Exciting trends
emerge and continue
Average daily spend increased by 64% in
sports apps on NFL and NCAA football
game days — coinciding with NFL and NCAA
football season kick-offs
Moments continue to matter
3
26. MoPub Marketplace: The MoPub Marketplace is a real-time bidding exchange for mobile ads, where advertisers,
agencies and their trading desks, and demand side platforms can bid on ad inventory from thousands of mobile
application publishers in an efficient, real-time market.
Private Marketplace: A private marketplace is a programmatic trading environment in which a publisher makes
available a segment of inventory to an advertiser or group of advertisers at a defined price.
eCPM: Effective cost per thousand advertising impressions, or eCPM, is the most common way to refer to prices in
mobile programmatic advertising.
CTR: Click-through rate, or CTR, is the number of clicks that an ad receives divided by the number of times the ad is
shown. This is a common metric to measure consumer engagement with an ad.
eCPC: Effective cost per click, or eCPC, is a metric used by marketers to gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns.
(Sometimes it is referred to as estimated cost per click.) It is calculated by the price paid for ad impressions divided
by the number of clicks generated from that ad campaign.
Clear Rate: Clear rate refers to the rate at which a purchased ad impression renders and displays in a publisher’s
mobile app. It is an important metric for demand-side partners that helps them measure their buying efficiency. DSPs
are never charged for ads that do not clear, render, and display.
Bid Depth: Bid depth is a metric that measures how many demand-side partners bid for an available ad impression in
any given auction.
GLOSSARY
27. DSP: Demand-side platforms are technology companies who build software used to purchase advertising in an
automated fashion. DSPs are most often used by advertisers and agencies to help them buy display, video,
mobile and search ads.
Banner ad: Banner ads in this report refer to mobile in-app ads, which are typically anchored to the bottom of
the screen and measure in dimensions of 320x50 or 728x90.
Interstitial ad: Interstitial ads in this report refer to fullscreen mobile in-app ads that measure in dimensions of
320x480, 480x320, 768x1024, or 1024x768. This type of advertisement can be a static image or a video,
depending on publisher preferences.
Native ad: Native ads in this report refer to mobile in-app ads that match the form and function of the app in
which it appears. Typically, they appear in content feeds of apps. Native ads are comprised of up to 5 separate
components from advertisers, which can render in many different ways to match the look and feel of a
publisher’s application.
Video ad: Video ads in this report refer to mobile in-app video ads. Video ads typically play in a full screen
interstitial setting and are either 15 or 30 seconds in length.
GLOSSARY