Opera Software published data on the effectiveness of mobile advertising for the third quarter of the year. According to the State of Mobile Advertising report, iOS leads the platform that provides the most advertising revenue.
In fact, users of Apple’s platform that generate ad traffic are equivalent to all other mobile platforms combined. iOS generates more than half of the revenue from mobile advertising, but iPhone represents one-third of the total.
The report was produced by analyzing 10,000 sites and 40 billion impressions per month. The finding confirms and gives the impression that the iOS is in first place among the platforms for the gains from eCPM (cost per thousand). As the study shows, advertisers pay to iOS on average $1.64 per 1,000 page views; in Android, it is just about half at 88 cents. The most effective tool for advertisers is the iPad, which generates $4.42 from CPM.
Although Google’s OS provides one-quarter of the mobile traffic in Opera, it brings just 16.79% of the advertising revenue. RIM brings $1.06 per 1,000 page views CPM. It also accounts for only 4.15% of the traffic.
“This quarter, iOS led the pack again with a $1.64 eCPM with iPad and iPhone garnering $4.42 and $1.48 eCPMs, respectively. Android slipped down in the rankings with $0.88, well below RIM at $1.06,” the report reveals.
Apps took the top spot by generating 73% of revenue within the Opera ad platform. The remaining 27% comes from the mobile web. Traffic measurement showed 8 in 10 visits on the Opera ad platform came from mobile apps, compared to 2 in 10 via the mobile web, the report says.
Platforms aside, the report says that sports became the no. 1 category for mobile ad revenue for the third quarter, followed by Music, Video & Media category. Mobile users in the United Kingdom trend towards Arts & Entertainment and Health, Fitness & Self-Help compared to the rest of the world. They are also four times more likely to use a BlackBerry.