• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 5, 2011

The number of campaigns costing over $250,000 on mobile ad network Millennial Media more than tripled and the total number of campaigns doubled in the last year, according to first-quarter data released by the company Thursday.

Millennial said local ad spending in particular was up during the quarter as advertisers shifted more dollars from traditional media, such as print and radio, to mobile. More than half (56%) of campaigns on the ad network were geared toward broad reach of Millennial's audience of 92 million U.S. mobile users. Of the balance that use some form of targeting, 42% were aimed at local markets.

The number of locally targeted campaigns increased 24% from the fourth quarter, buoyed by increased advertising by retailers and restaurants. Spending in that category increased more than 1,300% over last year, making it the top U.S. ad segment in the first quarter. Rounding out the top five ad verticals: telecom, portals and directories, finance and automotive.

The most common campaign goal in the quarter was gaining "sustained in-market presence," or general brand messaging, as opposed to increasing brand awareness tied to a specific event or seasonal promotion. Lead generation and product launches were the next most popular campaign objectives.

Almost half of campaigns (47%) drove visitors to a mobile site, 32% to a custom landing page, and 21% to an application download. And nearly eight in 10 ran across multiple mobile platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices, as well as different operating systems and carrier networks.

Android was by far the most pervasive smartphone operating system on the Millennial network, accounting for 54% of impressions compared to 26% for Apple's iOS and 17% for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion. When it comes to tablets, not surprisingly, the iPad was the top device -- followed by the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Smartbook AG Surfer Tablet.

On the applications front, the number of apps overall on the network grew 34% from a year ago, with Android apps up 52%. Smartphones generated 62% of impressions in the first quarter, feature phones 23% and connected devices, 15%. The number of impressions from connected devices tripled from the prior quarter.