Finance Top Mobile Ad Category In Q3

SmartPhone-BlackberryWall Street may be on a roller coaster but financial services companies were the top ad spenders on Millennial Media’s mobile ad network in the third quarter, with ad dollars up more than fourfold from a year ago. The financial sector jumped from third place in the prior quarter to become the leading ad vertical, followed by entertainment, retail and restaurants, telecom and CPG.

In its latest SMART report, Millennial said banking advertisers ran campaigns to raise the awareness of their products and services, while insurance and credit card brands heavily utilized mobile for generating leads. Over the last year, however, the fastest-growing category has been technology, with spending up nearly 700%.

Targeted mobile ad programs made up 45% of all campaigns overall, with location the most common option (66%) for targeting ads. The balance of targeted campaigns relied on behavioral and demographic factors. Advertisers buying on a national scale but using ads to drive people to local retail outlets to complete purchases was one of the main trends during the third quarter, according to Millennial,

The ad network highlighted recent research from InsightExpress showing that almost a third (32%) of mobile users plan to use their phones to compare prices while shopping during the holiday season; 27% will check reviews. But only 11% expect to actually buy products through their mobile device.

Brand advertisers continue to ramp up their use of video in mobile campaigns to build awareness. Ad campaigns on the network that allowed users to watch a video after clicking on an ad have increased nearly 80% since the start of the year, making up 32% of all campaigns on phones and tablets. After downloading an app (34%), watching a video remains is the second-most-popular post-click action advertisers use to boost interaction.

When it comes to applications, games were again the top category, generating 34% of impressions, up from 26% the previous quarter. Rounding out the top five app verticals were music and entertainment, social networking, communications and news.

Smartphones accounted for 72% of impressions on the ad network, with feature phones and connected devices (including tablets) each generating 14% of impressions. The iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom were the top three tablets. Impressions on the iPad are up more than 450% in the last year, per the report.

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