Marin, IgnitionOne See Paid-Search Spend On Tablets Surpass Smartphones

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Advertisers investing in search ads through Marin Software and IgnitionOne spent more on tablets compared with smartphones during the fourth quarter of 2012, despite comScore's estimate that 120 million U.S. consumers own smartphones, up from 30 million in the past year.

Combined, smartphones and tablets accounted for a 22% share of clicks and 17% share of spend, according to Marin Software's quarterly study, Global Online Advertising Trends, released Thursday.

It turns out that tablet search ads have a higher conversion rate compared with smartphones, and a lower cost-per click in comparison to desktop ads, making them an attractive investment. Prior to the fourth quarter of this year, investment in tablet advertising had lagged that of smartphones. Now companies see a boom for search ads on tablets.

For Marin clients, click-through rates (CTRs) on tablets in the U.S. were 2.85% during Q4 2012, with a cost per click (CPC) of about $0.67. CTR on smartphones were 4.34%, with a CPC of $0.49. U.K. search marketers also spent more on tablet devices as a percentage of their total budget.

Mobile devices accounted for a 23% share of clicks and a 17% share of spend for the fourth quarter in the United Kingdom. Click-through rates (CTRs) on tablets in the U.K. were 3.58% during Q4 2012, with a cost per click (CPC) of about 0.29 pounds. CTR on smartphones were 5.55%, with a CPC of 0.15 pounds.

For IgnitionOne clients, U.S. tablet search ad impressions rose 212% in 2012, and 20% for smartphones, compared with the prior year. Spend for tablets also doubled -- 163% -- compared with the 87% on smartphones. Mobile devices now account for 18% of total search budgets.

Ironically, just 22% own a tablet in the U.S., compared with more than 45% of adults owning smartphones, according to Pew Research.  Despite smartphones outnumbering tablet users, Marin found that advertisers invested more to reach consumers on the scaled-down PC devices rather than phones.

comScore data show that consumers completed about 13% of all e-commerce transactions during the holiday shopping season on mobile or portable devices, with tablets accounting for about 70%. Overall, M-commerce is now growing at a rate of about 30% annually.

This year, U.S. consumers will spend $24 billion shopping on their tablets -- nearly double by 2015, according to eMarketer.

Overall, click volume across Google sites rose 24%. It drove up cost-per-clicks (CPCs) by 14%, and drove down click-through rates (CTRs) by 10% during the fourth quarter, compared with the year-ago quarter.

On Yahoo and Bing, Marin advertisers experienced a 25% jump in click volumes accompanied by a 22% increase in CPC and a 13% increase in click-through rate during the fourth quarter.

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2 comments on "Marin, IgnitionOne See Paid-Search Spend On Tablets Surpass Smartphones".

1. Suzy Sandberg from PM Digital
   

   commented on: January 10, 2013 at 1:02 p.m.
   We saw paid search conversions really start to spike around Thanksgiving when Google made two big changes to how paid ads render on the tablet. First came the side rail ads, which had never been on tablets before (previously they had been on the top and/or bottom of the page only). Shortly after came PLAs, which we had also never seen on tablets before. Both of these changes resulted in large spikes in sales coming from tablet search campaigns right around Thanksgiving.
2. Kevin Williams from Hotel Tablet Themes
   

   commented on: January 16, 2013 at 11:51 a.m.
   Nice article - We offer up to 14,000 interactive rich media ad impressions located in the lobby of major hotels. The tap through rates are staggering. If you notice at airports near the gates, a company named OTG Management has really plugged into the same vertical we are in, the traveling consumers. What we find interesting is that most folks interacting with our devices in the hotel lobby own their own tablet and would rather zip through ours out of convenience. We have even stepped up the interaction by offering instant SMS deals to the guests smartphones.

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