A new report suggests that brands are shifting more of their ad spend to programmatic media channels as marketers look to capture mobile-first consumers’ attention.
PubMatic’s Q1 2017 Quarterly Mobile Index examined data from billions of impressions on the PubMatic platform to find that mobile channels were highly conducive to header bidding, with monetized impression volume up 12x year-over-year and mobile Web header bidding eCPMs rising 55% for the same period.
In addition, the index found that overall monetized impression volume transacted via header bidding technology across all devices more than quadrupled year-over-year.
In fact, the Index found that mobile now represents 24% of all monetized header bidding inventory transacted across PubMatic’s platform, up from 7% in Q1 2016. The analysis also found that mobile video eCPMs held up against potential post-holiday season drops, increasing 7% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2017.
Both mobile and desktop platforms saw quarterly drops in monetized inventory volume in Q1 2017, decreasing 33% and 29%, respectively. However, the news vertical category experienced a 67% bump in monetized volume quarter-over-quarter.
Among the other findings:
--Monetized mobile private marketplace (PMP) impression volume rose 68% year-over-year in Q1 2017 with eCPMs improving 58% in the same period, reflecting continued advertiser interest in mobile PMP transactions.
--Mobile PMPs provided an eCPM yield nearly 3x the overall mobile average.
--The impression volume gap between mobile Web and mobile app nearly disappeared in Q1 2017; mobile app inventory continued to yield higher eCPMs, but mobile Web eCPMs proved more resilient to seasonal pricing swings.
--Mobile app’s share of volume rose to 49% of monetized mobile impressions in Q1 2017, up from 27% at the same period a year ago.
--Mobile app impressions garnered eCPMs 15% higher than those served via mobile Web.
--Android’s share of monetized mobile app impressions continued to expand globally to reach 71% in Q1 2017, nearly doubling in size year-over-year, though iOS produced the highest eCPMs.
--Android also delivered nearly three-quarters (71%) of all monetized mobile app ad impressions served across PubMatic’s platform in Q1 2017, up from 39% a year prior.
--The APAC and EMEA regions drove the majority of Android’s growth, with monetized app impression volumes expanding 261% and 814% year-over-year respectively.
--While mobile app impressions shown via Apple devices produced the highest eCPMs in Q1 2017, the premium paid for iOS inventory was just 3% in Q1, down from 41% and 128%, respectively, in Q1 2016 and Q1 2015.
--Mobile programmatic in EMEA saw a 14% increase in monetized mobile impressions and 69% higher eCPMs year-over-year.
--EMEA now represents 27% of total mobile inventory monetized through PubMatic’s platform, up from 19% the year prior.
--EMEA registered a 69% year-over-year eCPM bump in Q1 2017, followed by the Americas with 37%, and APAC with about 1% growth.
“We are seeing brands shift more of their ad spend to programmatic channels, resulting in significant changes in marketplace dynamics as technological innovation allows marketers to vie for the attention of increasingly mobile-first consumers within premium contexts,” PubMatic CMO Jeff Hirsch said via email. He said that one of the biggest changes is that header bidding has moved beyond the header to open up new opportunities for mobile app developers, among others.