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Mobile Advertising
Around the Globe:
2015 Annual Report

INSIGHT SERIES The Definitive Facebook Advertising Playbook marinsoftware.com

Executive Summary
In 2014, global smartphone adoption reached an all-time high with 25% of the
world population owning and using one. This proliferation of smartphone and
smartphone usage by consumers around the world has presented an opportunity
for advertisers to reach consumers at a much greater level than before, with
click-to-call or click-for-directions ads. As the leading provider of a cross-channel
ad cloud, Marin works with the worlds largest and most sophisticated advertisers,
allowing us to gain insight into the most insights into the most prevalent trends
regarding the usage of smartphone and tablet devices across search, social, and
display which are critical for reaching consumers. Three of our specific findings,
which we cover in more detail, are highlighted below:
1. Mobile device adoption amongst consumers continues to grow relative to
desktop. Consumers spend more time and attention on mobile devices than
desktop now,1 and advertisers have been shifting spend away from desktop
towards smartphones and tablets to reach consumer attention. Due to this
digital advertising paradigm shift, mobile advertising budget is predicted to
exceed desktop advertising budget by end of 2015.
2. Consumers are more likely to use mobile devices for product research than
desktop. Smartphones and tablets are used by consumers for research and
represent the top of the funnel, while desktops are where they go to convert.
With 40% of all online adults starting an activity on one device and ending on
another,2 its important to retarget ads seen on mobile to desktop or tablet in
order to ensure maximum view-time by engaged consumers. Use a thirdparty tracker to track users across device and channel to fully optimize advertising spend through retargeting ads.
3. However consumers are still much more likely to convert on desktop.
Desktops are still the primary conversion-driving device; however research
has shown that many consumers use mobile devices as upper-funnel
research, and convert in-store or on desktop.3 Mobile conversion attribution
for these cross-device and offline conversions must be tracked and recorded
to properly create the link between mobile clicks and conversions.

1.
2.
3.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Finding-simplicity-in-a-multi-device-world
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Still-Upper-Funnel-Shopping-Activities/1012048

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Mobile Advertising Around the Globe: 2015 Annual Report

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Introduction
Mobile devices have quickly become a part of everyday life for consumers across
the globe, with the world becoming more and more interconnected daily. Mobile
device adoption has been a major talking point for digital advertisers for the past
year. This comes as no surprise, with eMarketer predicting the number of tablet
and smartphone users to hit 1.06 billion4 and 2.04 billion,5 respectively, by years
end. This means over 15% of the world population would own and use a tablet,
and over 25% for smartphones. As the mobile marketplace and consumer adoption of smartphones increases, advertisers have taken notice. In 2014, mobile
advertising spend versus desktop reached an all-time high of 41% of all US digital
advertising spend.6

Global Mobile Advertising Spend Growth 2014

46.8%

50%
40%

34.4%
22.6%

30%

8.3%

20%

0.1%

10%
10%

USA

UK

Eurozone

Australia

Japan

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

4.
5.
6.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Tablet-Users-Surpass-1-Billion-Worldwide-2015/1011806
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Worldwide-Smartphone-Usage-Grow-25-2014/1010920
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Direct-Response-Tactics-Take-Majority-of-US-Marketers-Budgets/1010852

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As mobile devices become increasingly important for everyday life, advertisers

need to adjust marketing strategies to accommodate the always-connected consumer, whose shopping and product research behavior is different from what has
been seen before.
This research brief analyzes mobile trends from 2014, forecasts the state of
mobile advertising for 2015, and examines the overall performance of mobile ads
across devices and channels. Our objective for this report is to help the digital
marketer wrap their arms around the explosive growth in mobile advertising,
while developing effective benchmarks and strategies for success.

Methodology
In this study, Marin looked across leading brands and advertisers that manage
more than $6 billion in annualized search, social, and display spend. Our data set
represented all major industry sectors alongside the following countries or
regions:
Australia

India

Singapore

Canada

Mexico

USA

Brazil
China

Eurozone

Japan

New Zealand

United Kingdom

Russia

The size and diversity of our data set, coupled with the broad geographic coverage,
enables us to provide the most comprehensive report on how smart mobile
devices are changing consumer behavior on search, social, and display. That
being said, our clients mainly consist of large advertisers spending upwards of
$100,000 per month on paid-search, social and display. As such, the information
presented in this report is biased towards larger advertisers, and may not reflect
mobile search, social, and display trends for small or medium sized businesses.

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Global Mobile Device Users

(in billions)
Smartphones
Tablets
2013

1.40 0.70

2014

1.76 0.91

2015

2.04 1.06

2016

2.29 1.20

2017

2.52 1.32

2018

2.73 1.43

Source: eMarketer, Dec 2014

Findings
Consumers embraced smartphone and tablet usage across all three channels in
2014, with mobile device usage growth increasing at steady rates globally, with
1 in 4 people owning and using a smartphone. With 27% year over year growth,
and no signs of stopping, consumers have become ever more interconnected as
smartphones and tablets fly off shelves and into consumers pockets. More than
ever, people are using these devices to search online, browse the web, check
social networks, and click on ads.

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Global Search Click Share 2014

Desktops

80%

Smartphones
Tablets

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

Between January and December 2014, search mobile click share rose 36%, from
32% to 43.5%. Smartphones made up the majority of this mobile gain, with almost
60% growth in 2014. What this signifies is that as consumer smartphone adoption
and usage grew, smartphone ad acceptance and engagement grew as well. With a
majority of all online spent on mobile devices,9 its no surprise that smartphone
and tablet click growth have increased to match. Meanwhile, tablet growth was
flat across 2014. Based off these growth patterns, click share for search on
mobile devices is predicted to break 50% by mid Q4 2015.

Global Display Click Share 2014

Desktops

80%

Smartphones
Tablets

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

9.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/

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Display saw the most drastic mobile growth of all three channels. Mobile click
share for display grew almost 60% from January to December 2014, starting at
32% and ending at over 50% of click share, making mobile devices the majority of
all display ad clicks by end of 2014. Again, smartphones took the majority of these
clicks away from desktops, almost doubling in click share between January and
December 2014. This rapid shift away from desktops towards smartphones and
tablets are a natural result of the widespread adoption and usage of smartphones
over the past few years. If these trends continue at the same rate, by early Q4
2015, smartphone click share alone will overtake display click share for display
networks.

Global Social Click Share 2014

Mobile
80%

Desktops

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

In contrast to display and search, social click share remained consistent over the
past six months, with the majority of all social media clicks originating from a
mobile device. This is vastly different from search and display behavior, which
showed rapid mobile growth across the year. This is due to differences in the
nature of consumer behavior between the three channels. Social networks tend to
be mobile-focused, made for sharing updates on the road from a smartphone.
Some social networks cater almost exclusively to mobile devices, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine. 65% of all time on social networks is spent on a mobile
device.10 This creates a natural connection between users for mobile devices and
social media, increasing their engagement for social ads on mobile devices.
Search and display originated as desktop functions, and have had to pivot from
desktop focused to add mobile functionality. On top of this, Search is a primarily
active exercise; users must be looking (searching) for something to see search

10. http://www.statista.com/chart/1567/photos-maps-and-games-are-mobile-first-content/

BESTPRACTICESERIES Mobile Advertising Around the Globe: 2015 Annual Report

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ads. However, social on mobile devices is passive. Users may be browsing their
social media in a spare moment or two to see what their peers are doing, and see
and engage with ads as they are doing so. With social interaction so mobilefocused, social ads served on mobile devices received more views and more
engagement. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in an average of 62% of all social media
clicks originating from a smartphone or tablet in 2014.
By late 2016, it can be expected that mobile devices will truly outpace desktops for
consumer ad clicks across all three channels in the US. Consumers already spent
23% more time on mobile devices than they did on desktops, reports eMarketer,11
accounting for 52% of all time spent on digital media.12
With consumers in major markets spending most of their digital viewing time on
mobile devices,13,14 advertisers wanted to be sure to reach them by diverting
advertising budget towards smartphone and tablets. Spend share, or percentage
of budget, has shown similar trends across all three channels, with mobile share
climbing and poised to take over the majority position. Globally, mobile ad spend
has been growing at a striking pace, at $31 billion spent in 2014, and $46 billion
predicted for 2015.

Global Mobile Ad Spend

(in billions)
2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

$8.76

$17.96

$31.45

$45.85

$61.40

$77.67

$94.91

Source: eMarketer, March 2014

11.
12.
13.
14.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Continues-Steal-Share-of-US-Adults-Daily-Time-Spent-with-Media/1010782
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Major-Mobile-Milestones-in-May-Apps-Now-Drive-Half-of-All-Time-Spent-on-Digital
http://www.millennialmedia.com/pressroom/press-releases/cross-screen-study-reveals-70-percent-of-digital-users-access-internetacross-multiple-devices/

BESTPRACTICESERIES Mobile Advertising Around the Globe: 2015 Annual Report

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Global Search Spend Share 2014

Desktops

80%

Smartphones
Tablets

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

Globally, search spend share showed a slow shift from desktop towards mobile.
Mobile search spend share grew 8% over the year, peaking in November at just
under 48% of all search advertising budget. While mobile search spend share has
not grown as dramatically as click share, it is still on an upwards trend, and is
predicted to break 50% by Q3 2015. It is clear that this slow growth in search
mobile spend is an advertiser reaction to shifting the shifting consumer behavior
towards smartphone and tablet and the fact that the majority of consumer time is
now spent on mobile.15

Global Display Spend Share 2014

Desktops

80%

Smartphones
Tablets

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

15. http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Major-Mobile-Milestones-in-May-Apps-Now-Drive-Half-of-All-Time-Spent-on-Digital

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Display spend behavior fluctuates dramatically during 2014. Desktop and smartphone spend share fluctuate drastically throughout the year; with smartphone
display spend becoming the majority of display advertising budgets at several
points throughout the year. Although it may be difficult to discern from the graph
above, display advertising budget has been moving towards mobiles devices,
smartphones in particular. By mid-2015, display advertising spend is predicted to
be majority mobile-based, with smartphones dominating display spend share.

Global Social Spend Share 2014

Mobile

80%

Desktops

60%

40%

20%

0%
Jul

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

With social networks being so mobile-focused, it makes sense that advertisers

that advertisers would have social spend on mobile devices, where consumer eyes
are. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that mobile devices already make up the
majority of social ad spend, with over 55% of it being used on smartphone and
tablet advertising. This mirrors the 62% of social clicks being on smartphones and
tablets. Over the past year, mobile devices have been capturing consumer attention and clicks more than ever, so marketers need to be increasingly aware of
where they allocate their budgets.
As consumers continue to increase the amount of time spent on mobile devices, it
will inevitably create opportunities for advertisers. However, advertisers looking to
invest in mobile should first consider the nuances of how consumers use mobile
devices compared to desktop. For example, one example is the second screen
effect, of the phenomenon of consumers to browse online media while consuming
other media, most typically television. Mobile users are much more affected by
the second-screen effect, using smartphones or tablets to reference advertising

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or content seen on television, or browsing social media simultaneously. Another

key difference is the usage of mobile devices outside of a home. Smartphones are
commonly used on the go for a variety of reasons, such as looking up nearby
stores or directions, or browsing social media on public transportation. The differences between the three channels only complicate matters. These forces advertisers to find ways to adapt advertising to the mobile user, and successful mobile
advertising can yield huge dividends. So just how well did advertisers react to this
shifting attention towards smartphones and tablets?
If click-through rates are examined, it is clear that smartphones have higher
click-through rates than desktops and tablets, which show similar click-through
behavior. This is especially pronounced in search, where smartphone CTR is
almost 50% higher than tablet and desktop. However, if CTR by ad-position is
examined, it becomes clear that ad position plays a large part in why smartphone
CTR is so much higher than desktop and tablet. Search remains the primary
channel for users to find goods and services, making search ads very relevant to
the user intent, while social and display ads while users may not necessarily be
looking for them, making these ads secondary to the users browsing intention.
This is very apparent in the click-through rates, where search boasts much higher
click-through rates than the other two channels, due to user intent while theyre
using each channel. For social and display ads, the difference between average
desktop and mobile ad CTR is much closer. However, when we examine search
click-through rate by ad position, search click-through behavior is revealed to be
much more similar to social and display.

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11

Average Global Click-Through Rate by Channel and Device 2014

Desktops
Search

2.09% 2.81% 2.34%

Social

0.42% 0.60%

Smartphones

Tablets

Display

0.24% 0.36% 0.32%

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

If search click-through rate is shown by ad position, it is apparent that clickthrough rate is much closer between devices. Tablet actually has the highest CTR
for the first search position, and search CTR is very similar close between devices
by ad position, until smartphone CTR falls off starting at position four. This is due
to how smartphones deliver search ads, in that they show less per page than
desktop and tablet. If click-through rates for the first three search ad positions is
compared with CTRs for social and display, it is apparent that the differences
between smartphone and tablet and desktop is much closer. Therefore, ad position is much more important than device when it comes to click-through rate.
Thus, it is most important for a marketer advertising on any device to find a way to
reach top positions or visibility for their ads, especially for search. It can be argued
that ad position matters more than device type in this case.

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Global Search CTR by Ad Position and Device 2014

Desktops

Smartphones

Tablets

4.10%4.36%4.64%

2.12%2.37%2.25%

1.80%1.81%2.12%

1.58%1.17%1.78%

1.26%1.08%1.35%

1.19%0.56%1.09%

0.95%0.29%0.72%

0.74%0.39%0.61%

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

While smartphone is king for click-through rate, conversion rates tell a very different story. Across all channels, desktops still are the highest-converting device.
Smartphones are still lagging behind for conversions, which is reflected in the
cost-per-click of search, social, and display, whose behavior closely mirrors that
of conversion rate. What this fails to take into account, though, is the prevalence of
mobile usage in in-store purchases, or mobile click-to-call or click-for-directions,
which are not always correctly tracked as conversions. Deloitte found that mobile
device usage helped account for roughly $593 billion of US in-store retail sales
in 2013, or almost 20% of all brick-and-mortar sales.16 The difficulty in tracking
these types of conversions hurts the recorded conversion rate, but the conversion
rate with all these disparate factors may be much higher. In addition, many shoppers use mobile for top-of-funnel browsing, and move to desktops for actual
conversion, further harming mobile conversion numbers.17

16. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Devices-Boosting-Not-Hurting-In-Store-Shopping/1010838
17. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Still-Upper-Funnel-Shopping-Activities/1012048

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Global Average Conversion Rate by Device and Channel 2014

Desktops
Search

10.3% 6.1% 7.7%

Social

1.1% 0.4%

Smartphones

Tablets

Display

3.11% 2.29% 2.68%

Source: Marin Global Digital Advertising Index

Optimizing Mobile Advertising across Channels

Mobile advertising is quickly overtaking desktop for the top spot in digital advertising. As such, it is critical for marketers to pay attention to mobile, and to adapt
their mobile advertising strategy to account for both cross-device and crosschannel advertising. This section covers a few best practices to take into account
for marketers to get the most out of their marketing dollar.
1. Play to each channels and devices strengths. Marketers need to identify
what theyre looking to accomplish. For the brand advertiser, it makes sense
to allocate more spend toward mobile ads on social and display networks,
which are strong on branded advertising and consumer usage. Customizing
a strategy based off each channels and devices strengths can help meet
marketing goals and maximize sales.
2. Correctly attribute mobile conversions. While there have been improvements made to correctly attribute in-store conversions to mobile devices,
there is still a lot of room for improvement. Marketers should look into tracking mobile ad formats like click-to-call and store-locator. If successful, they
can better estimate revenue from mobile transactions and adjust budget

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BESTPRACTICESERIES Mobile Advertising Around the Globe: 2015 Annual Report

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accordingly. Mobile app usage accounts for a majority of smartphone usage,

so having a reliable way to link mobile app activity to mobile app purchases
and browsing is important for every marketer.
3. Optimize ads for mobile experience. Research shows that different ad formats vary in effectiveness between channels. For example, 970250 display
ads work best for desktop, while 32050 display ads work best on smartphones.18 Make sure to properly set ads for these differences in screen size
and devices. Click-to-call and store-locater ads should be added for mobilesearch ads. This will help ensure effective consumer reach and click-through.
Mobile app advertising is also a crucial part of the mobile experience.
4. Target consumers across devices and channels. Cross-device retargeting is
more crucial than ever with consumers using desktops and tablets and
smartphones in conjunction. Make sure to find a way to retarget these consumers across all channels and devices effectively, to bring down costs and
increase consumer awareness. This can be done through third-party solutions which have trackers which can follow user activity across devices to the
point of conversion and retarget ads cross-channel and cross-device.
5. Invest in mobile app advertising. Mobile apps now account for almost 90% of
all time spent on mobile devices and almost 60% of mobile users say they use
apps daily.19 This makes mobile app advertising an important tool in any marketers toolbox, with in-app ads an important way to reach consumers and
engage them. This is especially true for social media, as Facebook is the
most-used app on smartphones and tablets.
6. Plan ahead for mobile video advertising. While desktop is still the most
important avenue for consumer video consumption and advertiser video
advertising, mobile devices are quickly catching up. Smartphones and tablets
have already accounted for 30% of all digital video views in Q3 2014, and show
no sign of stopping.20 Smartphones are used by consumers for shorter videos,
while tablets are preferred for longer ones. Mobile video is quickly becoming
another important channel for marketers to reach advertisers, and must be
paid attention to in the future.

18. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/What-Display-Ad-Sizes-Drive-Best-Viewability-Rates/1011670
19. http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/
20. http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Lets-Not-Forget-About-Mobile-Video/1011740

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About Marin Software

Marin Software Incorporated (NYSE: MRIN) provides a leading Revenue Acquisition Management platform used by advertisers and agencies to measure, manage
and optimize more than $7 billion in annualized ad spend. Offering an integrated
platform for search, social and display advertising, Marin helps advertisers and
agencies improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions.
Marins technology powers marketing campaigns in more than 160 countries.
For more information about Marins products, please visit:
http://www.marinsoftware.com/solutions/overview.

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