Despite all the talk about Google’s Android gaining market share to dominate the mobile space, truth is Apple dominates the mobile market when it comes to actual advertising served, perhaps because people are actually using their devices more to interact with the Internet. Sales can measure only a small component of the puzzle. The real game is about user engagement, and it’s one that Apple is apparently winning.
According to the mobile marketer Velti’s State of Mobile Advertising 2012 Year in Review, Apple gained significant mobile advertising share, at 63 percent up from last year’s 47 percent, while Android dropped to 37 percent from last year’s 53 percent.
It’s a result we’ve seen in the market before. Though Android devices are gaining in popularity, that share is not reflected in usage. It’s similar perhaps to a department store mountain bike with a $90 price tag. Lots of people may buy them, but fewer people actually ride them.
Apple’s iOS, on the other hand, is the designer Cannondale mountain bike that actually sees hard trail action. Velti’s study shows that Apple’s iPad Mini had more impressions just in the month of November than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 had for the entire year. By the end of the year, the iPad Mini had 20 times the impressions of the Galaxy device. Released in September, the iPhone 5 caught up to the Samsung Galaxy SIII by November, despite the fact that the Samsung device was released last May.
A similar effect is being felt in China. China Mobile had only 5 percent of the ad share in Asia, despite having more customers than China Unicom, which leveraged 11 percent thanks to the fact that China Unicom offers the iPhone that is not yet available for China Mobile.
“This is incredibly valuable insight for marketers and brands,” Velti chief marketing officer Krishna Subramanian said in a statement. “At the end of 2012, iOS devices held a 63 percent share of the market — so we know that Apple holds the key to reaching consumers.”
Data for the study was gathered by Mobclix Exchange through aggregating data from over 33,500 apps and more than 45 demand resources.