Report: Gamers the prize when it comes to mobile ads
February 13, 2020
Liftoff, a specialist in mobile app marketing and retargeting, has published its second Mobile Ad Creative Index. Effective mobile advertising is now essential, as the platform in 2019 dethroned television for consumer’s attention.
The latest report analysed 353 billion ad impressions across 4.86 billion clicks, 189 million app installs, and over 245 million first-time events in about 1,400 apps between November 2018 and October 2019 to find the following:
2020 is the year of Android advertising
App marketers need to capitalise on the 74 per cent global Android user base. Install costs for banner ads are $1.26 on Android, down 11.3 per cent from the previous year, compared to $3.84 on iOS. Video ads on Android, at $2.27, are almost 55 per cent less expensive than iOS and deliver similar engagement rates. The biggest sticker shock comes from interstitials, full-screen ads that appear during app transitions, which are three times more expensive on iOS than Android.
“While the assumption that iOS users spend more than their Android counterparts still holds some truth, the gap is quickly closing,” explained Liftoff CEO and co-founder Mark Ellis. “As Android devices become increasingly advanced, marketers have an opportunity to take advantage of low acquisition costs while still reaching an engaged and extensive user base.”
Gamers are the prize when it comes to ad engagement
2019 was a breakout year for mobile games, sparking 60 per cent of global gaming revenue. While gaming app users may be pricier to convert, they generate higher returns. Across all ad formats, gaming app users are jumping to register – with an average 73 per cent registration rate, it’s the highest of all app categories. These users also clock in at a mid-range purchase rate of 4.15 per cent.
Marketers looking to appeal to gamers at the purchase stage should draw on native and video ads, which perform highest in this category. To earn the highest ROI, experiment with native ads, which see the highest engagement (70 per cent) at the lowest cost ($5.73).