Mobile Ad Spend Skyrockets as Mobile Search Volume Grows
Smartphone media spend has, for the first time, surpassed that of tablet spend. The two combined accounted for one-third of the money spent on search in the third quarter of 2014.
As mobile search volume rose 120 percent, one-third of last quarter’s paid search spend went to mobile, according to research from Covario, a San Diego, California search marketing agency.
The quarterly analysis – which covers Covario clients in the tech, consumer electronics, and retail industries – found that smartphone and tablet media spend have been steadily increasing for the last two years, while desktop search spend has dropped from 91 percent of search spend to just 67 percent. From the second quarter to the third, smartphone spend jumped from 11 percent to 18, while tablet has consistently accounted for 15 percent all year.
With mobile impressions discounted over those on desktop, the surge in mobile traffic has hurt cost-per-clicks (CPCs), while also contributing to the growth of overall impressions and clicks. Though paid search advertising has increased 28 percent from last year, CPCs fell 8 percent from quarter to quarter. The increase was particularly prevalent in the Americas, most notably in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile.
Around the world, Google dominates in the global search engine market share, with 74 percent of the impressions, 61 percent of the clicks, and 86 percent of the cost. In second place is Baidu, the Beijing-based Web services company that accounts for 96 percent of the Chinese search budget. Bing, Russian Yandex, and Naver, which dominates in South Korea, all rank in at 4 percent or less.
Graphs via Covario. Homepage image via Shutterstock.