India's market for mobile advertising is under challenge

17th November 2015
India's market for mobile advertising is under challenge

Bangalore, November 17, 2015: India, with its massive, mobile-first population, has long been considered the ‘next big market.’  for mobile advertising. But while India remains a growing powerhouse, Indonesia and Brazil are up-and-coming markets,  finds  study by  Smaato, the leading global real-time advertising platform for mobile publishers and app developers. 
In the  Q3 2015 Global Trends in Mobile Programmatic Report,  Smaato analyzed data from billions of mobile ad impressions served on its exchange during the third quarter of 2015 to reveal massive growth in Latin America and Asia Pacific. With Venezuela and Indonesia growing by 91 and 84 percent in the third quarter, respectively, these regions represent the next frontier of mobile advertising for publishers and advertisers alike.
While the strongest regions on the Smaato platform remain those with highly-developed mobile, advertising and commerce infrastructures (i.e., the United States, United Kingdom and Germany) and those with large populations and a mobile-first mentality (i.e., India and Russia), Latin America and Asia Pacific are new to the list of leading regions. This comes as a result of rapidly developing mobile networks and a proliferation of smartphones, which have combined to create a wealth of opportunities for mobile publishers and advertisers on the Smaato platform.
“As the world gets more connected, it’s never been more crucial to go global with your mobile advertising strategy,” said Ragnar Kruse, CEO and co-founder of Smaato. “India, with its massive, mobile-first population, has long been considered the ‘next big market.’ While India remains a growing powerhouse, our data also shows that countries like Indonesia and Brazil are up-and-coming markets in Latin America and Asia Pacific - and offer incredible opportunities for publishers to monetize, and for advertisers to connect with consumers.”
Meanwhile, Smaato found that a subtle year-over-year shift in Q3 away from the mobile web in favor of apps. This shift could come as a result of publishers directing users to apps to avoid ad-blocking software, which is primarily a mobile web issue. Smaato’s exchange saw a 6 percent positive shift in favor of apps in both supply (publisher inventory) and spend (advertisers’ spending on the Smaato exchange) during the third quarter of 2015, relative to the mobile web.
Additional findings in the report:

  • The operating system with strongest growth continues to be Android, with supply and spending soaring by a whopping 67 percent during the third quarter of 2015 from the year before.
  • Larger ad formats result in higher eCPM. While traditional banners (320x50) are still growing, their rate of growth is dropping in favor of larger sizes like the medium rectangle (300x250) - up 85 percent - and the interstitial ad (320x480) - which grew 77 percent.
  • Rich media continues to generate higher and higher revenues for publishers and app developers - now generating 116 percent higher revenues than image-based ads.

The Global Trends in Mobile Programmatic Report reflects the detailed activity and trends that have developed over the third quarter of 2015 across Smaato’s broad, global base of publishers, advertisers and users.To view the complete findings, download the full report on mobile advertising for the third quarter of 2015 here.