Millennial Media, a leading mobile ad-network whose audience reach is nearly 80 percent of all U.S mobile internet users, has released its latest SMART report or “Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting” for the month of September and Q3.
The report, compiled monthly, not only shows the immense reach of Millennial Media’s network, but also outlines new trends and statistics from the mobile marketing industry as a whole. The report indicates that the U.S mobile Web grew 1.75 percent to 64.1M users in August 2009, according to Nielsen, and that Millennial Media’s U.S unique audience reach increased 3.31 percent from 49.6M to 51.2M users month over month to a continued industry leading 79.85 percent reach of the mobile Web, again according to Nielsen whose reporting is one month behind Millennial’s.
In terms of engagement, Apple’s App Store and iTunes made up 22% of post-click actions- a 6% increase month over month representing the largest increase in September, while “traffic to site” was the primary destination for campaigns in Q3 and represented the destination for approximately 52% of campaigns on average. Sending consumers to mobile Websites and mobile apps remain the most popular campaign outcomes according to the report.
In terms of devices and carrier usage, the report indicates that Apple has finally overtaken Samsung as the top device manufacturer for the first time this year, making up 22.43% of the impression share in September. Verizon took the top spot in terms of carrier usage, but WiFi remained the top way to access mobile campaigns in September with a 26.65%. Surprisingly though, keypads overtook touch screens as the top method for device input, representing 33.38% of the mix with touch screens not far behind at 31.82%. With the emphasis on touch screens and especially smartphones, it’s very surprising that keypads still hold first place.
As always, it’s an interesting perspective into the world of mobile advertising and where it’s headed. With Millennial Media having such a strong reach in the U.S mobile ad market, it’s the closest we have to an accurate overview of the industry.