Real-time bidding on mobile spikes 275% in Europe, says Adform report
Real-time bidding (RTB) advertising on mobile devices has nearly tripled in Europe, spiking 275 per cent in the first quarter this year, according ad technology platform Adform’s Q1 RTB Trend Report 2013 report.
European advertisers are dedicating more budget to RTB with the report revealing a 66 per cent hike in spend during in March alone.
Adform attributes the rises to the continued proliferation of devices this year, including Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and Blackberry’s Z10.
Cost per mille (CPM) rates for RTB inventory, which had peaked during the 2012 Christmas holiday season dropped in January, but recovered in February and by March CPMs had reached an “all-time high”, according to the report.
Advertisers are beginning to diversify the kind of ad formats they use too, with newer and larger formats gaining good traction with consumers, although the rectangular “article banner” still accounted for almost half of all spend.
European advertisers spent three times more quarter on quarter on the largest programmatic ad format available, called the Megaboard, which delivered a three times better click-through rate (CTR) than the article banner, according to the report.
Meanwhile RTB impressions that are above the fold and require less scrolling from site visitors continue to perform twice as well as those below, yet only earn a 22 per cent higher price.
Adform CMO Martin Stockfleth Larsen said RTB spend continues to grow as the industry becomes more accustomed with the benefits and more premium inventory is made available.
“Coupled with the accessibility of the technology, the availability of more premium inventory and the increasing number of rich media formats in the programmatic arsenal, advertisers now not only have the option to run RTB performance campaigns where direct response is the main goal but also RTB brand campaigns where they can build brand awareness with relevant audiences.
The industry has now also made the success of these campaigns measurable by offering new metrics– visibility time, engagement time and engagement rate – signalling a new way for brand advertisers to connect with consumers and analyse the ROI of brand campaigns,” he said.
Countries included in the analysis include the UK, Germany, Spain, Poland, Denmark and Belgium.