METRICS FEBRUARY 2010 HIGHLIGHTS:
- Windows Mobile edges ahead of Apple iPhone in mobile advertising performance.
- Apple iPhone dominates performance in South-East Asia.
- Smaato report reveals insight into click trough and fill rates for South-East Asia.

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These metrics show that the average worldwide ad network fill rates remain constant at 29% in February 2010. There is also a focus on the US and South-East Asian markets and at ad network response times.

Smaato’s metrics are based upon 35 mobile ad networks and over 4 billion ad requests served in the Smaato Network of more than 3000 registered mobile publishers in February 2010.

Worldwide CTR Index (Click Through rate) by Handset Operating System

Chart 1: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) worldwide, February 2010

The performance of different operating systems in February shows a smaller gap between the different platforms than in January. The CTR Index (Click Through Rate) differs from 51 (Blackberry) to 147 (Symbian), compared to in January where the spread was between 30 (Blackberry) and 173 (Symbian).

One of the big surprises is the continuing decline of CTR Index from iPhone and iPodTouch with a rate of 89; it’s the first time Apple devices have dipped below the average Index of 100. In December 2009 the iPhone posted a CTR Index of 119, sliding to 104 in January 2010.

The dip in CTR Index on Apple devices and the consistency of Windows Mobile CTR, means that for the first time in the Smaato metrics, Windows Mobile has edge ahead of its rival.

The Index consists of the average CTR of all devices and this number is set to 100.

Symbian OS establishes itself as the leader since the launch of the Smaato Metrics for December 2009 and Android is keeping its position as the number two operating system in regards to CTR performance in mobile advertising.

Fill Rate Worldwide

Smaato’s metrics demonstrates the performance of mobile ad networks globally and the fill rate is measured as the percentage of ads delivered per ad request and varies by different factors, like country, device, content type.

The ad networks are not published in the monthly Smaato metrics, but are revealed in the dashboard of registered Smaato publishers reporting and analytics tools.

Chart 2: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks (worldwide), February 2010

The fill rates of the global top 10 ad networks, dropped from January to February. The best performing mobile ad network in the Smaato worldwide Index had a fill rate of 72% in February 2010, which is a down 17% compared to January. Despite this decrease, the average for worldwide ad network fill rate performance stayed steady at 29%, with six of the top ten ad networks performing above this average. This re-enforces the ad network aggregation business model, as Smaato aggregates 35 ad networks across the globe to ensure partners get the highest possible fill rate.

Fill Rate USA

Chart 3: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks (USA), February 2010

The average fill rate of mobile ad networks in the USA shows with 35% again a decrease in comparison to January 2010 (47%) and December 2009 (55%). But it stills remains significantly higher than the worldwide average fill rate of only 29%. With 78% and 64% the two top performing ad networks performed higher than in January, where they could reach a fill rate of only 68% and 61%.

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SPOTLIGHT SOUTH-EAST-ASIA:

Fill Rate South-East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines)

This is the first time Smaato has compiled the fill rates and revealed the CTR Index in the South-East Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.

The fill rates show two very strong top performing ad networks with 90% and 87% fill rates in this region. Overall, the fill rates show a similar spread to those in the USA.

South-East Asia’s average fill rate of 32% is considerably higher compared to that of India’s, which was revealed in the January Smaato Metrics as 8%. This demonstrates the large differences across the Asian market and the need for developers to search for different partners or a mobile aggregation and optimization service.

Chart 4: Smaato Index – Fill Rate of Mobile Ad Networks in South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines), February 2010

CTR Index (Click Through rate) by Handset Operating System: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines

Chart 5: Smaato Index – Operating System CTR (Click Through Rates) Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, February 2010

The performance of the different handset operating systems compiled for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines shows a completely different breakdown compared to the worldwide performance.

iPhone and iPodTouch dominates the region with a CTR Index of 164 followed by Symbian (127) and Android (124), while Windows Mobile comes in at the bottom of the table with 56.

Ad Network Response Time Worldwide

Chart 6: Smaato Index – Response Time for Mobile Ad Networks (worldwide), February 2010

Smaato has taken another look at the response time of the top-performing ad networks in the Metrics for February 2010. The top 15 ad networks in regards to fill rates again show a broad spectrum of performance.

The fastest response time was only 11 milliseconds, significantly faster in comparison to January 2010, where it was 43 milliseconds. In total, the top six ad networks could deliver quicker than the month before.

Publishers should consider response times when adding several ad networks within a page load and therefore an allotted time to fill the ad space reserved.

This is a significant consideration for mobile publishers as for them, the best user-experience comes with the fastest loading time of a mobile web site or for in-app advertising. If an ad is requested from a mobile ad network and no ad is available, then a faster response time allows sending this request to one or more ad networks for a chance to get an ad delivered.

More background about these mobile advertising metrics is provided free in a white paper “Global Choices in Mobile Advertising” available at www.smaato.com/whitepaper.

Download the Smaato Metrics – February 2010 PDF Version