Android Overtakes iOS for Mobile Ad Traffic

Android mobile advertising traffic has surpassed iOS for the first time, as spend on the platform grows across the globe, according to new data.

Mobile advertising firm Opera Mediaworks says that its first quarter data for 2014 shows that traffic to ads from Android devices now accounts for 42.8 percent of the ads it serves, compared with 38.2 percent on iOS devices.

Samsung is the clear leader in the share of this traffic delivery, accounting for 60 percent of impressions from Android devices, ahead of rivals LG, Motorola, HTC, and ZTE.

No doubt the continued launch of major new products on Android, such as the Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, has helped drive this growth as more buyers choose these devices over Apple’s iPhone.

The news should be welcome at Google after it revealed that its average cost-per-click income has fallen by 9 percent over the past financial year, causing concern among investors.

However, in the U.K. the report says iOS remains the dominant mobile ad platform, with 55 percent of all ad impressions and 66.9 percent of revenue coming from Apple devices. iOS accounts for 62.3 percent of U.K. unique users based on ad requests, while Android has just 18.6 percent and BlackBerry a respectable 14 percent.

The data also shows that U.K. mobile users are still more likely to click on ads from within applications than in the browser. Seventy-two percent of impressions come from apps in the U.K. This is far above the worldwide average, too, which is just 31 percent of impressions being delivered through apps.

Opera Mediaworks says that ads for games enjoy the highest click-through rates, while ads for mobile phones account for the greatest number of impressions served.

This article was originally published on V3.