Smartphone Content Buyers More Favorable to Mobile Ads

An August report released by the Online Publishers Association found that 38 percent of smartphone content buyers said smartphone ads are similar to Internet ads, and 42 percent said they are hard to ignore. Among smartphone users who don’t buy content, that number dropped to 28 percent. A higher percentage of content buyers also said smartphone ads motivate them to research or buy items – 25 percent compared to 14 percent of all smartphone users.

Content buyers are also twice as likely to take action after seeing an ad. According to the report, 79 percent of content buyers took an action after seeing a smartphone ad, compared to 39 percent of non-content buyers. Indeed, content buyers generated higher clickthrough rates than non-content buyers – 21 percent compared to 15 percent – both much higher than the average online display ad CTR.

“Content buyers perceive smartphone advertising more favorably than smartphone content consumers as a whole and are more likely to take action after seeing smartphone ads,” notes the OPA report.

In the past year, 24 percent of smartphone users have purchased content on their devices. Of the smartphone apps downloaded, 14 percent were reported as being paid apps.

The OPA report, conducted in partnership with Frank N. Magid Associates, also provided some interesting data points about iPhone and Android users. The numbers show that 70 percent of iPhone content consumers have bought apps in the past year, compared to 34 percent of those using Android devices. The report also shows that iPhone content consumers spend more on apps than those using Android. The report also indicated that iPhone content consumers have a more positive perception of smartphone advertising than those on Android and are more likely to take action after seeing a smartphone ad.