U.S. Widens Lead With Average Mobile eCPM of $1.37

Seven out of every 10 mobile ad requests served across Opera Software’s ad platform during the third quarter originated from the United States and Canada, according to a new report from the Norway-based company. The next most active regions for mobile ad requests, Asia Pacific and Europe, accounted for 14 percent and 10 percent of all mobile ads generated during the quarter.

The report also found a “widening gap” between the average eCPM of the United States, countries in Asia Pacific and Europe, and the rest of the world. The United States pulled ahead in the third quarter. Average eCPMs in the United States hit $1.37, surpassing the global average of $1.31, the European average of $1.13 and the rest of the world at $0.73 during the quarter, Opera reported.

Apple’s iOS platform once again commanded the lion’s share of mobile ad revenue and traffic during the quarter. Overall, iOS devices accounted for 46.37 percent of traffic, 58.4 percent of ad revenue and a leading average eCPM of $1.64.

The iPad did particularly well in quarter, capturing barely more than 5 percent of all traffic but generating nearly 17.2 percent of revenue with an average eCPM of $4.42. iPhones hit an average eCPM of $1.48 by generating 30.4 percent of all traffic and 34.4 percent of revenue. The iPod Touch was the laggard in Apple’s lineup, generating 10.8 percent of traffic, 6.8 percent of revenue and an average eCPM of $0.82.

Google’s Android devices continued to underperform against their iOS counterparts, but still captured nearly 25.7 percent of traffic. Android’s overall percentage of revenue was lower than the iPad alone, hitting just under 16.8 percent. And the average eCPM of Android devices was just $0.88.

Even the long struggling BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion performed better, with an average eCPM of $1.06, 4.4 percent of traffic and 4.15 percent of revenue.

Opera concluded that mobile apps drove 73 percent of all ad revenue during the quarter. “The over performance of mobile web is attributed to the relative scarcity of impressions, which results in a higher eCPM for publishers,” the company noted in its quarterly State of Mobile Advertising report.

Sports became the top category in the quarter in terms of generating mobile ad revenue, followed by music, video and media. The two categories combined for 30 percent of overall revenue.

Opera also highlighted the gap between impressions and revenue, with some categories clearly gaining more value from impressions than others.

Social media drove the largest percentage of impressions at 22 percent, but only generated about 7 percent of total revenue. Meanwhile, business and financial services captured barely 1 percent of impressions, but generated nearly 10 percent of revenue during the quarter.