Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008    Text size: 

According to the company, it relies on an analysis of the data from every ad request, impression, and click across its network and uses this information to optimize its ad matching service — which involves more than 5,000 publisher sites in more than 160 countries. This data is also used to provide a monthly Mobile Metrics Report detailing manufacturer, device and country-specific data on the top six markets, based upon the number of impressions each registers on the network: the U.S., U.K., India, Indonesia, South Africa and the Philippines.

Key findings from the most recent report include statistics supporting the dominance of the iPhone, which the company claims is now the most popular device to be represented in its Network; accounting for more than four percent of requests in October. According to the company, since it launched its ad units for iPhone sites and applications in July, iPhone requests have increased from 28 million to more than 236 million in October. Nearly 63 percent of those requests were from the U.S., where the iPhone is currently trailing the RAZR; while five percent of iPhone requests came from the U.K, where the iPhone is the number three device behind the Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K800i. AdMob also cited Canada, France, Japan, Australia, and Germany as significant iPhone markets.

Other findings include detailed insight into traffic, manufacturer, and device data for Latin America and the Caribbean, where traffic increased 138 percent in the last year; and where Motorola, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson handsets dominate — each of which boasts more than 20 percent of the market share in Latin America and is a leader in a different market. Here as well, the Motorola RAZR is the top device with a 10.3 percent share and among the Top 20 handsets in Latin America.

Another finding points to the continued lagging of the American market for mobile communications; with a U.S. growth rate of less than eight percent compared to an overall global growth rate of nearly 14 percent and a U.K. growth rate of 16 percent.

The company also recently launched its AdMob Mobile Analytics service — a free tool that enables website owners to gain a clearer understanding of the performance of their mobile sites and the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.

For adult operators seeking to expand their mobile offerings, the continued double-digit growth of the sector is great news — even if the market is still more widely served by legacy devices than by the headline-making iPhone.