Report: Marketers Who Spent More on Mobile Display in Q2 Saw Strong Results

As smartphone use continues to grow, new research indicates that marketers are dedicating more of their display budgets to mobile. Furthermore, their efforts resulted in more mobile conversions, impressions and clicks last quarter.

The “Q3 2016 Performance Marketer’s Benchmark Report” from Marin Software revealed that in Q2, marketers spent 48 percent of their display advertising budgets on smartphones, compared to just 38 percent on desktop. As a result, 76 percent of all clicks came from smartphones, while just 15 percent were derived from desktop. Additionally, 55 percent of impressions and 67 percent of conversions came from smartphone users.

Compared to Q2 2015, marketers spent 13 percent more on smartphone initiatives. However, it resulted in 25 percent more mobile clicks, 17 percent more impressions, and 25 percent more conversions than last year.

Tablet performance lagged behind both desktop and mobile. In the second quarter, marketers spent only 13 percent of their budget on tablet initiatives. Just eight percent of clicks, eight percent of impressions, and eight percent of conversions came from tablet users.

The Continued Shift Toward Mobile

Research published earlier this year hinted at a shift toward more smartphone usage. The “2016 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study” from IBM discovered that 49 percent of emails are now read on mobile devices around the world.

The researchers defined “reading” as spending more than eight seconds looking over a message. About 51 percent of individuals who receive emails from corporate services claim that they read their messages. Approximately 26 percent said they only “glance” at emails, meaning they spend less than two seconds on each one.