Feature phones beat smartphones in impressions: Millennial Media

By Chris Harnick

November 19, 2009

U.S. mobile campaign quick stats

Feature phones represented 64 percent of impressions compared to 36 percent from smartphones on Millennial Media’s ad network, according to Millennial’s U.S. Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (SMART) report.

The iPhone operating system was the top operating system on Millennial’s network, but Apple was not the top handset manufacturer. Samsung took the top spot in the manufacturer category.

“There is so much buzz out in the industry about the eventual domination of one operating system or another," said Mack McKelvey, vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore. "The bottom line is that nearly 64 percent of the devices on our network are feature phones, not smartphones. 

"These stats aren’t staggering, it’s fairly representative of the mix industry-wide," she said. "Feature phones have access to the mobile web, but don’t benefit from the advanced processors or UI, in some cases, of their smartphone counterparts. 

"The message here to advertises is simple---there is incredible device diversity among consumers today, focusing on one OS or one device limits your ability to reach and engage your audience.”

Millennial Media is a mobile ad network.

As the mobile Web grew 1.1 percent to 65.8 million users, Millennial said that its audience reach grew to 51.7 million mobile users.

Apps, apps, apps
According to the report’s Mobile App Snapshot, provided by Mobclix, Apple's iPhone and iPod touch surpassed Google's Android and Research In Motion's BlackBerry in the number of monthly downloads.

However, Android applications out-performed both Apple and RIM in the game category.

RIM topped the average app time at eight minutes.

Apple led with the most entertainment and book applications year-to-date through Nov. 1 with 14.6 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively.

Apple saw the total number of monthly application downloads with 100 million, Android saw 20 million, while RIM saw 300,000.

On average, Apple users downloaded approximately 11 applications per month, which was approximately three times more than an Android user and almost six times that of a RIM user, according to Mobclix.

“This month we were fortunate enough to have invaluable insights into trends across Apple, RIM and Android applications provided by our partner, Mobclix," Ms. McKelvey said. "SMART data is compiled from the actual campaign data from our network, and Mobclix took a similar approach in providing their analysis. 

"Apple clearly has an early lead in the apps play, but the engagement metrics with Android and RIM apps indicate positive potential for marketers and developers," she said.

The top OS?
In October, Millennial introduced a new section that looked at the U.S. smartphone OS mix.

The iPhone OS was the largest OS in Millennial’s network with a 33 percent share of impressions, followed closely by RIM OS with 31 percent.

Ms. McKelvey said that these operating systems grant users access to custom-branded applications. 
 
Campaign engagement
Average user session time was 4 minutes and 46 seconds and average page views were 106, down from 109.

Fifty percent of campaigns used frequency capping, 18 percent used rich media and there were 1.03 ad requests per page.

Ms. McKelvey said that advertisers continued to see value in making their brand’s presence consistently available to their audience. Driving traffic to a site represented 46 percent of Millennial’s mobile campaign objectives. 

“The two largest increases in the Campaign Targeting Mix were the Custom Subnet and Demographic targeting methods, indicating a potential trend towards refined targeting as an advertising goal in the fourth quarter,” Ms. McKelvey said. “A new addition to our monthly SMART, the Application Download category, represented 29 percent of the Campaign Destination Mix in October.”