By 
Millennial has released a new report this morning detailing ad growth for all mobile operating systems, including Android. The stat we like the most is the fact that Android accounts for nearly half of all ad impressions at 48% – sounds like the current state of smartphone market share to me.
Meanwhile, iOS trails at 31%, RIM comes in at 18%, and competitors such as Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, Symbian and HP’s WebOS make up the other 3%. (Microsoft’s story is because it’s relatively new while Symbian and Blackberry aren’t really web-friendly devices and applications often come at a premium with no ads.)
With the advent of Flash Mobile and with more people getting Android 2.2 month after month, Android users are targeted more effectively on the web than any other device. And the revenue model in the Android market differs greatly from that of any other operating system.
Lots of studios – from high-budget to garage-based – are looking to ads to make money on their games and apps as Android users aren’t as quick to spend money as iOS users are. (And because there are still a ton of countries where you can’t buy Android applications from Google’s official market.) Despite that, though, iOS still leads the way in app revenue with 47%. Android’s not far behind anymore, though, as it sits at 36%.
As far as carriers go, Verizon holds most of the share of impressions at 19%. Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile all come in at 12%, 11%, and 10% respectively. Verizon leading the pack isn’t a total shocker considering they already have a huge Android following and now also have a stable of iPhone and iPad users. I am, however surprised by how close the race is between the bottom 3 carriers.
Apple leads the way as far as individual manufacturers, though, but Samsung comes in at a distant second with 15%, likely pushed along by the fact that it has budget-priced and flagship phones on nearly every major global carrier. HTC came in third at 10% and Motorola came in at 5th place with 9.6%. (Edged out only by RIM.)
Fanboi spin on how this actually means iOS is ahead of android in 3…. 2…. 1….
Nah, I expect them to instead cite the irrelevant fact that Apple is still the top device manufacturer.
Great, they get a sticker.
And they are shipping fewer iOS devices, than how many devices running Android are shipping.
I think you mean Nokia.
Android just got in-app purchasing so that will really help.
I think this ignores a fundamental of how Apple and Google are marketing.
Apple doesn’t try to make money from advertising, therefore, advertising on the platform takes a back seat. Google, is making money from the ad revenue, so a concerted push for ad in the Google ecosystem would lead me to think this would be a no-brainer, and not a sign of what has the largest market penetration.
Very good points Skeptic… The point that most people miss completely is the fact that the only reason Google got into Android, and the reason why it gives it to manufacturers for FREE, is their revenue comes from bringing people to the mobile web to see their ads.
This being known, Google actually wins whether people get to their ads on an Android OR iOS device.
And that’s the major point I think people miss.
All these crazed fans yelling Google is out to destroy Apple makes no sense. Google is making money whether it’s on an Android device, iOS, Blackberry, or WebOS.
If anything Google is hoping they succeed. Android is just their ace in the hole. And with their astronomical growth…I say they picked a good ace.
If devs aren’t making money with paid apps, it will affect google’s ability to make money from ads because Android would be seen as the inferior platform.
Not really… you are only thinking of in-app ads, not the ones plastered all over every web page you visit in the browser.
Yes but in-app ads will make more money since they are targeted. Android has to succeed and one way to make it a success is to ensure that it gets the best apps and games, even if there are no ads.
If Google doesn’t give people what they want, they’ll go to iPhone or WP7 and use Bing and google gets nothing.
You’ve missed the point completely… Google makes revenue from all those platforms based on the fact that it has the web wallpapered with ads.
But yes, it has done quite well on it’s Android gamut.
Google’s ads are far more targeted than in-app ads. They can make use of search history to target very precisely without the ads being in-your-face type ads.
heard of iAds?
Yep, and still yet to see one on a web page that all Android, iOS, Blackberry, Nokia are viewing… guess who has ads on all those platforms?
Its spelled AIDS.
This article fails to mention that Android dropped 3% in ad impressions while iOS grew by 4%. What has happened to Android’s growth?