Mobile CPMs Just a Fraction of PC Display Costs

Former Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker just did one of her famous data dumps at the D10 conference. The 100+ slide deck is a discussion of “Internet trends.” However I just want to focus on three slides. The first shows that mobile Internet traffic in India just this month has surpassed PC Internet traffic. This is a trend that will replicate itself in markets all over the globe as time goes on. It will take longer for this to happen in developed countries than developing markets but it will happen. Marketers are going to be shocked by this as in market after market the PC Internet will become subordinate to mobile. Screen shot 2012-05-30 at 12.04.07 PM The second slide shows that CPM rates in mobile are much less than on the PC. This is bad news for everyone except advertisers as more users migrate to mobile devices for much of their Internet usage. Screen shot 2012-05-30 at 12.03.53 PM However compare our recent ad network test, which showed that the local networks (xAd, LSN) were able to command a much higher CPM. This shows us that premium or highly targeted mobile inventory will be able to deliver PC-like, or potentially higher, CPMs. The final Meeker slide I wanted to discuss is one of those familiar monetization vs. time spent slides. Flurry Analytics has a good one as well. Meeker points out a potentially $20 billion digital advertising opportunity over time, as PC usage migrates and ad spending catches up to consumer usage. Screen shot 2012-05-30 at 12.04.16 PM The “X variable” is time, however. The logic is sound but the timeframe is less certain. It took many years for the PC Internet to start to equalize time spent and digital ad spend. Mobile is evolving faster than the PC Internet but it may well be several years before mobile advertising begins to approach user engagement/time spent levels. Clearly what’s going on right now is that advertisers are not valuing mobile impressions as much as PC impressions. In fact mobile impressions are much more valuable than PC impressions — for both awareness and direct response. As mobile becomes the primary Internet access vehicle for many more people marketers will be compelled to wake up, and competition should intensify for mobile ad impressions, especially well targeted impressions. In the interim it’s a buying opportunity for smart marketers who right now can get high quality eye balls at a fraction of the cost of the PC Internet.