T H E S T A T E O F M O B I L E A D V E R T I S I N G

Q 3 2 0 1 5 B E N C H M A R K R E P O R T

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Introduction

Q3 Performance Highlights

Third Quarter Spending Trends

Third Quarter Pricing and Performance Trends

Mobile Spending by Region

Mobile Spending by Vertical

Ampush RX For Holiday Success

Jesse Pujji, Nick Shah, and Chris Amos Ampush Founders

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G R E E T I N G S ,

As we gear up for the critical Q4 and holiday seasons, we’re pleased to offer our report on Q3 trends, pricing and

guidance for mobile marketers. In this report, we’ll reveal:

Which verticals and geographies experienced the biggest changes in spending

The campaign objectives that marketers embraced in the quarter

Changes in pricing, including CPC and CPM

Our success launching customers on Instagram

Prescriptive guidance on how marketers can prepare now for superior holiday performance

As always, our data is based on our clients’ activity on Facebook and Twitter, though we’re also very excited to

now offer programmatic access to Pinterest and Instagram. Early results on both of these new options have been

very encouraging.

If you’re an enterprise-grade marketer looking for superior, mobile-first marketing performance on these

platforms, we’d love to hear from you. Simply contact sales@ampush.com to schedule a free consultation.

Regards,

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Ampush’s mobile ad spending grew 65% year-

over-year and 14% quarter-over-quarter.

App Install campaigns experienced the most

growth Q/Q, with a 41% increase in spending.

Instagram spending saw rapid growth

throughout the quarter. In fact, Ampush was one of the top Instagram marketing partners in terms of ad spend as of the end of Q3.

Q U A R T E R LY P E R F O R M A N C EH I G H L I G H T S

Growth in Spending Y/Y and Q/Q, Powered by Mobile App Install Campaigns

AMP U SH TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS FO R Q 3In Q3, Ampush added Instagram API access for its customers. By the close of Q3, Ampush was one of the top spenders on Instagram. Q3 also was the first full quarter of Pinterest spending. Growth continued for Facebook and Twitter, where mobile spending increased by 14% and 7% Q/Q, respectively.

While the Americas maintained its position as the top spending region overall, EMEA saw the biggest increase in ad spend: up 75% from the second quarter.

Ampush’s key strength is in performance marketing. Not surprisingly, Direct Response campaigns have seen the most growth Y/Y, with a 418% increase.

Gaming, Entertainment, and E-Commerce were the three verticals with the biggest increases in mobile spend for the quarter.

The decrease in CPM and CPC can be attributed to increases in efficiency, the growth of Mobile App install campaigns, and seasonality (prices decrease in Q3 due to advertisers saving their budget for the holiday season and Q4).

Ampush saw spending from a variety of companies and verticals. We’ve adopted a version of the Herfindahl Index to measure concentration of spending by the verticals we serve. A score closer to 100% indicates spending concentrated among few verticals, while a score near 0% indicates spending diffused among many verticals. In Q3, the Ampush-Herfindahl Index was 23.8%, showing that more industriesrecognize the power and future of mobile in-feed advertising.

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There was a 10% Q/Q decrease in CPM, a 5% decrease in CPC, and a 1% increase in CPI.

The gaming vertical had the largest share of mobile spend at 41% for Q3.

Mobile App Install accounted for 53% of total mobile spend in Q3, up from 43% in Q2.

Tech Services ads saw the highest overall CTR at 1.24%, as well as the lowest CPC at $0.45, followed closely by E-Commerce at 1.19% and$0.72, respectively.

Overall mobile spend increased by 65% compared to the third

quarter of 2014 as more marketers are looking to mobile, in-feed

ads to grow and scale their businesses. During the third quarter,

Ampush added access to Instagram and completed its first full

quarter of Pinterest spending. As we move into the fourth quarter

and the holiday season, we expect spending and prices to increase

across all platforms.

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Marketer spending continues to grow in the mobile category

and to dominate desktop budgets.

T H I R D Q U A R T E R S P E N D I N G T R E N D S

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Spending on Direct Response campaigns has grown faster than

any other objective (418% increase Y/Y) as marketers focus on

performance-based tactics. This trend coincided with an increase

in sophistication and accuracy of tracking and attribution

techniques. Mobile App Install campaigns saw the greatest Q/Q

growth, a 41% increase in spending.

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Facebook mobile spending saw 14% Q/Q growth, while

Twitter mobile spending increased by 7% Q/Q. In Q3,

Ampush added Instagram access and completed the

first full quarter of Pinterest API access for customers.

Pinterest campaigns in Q3 saw promising efficiency

and we expect platform spending to increase in Q4. Q3

Instagram spending was concentrated on Direct Response

campaigns, and in general clients have achieved or

exceeded their campaign objectives on this platform. We

expect advertisers to continue increasing spend on this

platform in Q4, as well.

T H I R D Q U A R T E R S P E N D I N G T R E N D S

Normalized to Q3 2014 = 100. The numbers from quarter to quarter

can vary significantly depending on individual customer performance by

vertical and objective. *DR excludes Mobile App Installs on line graph.

$0

$5

$10

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M O B I L E S P E N D I N D E X B Y O B J E C T I V E

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$20

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B R A N D D R ( N O N - M A I ) M A I

CPM, CTR and CPC saw a dip

from Q2 averages due to the

increase in the proportion of

mobile ad spend on Mobile

App Install campaigns, which

typically have lower prices and

CTR. Ampush also tends to optimize Mobile App install campaigns for conversions rather than CTR.

Granular and segmented

audience targeting played a

major role in strategy given

the gradual year-over-year

price increases on all

platforms.

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C P C

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$ 0.80

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C P M

$ 8.00

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C P I

0.00%

0.20%

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0.60%

0.80%

1.00%

1.20%

C T R

Gaming customers remained the primary drivers of

international spend. Q3 also saw a significant increase in

Tech Services spending abroad as brands who had

previously advertised nationwide in the US went global to

expand and recruit. International spend was also driven by

social apps.

* Normalized to Q3 2014 = 100.

On the data: because of platform measurement limitations that prevent us from tracking both location and channel (mobile or desktop), this chart understates total actual international spend.

A M E R I C A S A P A C E M E A

A M E R I C A S$ 6 . 5 3

E M E A$ 4 . 8 2

A P A C$ 4 . 3 4

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C P M A V E R A G E S

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A M E R I C A S : D R I V E R O F M O B I L E S P E N D

150

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Ampush’s customer vertical representation is diverse, as indicated by the Ampush-Herfindahl Index. For Q3, it is 23.8%.

The Entertainment and Travel verticals experienced the most mobilespend growth quarter-over-quarter. The Entertainment vertical had

strong CTRs for both Branding and DR campaigns, while DR-based

Travel campaigns achieved a high CTR. Both E-Commerce and Gaming

verticals also saw quarterly increases in spending.

The Tech Services and Gaming verticals experienced the most

spending growth year-over-year. Tech Services increased spend on DR

and MAI campaigns and increased the proportion of spend dedicated

to DR, while Gaming advertisers spent exclusively on App Install

campaigns (MAI).

As most businesses have a stake in the holiday advertising period, we

anticipate all the verticals Ampush serves will increase spending in Q4.

E N T E R T A I N M E N T T R A V E L

M O B I L E S P E N D I N D E X ( A L L O T H E R V E R T I C A L S )

C P G E - C O M M E R C E /R E T A I L

E D U C A T I O N

G A M I N G T E C H S E R V I C E S

C T R B Y V E R T I C A L

CP

GE - C

OM

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3.50%

M O B I L E S P E N D I N G B Y V E R T I C A L

Q 3 2 0 1 4 C T R Q 2 2 0 1 5 C T R Q 3 2 0 1 5 C T R

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1200

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M O B I L E S P E N D I N D E X ( T O P 2 H I G H E S T G R O W T H )

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1.50%

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0.50%

0.00%

Here we share our top five industry trends and

recommendations for advertising across mobile in-

feed platforms for the final quarter of 2015 and the

crucial holiday season.

T H E A M P U S H R XPerforming in Q4 and The Holidays

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1 ) T E S T T H E W A T E R S F O R A S M O O T H V O Y A G E

Testing your holiday campaign assumptions in October will allow you to refine your audience targeting and messaging to create the perfect match and attain a performance-boosting Relevance Score to help drive holiday results. Testing now will allow you to serve enough impressions to reach accurate conclusions about the effectiveness of your various strategies. This will also unlock CPA bidding for your campaigns. Testing your holiday campaigns in October is also a cost-effective way to gather data that can inform your other, offline holiday campaigns.

Ampush Recommends: Test your holiday campaigns prior to the start of the holiday season. October is an ideal time to test, but make sure to complete this step at least two weeks prior to your target holiday.

2 ) M O N I T O R C O N V E R S I O N R A T E V S C P M C H A N G E

For Q4 campaigns, monitor the change in your conversion rates relative to the change in your CPM. Costs and click-through rates will rise for all types of campaigns and verticals during the peak holiday season.

Ampush Recommends: Check your conversion metrics daily to monitor the change in CPM relative to the change in CTR. They should experience about the same rate of change (i.e. CPM will increase, but so should the CTR as engagement and traffic are at peak). If you find CTR rising faster than CPM, that is a cue to scale spending in order to maximize overall ROAS.

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3 ) U N L O C K P E R F O R M A N C E W I T H R E L E VA N C E S C O R EAdvertisers should pay particular attention to the Facebook Relevance Scores of their campaigns throughout the ultra-

competitive fourth quarter. Ampush analysts helped decrease one client’s Facebook CPM by 14% by increasing its Facebook

Relevance score from 7.86 to 9.11 (out of 10).

Ampush Recommends: Initially, cut or refine the lowest performing ads for improved spend efficiency and a more effective campaign. Later on, if consistently high Relevance Scores start to dip, it’s probably time to refresh your creative. Copy and creative should be refreshed every 1-2 weeks to maximize ROI during the holiday season.

4 ) D E V E L O P I N - D E P T H N A R R A T I V E SDuring the peak competition in Q4, stand out with more in-depth narratives. Mobile advertisers should use all available tools and

advanced targeting options to create holiday campaigns that resonate and tell stories. Fresh creative strategies include full clip

videos, retargeting for a sequential experience, and carousel ad units.

Ampush Recommends: For the holidays, try creating an in-depth story that unfolds throughout the season, with different chapters (ad series) released each week to propel the story forward. Mobile advertisers should also consider delivering a sequential advertising experience across multiple platforms. The different design and copy focus of each platform will allow your story to be told in a variety of unique formats.

5 ) R E T A R G E T I N G I N C R E A S E S L I F E T I M E VA L U EIn today’s marketing environment, retargeting campaigns can result in increased lifetime value. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

ads are effective at driving formerly captured leads back into apps to take additional action, especially for mobile gaming brands.

Ampush Recommends: Use CRM audience targeting, re-engagement-focused creatives, and app deep links to drive your leads back to your brand’s app to take additional action. Sale or promotion-focused creatives are especially effective in achieving this goal.

A B O U T T H E D A T A

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The data in this report was aggregated across a portfolio of advertisers leveraging Ampush’s AMP platform to manage

and scale their mobile advertising campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Ampush customers

include leading direct response and brand advertisers across Gaming, E-Commerce, Travel, Financial Services, CPG,

and other verticals. Unlike in previous reports, the information included in this report does not include seven-day

post-click attribution. The information was collected on October 1st, 2015, with a one day post-click attribution

window. If we had included seven-day post-click attribution, as we have done for other quarterly reports, we would have anticipated a slight increase in total mobile spend and a slight decrease in CPI. Data in this report is specific to

the advertisers and objectives represented in Ampush’s customer portfolio and should not be used as a proxy for

spend or pricing trends on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, or the broader mobile advertising marketplace.

Data in this report should not be compared to any prior or future publications due to the dynamic nature of the data

set for each period. For inquiries, please email research@ampush.com

G R O W Y O U R B U S I N E S S

Ampush helps customers run advertising that performs on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Visit www.ampush.com to learn more about our technology, team and solutions.