Smartphones Account For Over 40 Percent Of U.S. Search Ad Spend

Marin Software has released its Benchmark Report for Q4 2014, which illustrates the continuing rise of the percentage of ad spend that is going to smartphones. In its report, the company shows that smartphones have continued to chip away at desktop paid search contribution in the U.S., now reaching over 40 percent of total search spend with an almost 5 percent increase from Q4 2013. For its study, the company used a sampling of customers that are running campaigns on the Marin platform, with the majority of the sample consisting of enterprise-level advertisers and agencies that are spending in excess of $1 million on search, social and display campaigns.

Across the board, desktop’s share of influence is on the decline. Desktop impression share was down by 6.3 percent, click share fell by 6.9 percent, share of spend was down by 6.1 percent and conversion share fell by 10.1 percent.

Conversely, smartphone ad impression share increased by 4.8 percent, click share rose by 5.5 percent and ad spend share was up 4.8 percent. Conversion share from smartphones showed the largest change, with an increase of 9.6 percent. While tablets also made gains, they were marginal in comparison to smartphones. Impression and click share each increased by 1.4 percent, spend share was up 1.3 percent and conversion share rose by 0.5 percent.

Although these smartphone gains are substantial, desktop remains in the lead. However, with the difference between smartphones and desktop shrinking, this may not be the case for much longer. In Q4 2014, smartphones accounted for 40.9 percent of search ad spend in comparison to 50.7 percent for desktop, with tablets making up the remaining 8.4 percent.

Marin’s report indicates that click-through rates continue to be highest on smartphones where fewer ads display in the search results. Smartphone CTR was 2.9 percent in comparison to 2.5 percent on tablets and 2.1 percent on desktop. However, conversion rates are still highest on desktop at 10.1 percent, in comparison to 7.7 percent on tablets and 6.6 percent on smartphones.

Clearly, mobile spend is on the rise, despite desktop’s continued dominance in impressions, clicks and conversions. As mobile spend increases, cross-device and mobile attribution will continue to be a pressure point for many marketers. Marin’s report highlights the fact that mobile clicks can translate to in-store visits, phone calls, or later desktop conversions, and understanding how those actions translate to revenue while trying to improve smartphone conversion rates will continue to be a challenge for marketers.