Android up, Symbian down in mobile advertising metrics

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Android has made significant gains in the US when it comes to mobile advertising, but remains the OS with the lowest Response Rate (CTR) in Europe according to the latest Smaato Metrics.
Mobile advertising firm Smaato, which claims to serve around eight billion ad requests on its network of over 6,000 registered mobile publishers and over 40 mobile ad networks, released its latest figures for June of 2010, showing significant increases by Android in global click through rates (CTR), while leaders Symbian and Feature Phones both suffered a dip in the CTR Index.

In the US, Smaato’s metrics revealed that while Symbian continued to dominate the region in terms of CTR – despite its small market share in terms of handsets – Android had managed to close much of the gap, with a CTR Index of 192, up from 118 in May. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS droped down to fifth place in the US with a CTR Index of 73.

Taking a more global look at the CTR Index, Smaato notes that while Symbian and Feature Phones remain top worldwide, both dropped in comparison to the month of May, with Symbian down from 159 to 144 and feature phones down from 147 to 135.
Android, said Smaato, made the largest gains in the CTR Index this month, climbing above Apple to reach third place with an Index of 58, compared to just 40 in May. The iPhone, Palm and BlackBerry also all saw increases in CTR.

Nokia may well be concerned about Symbian’s dropping CTR, but if the results are looked at in context, the situation is not dire – yet. After all, Symbian remains the leading OS in terms of click through rates worldwide with almost three times the click through rate of iPhone and a vast number of Symbian devices available on the market. Indeed, if anything, as Smaato notes, the numbers show that “the iPhone is far from the be-all and end-all in mobile advertising.”