Average Mobile Advertising Rates for Apps

One of the core metrics for digital advertising, and mobile advertising specifically, is CPM,
which stands for Cost-Per-Mille. Essentially it tells an advertiser how much a thousand
impressions of his banner cost and this mobile advertising cost various per industry, ad
delivery channel and geo location. Despite the overall trend of mobile advertising
professionals to be focused on CPA metric, stands for Cost-Per-Action, which measures a
cost of specific action that people take with a digital product, CPM metric is still relevant
and important. In this article we want to bring up the industry statistics to highlight CPM
for various channels, industries and locations.

Key Mobile Advertising eCPM data points:

2016 US Mobile Media Spendings 44$ billion

average mobile eCPM of July 2016 $4
lowest iOS eCPM $5
highest iOS eCPM $10
lowest Android eCPM $1.25
highest Android eCPM $6
highest Facebook ads regional eCPM $1.8 (Sweden)
average Banner ad format CPM $1
average Interstitial ad format CPM $3.5
average Video ad format CPM $3
average Native ad format CPM $10
To start with, lets look into a meta picture of media advertising spending in US. According
to eMarketer data from March of 2016, the total spend in 2016 passed $192 billion and is
projected to reach $234 billion by 2020. The overarching trend is that during the five year
period, from 2015-2020, mobile ad spending is poised to more than double, from $32
billion in 2015 to $77 billion by 2020. To put this growth in perspective, its enough to
mention two figures. Number one in 2015 mobile ad spendings constituted roughly 50%
of the total digital spending of $60 billion, by 2020 itll jump to almost 75% of the total
digital media spending that is projected to reach $105 billion. Number two the
other types of media growth for the same period is substantially smaller. TV ad spending
by 2020 is projected to reach $77 billion, only 10% growth from about $69 in 2015.
US Total Media Ad Spending, by media 2015-2020, $ billions

Source: eMarketer
eCPM rates vary from one ad network to the other, lets look at the top ad networks iOS
eCPM for 2015-2016 period. Overall we can see the trend for eCPM to go down, from about
$6 in March of 2015, to about $4 in July of 2016. eCPM rates of AdColony, InMobi, AppLovin
and Chartboost are clustered between $2.5-$5.0 range per 1,000 impressions.
Top mobile ad networks iOS eCPM Rates, 2015-2016
Source: AdTapsy
When we look at the numbers for Android eCPM for the top ad networks, we see them
clustering below $2.5 per a thousand impressions. The reason for Android eCPM being
significantly lower than iOS, $2.5 against $4, is that Android owns a bigger part of the
mobile market and hence the volume of ads is bigger, meaning competition is higher. And
when there is a higher competition, eCPM rates should be lower.
Top mobile ad networks Android eCPM Rates, 2015-2016

Source: AdTapsy
Now lets consider the lowest and highest eCPM advertising rates for both iOS and Android
platforms in US. The lowest end for iOS presented by AppLovin ad network. After a sizable
bump in December 2015 January 2016, which we can attribute to the holiday season, we
see a constant decline in app advertisting rates and by July 2016 eCPM has reached below
$5 point.
iOS eCPM Rates in US (Applovin data)

Source: AdTapsy
The highest end of eCPM advertising rates for iOS belongs to AdMob ad network operated
by Google. As of July 2016 we see the eCPM rate has reached $10 point and throughout the
second part of 2015 and during this year the rate has been slightly fluctuated around this
$10 point as well.
iOS eCPM Rates in US (AdMob data)

Source: AdTapsy
Now its turn to review Android eCPM rates lowest and highest end. Among before
mentioned six top ad networks, in July 2016 InMobi offered the lowest eCPM rates for
Android OS, equaled to $1.25 per 1,000 mobile banner impressions.
Android eCPM Rates in US (InMobi data)
Source: AdTapsy
The highest end of Android eCPM belongs to AdMob ad network as well. As of July 2016,
1,000 mobile banner impressions costed about $6. Since April of 2015 to July of 2016 the
Android eCPM rate is being fracturing around $5 point.
Android eCPM Rates in US (AdMob data)

Source: AdTapsy
Next up are ad rates of the biggest player in the mobile advertising market Facebook.
Facebook ads rates, just like with advertising in general, are tied to local economies and
and a size of of local digital markets. Among a number of European, Asian, Latin and North
America countries the highest CPM rates are in Sweden $1.8, Denmark $1.7 and Taiwan
$1.5.
2015 Facebook Ads CPM Rates, by Country
Source: eCommernceMILO
Now lets analyze CPM rates for Facebook Ads in US for various industries, specifically CPG
(stands for Consumer Packaged Goods), E-commence, Gaming, Retail and Travel. An
average CPM all these industries equal to $7, with Travel industry topping the rest, $8 per
1,000 views. The fact that E-commerce and Retail cost are almost equal reveals an overall
trend many retail companies are moving towards e-commerce and place ads on Facebook
both ads for their physical stores and their online extensions. Given the fact Facebook
dominates the advertising industry and mobile constitutes the bulk of ad spending, we can
approximate this trend on mobile advertising as a whole.
2016 US Facebook Ads CPM Rates, by Industry
Source: Marketingcharts
There are 4 major mobile advertising formats marketers run ad campaign with banner,
interstitial, video and the recent addition native. Each of these influence mobile users
experience differently, Banner and especially Interstitial are more intrusive. The following
graph presents data from multiple sources that stack up these four to each other. In 2016
an average rate for Banner format produced average CPM $1.00, Interstitial $3.5, Video
$3 and Native format lead the pack with $10 per each 1,000 mobile ad impressions.
2016 Worldwide CPM Rates by Format
Sources: Pix11Plus, MonetizePros, Quora

Final Thoughts
Mobile advertising eCPM rates are different for various industries, mobile OS, geo locations
and specific mobile ad networks. The data revealed by top mobile ad networks shows the
overall trend for eCPM to go down. Mobile internet ad spending continues to grow
worldwide but with ever decreasing rate