Facebook advertisers see 1,790% higher returns on iOS than Android

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2014
Advertisements on iOS devices produced returns more than an order of magnitude higher than those on their Android counterparts, according to a new study by major social marketing company Nanigans.

iOS brings much greater advertising ROI than Android
Source: Nanigans


The study, first reported by VentureBeat, tracked more than 200 billion Facebook advertisements from over 100 advertisers on Nanigans' platform through the first nine months of 2013. Nanigans is one of the world's largest buyers of advertising on Facebook.

According to the report, it costs only a slight premium to place Facebook ads on iOS devices --?$4.99 per thousand impressions (CPM) versus $4.87 for Android. Average cost per click (CPC), or the amount an advertiser pays when a user clicks on one of those ad impressions, is wildly more disparate, however. Advertisers pay $0.18 per click on Android against $0.40 per click on iOS.

That disparity continues on the revenue side of the equation, the report says. Revenue per click (RPC) is pegged at 6 times higher on iOS, while return on investment (ROI) is 18 times higher.

Despite the low CPM and CPC numbers, advertising on Android actually yields negative ROI --?it costs advertisers more money to place the ads than they make, to the tune of a 10 percent loss, according to the report. iOS advertisements, meanwhile, bring healthy returns of more than 160 percent.

"Audiences cost more on iPhone, and the reason is that it's worth it," Nanigans SVP Dan Slagen said. "Typically, we're not looking to acquire one-time customers, we're looking to invest over time...so we pay more up front for better long-term results."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 124
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    Android users don't spend money on anything other than their collection of phones with outdated OS's. /s
  • Reply 2 of 124

    LOL.

     

    Advertising ROI, web use, income levels, ecosystem, security, smoothness of operation, lack of fragmentation, style,...... (I am sure there's a dozen more).

     

    At what point do these silly androids stop being such sheep!?

  • Reply 3 of 124
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member

    BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



    But...but...but... Android has 80% marketshare!!  How can that be??!!



    But...but...but... Android has 27 gazillion activations per day??!!!



    But...but...but... Nike is missing out on millions of Android consumers by not creating Android app for their wristband!!!



    But...but...but.... *deep exhale* BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



    Time and time again, the money is in iOS.  The majority (99%) of Android users are folks that don't care what OS is on the cheap, free, garbage phone.



    This just cracks me up.  I'm so waiting to see how Fandroids try to spin this article.  Waiting for them to resort to name-calling since they just can't come up with anything worth debating.



    ** collapsed from getting lightheaded **

  • Reply 4 of 124
    at first I read it as 1.790% and than I saw the comma - holy crap.
  • Reply 5 of 124
    joshajosha Posts: 901member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drblank View Post

    Android users don't spend money on anything other than their collection of phones with outdated OS's. /s

     

     The few android users I know, bought android because the (very out of date) android phone was cheapest up front (the down payment was lowest).

     

    Not surprising the large number of users buying android because it was little or nothing up front, don't buy much based on android advertising.

  • Reply 6 of 124
    There have been many studies done on iOS and Android customers. This is just another one that verifies the opinion that Android buyers, by in large, are very poor customers. They are cheap, basically. They prefer free apps to purchased ones and don't respond to in-app purchases nearly as well. And they pirate apps like nobody's business. And now we find that even with targeted ads, they are poor customers there too.

    There was an article on CNet today blasting Nike for not making their new Fitband compatible with Android. Given studies like this and others, can you blame them?
  • Reply 7 of 124

    ROFLMAO  :D

     

    On a serious note, is there anyone surprised? How about Larry and The L Team @ google?!!

     

    Each and every android user I've ever met, is one dumb cheap guy who downloads anything and EVERYTHING as long as it's FREE!

  • Reply 8 of 124
    I read a comment on another site that said maybe Android users are more discerning....

    BWAHAHAAHA!!
  • Reply 9 of 124
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JoshA View Post

     

     

     The few android users I know, bought android because the (very out of date) android phone was cheapest up front (the down payment was lowest).

     

    Not surprising the large number of users buying android because it was little or nothing up front, don't buy much based on android advertising.




    I come across that as well with folks I know that bought their Android phones.  Most had the same line: "It was the cheapest phone they had".  Even with iPhones going for as low as $49, it doesn't matter... cheap or free will always prevail with these people.



    That doesn't even bother me.  What's really shameful are the Android fanboys here and in other forums that continue ripping on any product/app that doesn't support Android and preaching to the world "These <insert smart companies here> are missing out on 'millions' of Android customers by not making it work on Android" bull$h!t.



    Simple truth.  The majority of Android users don't spend money.  I lost track of how many times I've read the exact same metrics over the years.  Fandroids know it, but don't want to acknowledge it.



    Fandroids will simply say that "Well, Android users are smart with their money" or "iOS users are just a bunch of rich trust-fund kiddies that like wasting money", or the typical name-calling that they are so good at doing since they have no valid argument to debate with.



    This just cracks me up.

  • Reply 10 of 124
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sevenfeet View Post



    There was an article on CNet today blasting Nike for not making their new Fitband compatible with Android. Given studies like this and others, can you blame them?



    Apparently, when Nike first released the Fitband v1.0, they did have an Android app for it.  Nike abandoned it after that and that enraged the fandroid tech forums.  I guess Nike felt that the ROI on developing for Android was not worth the effort, but tell that to the roid-raged fandroids.  They just refuse to acknowledge that it's just not worth the effort to support such a botched, crappy system where the majority of the users wouldn't even buy Nike's product!



    But no... fandroids just continue to sip their own tainted brand of kool-aid while living in their own reality-distortion-field.

  • Reply 11 of 124
    I'm not familiar with Android, but is it possible ad blockers have to do with this? (I am assuming Android has ad blockers as Windows does)
  • Reply 11 of 124
    I'm not familiar with Android, but is it possible ad blockers have to do with this? (I am assuming Android has ad blockers as Windows does)
  • Reply 13 of 124
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    "the challenge is the same that Android has faced for years: a lower-end audience.
    Brutally put, iPhone owners simply tend to both make more money and spend more money than Android owners."

    Android is popular because it's cheap, not because it's better. It is funny how a company that makes profits from hardware generates more money in advertising than a company that uses ads as its primary revenue stream. All without the help of Facebook Home too.

    Usually you find with the strong open source advocates that there is a tendency to not want to pay for things. Google steals IP and doesn't think they need to pay, Android buyers don't mind the companies they buy products from ripping off IP as long as they can get the next best thing at a lower price and the users like having fewer restrictions to be able to steal software:

    http://www.cultofandroid.com/27547/android-piracy-outnumbers-ios-piracy-by-141-driving-devs-to-freemium-only-model/

    I'm sure a lot of desktop users block ads so it's expected that Android users would do the same but even that took an interesting twist:

    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/google-censoring-android-apps

    They'll give as much openness and freedom until it harms their revenue stream.
  • Reply 14 of 124
    Android users seem to fall into 4 camps:

    - those who want the cheapest
    - those who want a large screen
    - power users who want total control
    - young people using product affiliation in an effort to assert their identity

    The only one of those camps that Apple should be concerned with is the people who want a large screen, because they have money. The rest are either budget consumers who buy products with thin margins, geeks who represent a tight niche, or HS/college students who usually don't hold the purse strings.

    Apple has a very good sense for where the money is, but they also take their jolly sweet time bringing new products to market. I have concerns with their brand perception due to the very large interval we're experiencing between what I see as market validation of larger screened phones and Apple delivering a product that can compete on those terms. Otherwise, I think the new phones are quite attractive. I have no need for such a large phone, but I meet plenty of folks who do have such a need.

    I hope those needs are addressed sooner rather than later.
  • Reply 15 of 124

    Wow! :)

  • Reply 16 of 124
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    gordio wrote: »
    I'm not familiar with Android, but is it possible ad blockers have to do with this? (I am assuming Android has ad blockers as Windows does)

    Not likely. I don't use the Facebook app so I can't speak for that but I do use an ad blocker. I use Facebook's mobile site when using it and it's setup in a way where you can't block their ads. I would assume the ads in their mobile app don't get blocked either.
  • Reply 17 of 124
    Can they blame this on user-agent settings?
  • Reply 18 of 124
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    gordio wrote: »
    I'm not familiar with Android, but is it possible ad blockers have to do with this? (I am assuming Android has ad blockers as Windows does)

    Google released Android. Google is an ad company. No ad blockers.

    ----

    Of course iPhone gets more ads, Apple users are using toys while Android is for real work. Androiders don't have time to be on Facebook while they root their phones. /s
  • Reply 19 of 124
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post





    Google released Android. Google is an ad company. No ad blockers.



    ----



    Of course iPhone gets more ads, Apple users are using toys while Android is for real work. Androiders don't have time to be on Facebook while they root their phones. /s

    Incorrect. Google still allows ad blocking apps, they just don't bake it in any more. Check their Chrome store if you want to see. Additionally,  anyone that throws a ROM on their Android device usually has ad blocking built in. There is even specific ad blocking against social networks available to Android users, so you never even see those annoying +1 or "Like" buttons.  I always enjoy reading the comments on this site. Makes me giggle every time. Cheerio.

  • Reply 20 of 124
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    Can they blame this on user-agent settings?

    Between UA, ad blocking, custom ROMs and Apple webkit, the short answer is: 'sort of'.

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