Mobile CTR rates higher than those for desktops
Sunday July 24,2011 : CTR rates higher than those for desktops
Latitude Digital Marketing has released its latest quarterly mobile search report, revealing that mobile advertisements continue to see ‘significantly higher’ click-through rates (CTR) than those for desktop.
The London-based digital marketing agency reports that mobile adverts achieved average CTR of 4.8 percent compared to 3.1 percent for desktop over its third quarter, and that approximately eight percent of paid search clicks came from mobile and tablet devices during its second quarter.
Price differences between mobile and desktop searches continue in many sectors, with the average mobile cost per click 39 percent cheaper than those for desktops.
The growth in tablet usage is another major trend following the release of the iPad2 in March, which made an immediate impact on visit volumes, with tablet visits represented 1.5 percent of website visits on average during Latitude’s second quarter compared with one percent only three months previous.
“User adoption of mobile and tablet search is consistently growing, thus continuing to give mobile a cost arbitrage,” said Alex Hoye, chief executive for Latitude. “Following these trends, by the end of 2011 we expect to see over ten percent of website traffic coming from smartphones and tablets.”
The mobile gambling sector has seen a ‘dramatic lift’ in click volumes, the digital marketing agency reports, noting a rise to 12 percent in May from 9 percent in the first three months of 2011.
“The reason for this increase might be attributed to sportsbetting activity around major televised events and there is certainly a correlation between offline media and mobile web search volumes,” Hoye points out.
“We know that one-third of smartphone owners multi-screen by using mobile web specifically while watching television. A huge 72 percent of smartphone owners use mobile web while consuming some other media format whether television, radio or newspapers.
"With lots of media buzz surrounding the final games of the football season plus high-profile televised events in horseracing and boxing, it is quite likely that media coverage around the second quarter sports calendar has contributed to the increase in clicks from mobile devices.”
Latitude opines that it is ‘critical’ for gambling operators to optimise marketing tactics in order to accommodate mobile user behaviour by using mobile optimised websites featuring up-to-the minute content relevant to sporting events, while television or press advertisements should include mobile-specific calls to action.
