Mobile ad spend surpasses desktop for the first time, claims Marin Software

The amount spent on mobile advertising has exceeded desktop for the first time, according to the providers of a cloud-based digital advertising platform Marin Software.

The amount spent on mobile advertising has exceeded desktop for the first time, according to the providers of a cloud-based digital advertising platform Marin Software.

The finding came in Marin’s Q4 2015 Performance Marketer’s Benchmark Report and is being seen as significant as advertisers catch up with consumer behaviour.

Stephanie Carr, vice president customersSuccess, EMEA at Marin Software, said: “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Advertisers are reflecting consumer behaviour and, for the first time, more budget is being spent on mobile over desktop.”

Marin’s analysis of $7.8 billion of annual marketing spend found the volume of global clicks on smartphones and tablets breached the 50% barrier, surpassing desktop, a year earlier in Q4 2014.

Other findings on the Marin benchmark report included social adverts now account for three-quarters of clicks and 71% of spend.

In addition three in five display conversions took place on a smartphone, a 30% increase on last year and click-throughs on search ads were over three times higher than social and display.

Carr continues: “The disparity between mobile spend, clicks and conversions continues. The gap suggests to marketers that there’s still room to shift more money towards mobile devices.

“At this watershed moment, it would be easy to forget desktop entirely; marketers, do this at your peril.

“It’s essential to adopt cross-channel advertising strategies that reach consumers across all devices and platforms.

“Advertisers should now take advantage of the mobile reach and engagement that social platforms have, but remember desktop and search still offer a higher conversion rate.”