Mobile Games Continue Dominance And Advertisers Take Advantage

Games were the number one app category on the Millennial Media platform throughout 2012, and advertisers in the travel, education, retail, and restaurant industries all leveraged that popularity for their advertising strategies.

Overall, 74% of mobile game impressions came from smartphones in the third quarter 2012, and when it came to the operating system, Android accounted for double the impressions of iOS for games on the Millennial platform. While iOS game applications made up 30% of impressions in Q3 2012, Android made up 64%, which Millennial reported was higher than its platform average for Android. Blackberry and Windows were far behind, with 5% and 1%, respectively.

Looking at the type of games that are popular on the Millennial Media platform, arcade games made up 30% of impressions, while word games came in with 26%. Puzzle, board, and card games made up the rest of the top five, with 19%, 9%, and 4%, respectively.

According to the latest mobile advertising forecast from eMarketer, worldwide mobile ad spending will reach $13.6 billion in 2013, a 61.6% increase over 2012. As advertisers work to determine which areas of mobile will be best for their marketing plans, brands in the travel, entertainment, and education industries spent the most on advertising in mobile game applications in Q3 2012 on the Millennial platform.