Apple Dominates Mobile Revenue

Apple continues to cut a path of domination through the mobile space. According to a new study by Opera Mediaworks, Apple led 2014 in ad revenue by a wide margin.

Apple’s victory here comes despite Android’s improved ad impressions – 2014 represented an all time high for the company. Android’s gains, however, did not come at Apple’s expense; instead, Android picked up at the expense of legacy platforms like BlackBerry and feature phones.

Android ended last year with around 62.69 percent of mobile ad traffic while iOS ended up with 27.18 percent. When it came to revenue, however, Apple was the clear winner with iOS accounting for 51.67 percent of all revenue and monetization via mobile ads. Android, by comparison, captured just 41.20 percent despite leading Apple in impressions by over 30 percent.

Opera Mediaworks says much of this can be explained by where the operating systems are growing. In the developed world and western markets, where commercial conversion is more likely, iOS is once again the top performer. Android, on the other hand, picked up most of its members in developing nations from platforms serving more emerging markets.

The iPad continues to be noted, according to the study, for its ability to command a significant percentage of revenue. Though the device is responsible for less that 5 percent of overall traffic, it accounts for nearly 13 percent of monetization. In fact, the iPod Touch alone pulls in more revenue than BlackBerry and Windows Phone combined, and approaches the revenue share of Android-based tablets, which are at just under 1.5 percent.

Given Apple’s record breaking sales for iPhone in the last quarter of 2014, it seems likely Apple will be able to continue to lead the pack in terms of mobile monetization.