Tag: Millennial Media

Verizon’s AOL Is Acquiring Millennial Media

AOL, which as a reminder, is now owned by Verizon, announced on Thursday that it has entered agreement to acquire mobile ad platform Millennial Media. It’s paying $1.75/share, which comes to roughly $238 million.

AOL says it will use Millennial Media to add a supply-side platform for app monetization with over 65,000 apps; add significant mobile brand advertising scale across ONE by AOL; gain access to a billion global active unique users and new cross-screen targeting capabilities; accelerate its mobile position in key international markets; and add “world-class” engineering, sales, and product talent.

“AOL is well positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic monetization tools,” said AOL President Bob Lord. “As we continue to invest in our platforms and technology, the acquisition of Millennial Media accelerates our competitive mobile offering in ONE by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an ‘all in’ monetization platform for app developers.”

“By joining AOL, we will be adding additional mobile expertise to AOL’s growing technology assets,” added Michael Barrett, President & CEO of Millennial Media. “I am excited by what this acquisition means for our shareholders, our employees and our partners.”

The deal will comes by way of tender offer to be followed by a merger. It’s expected to be completed this fall, and Millennial Media will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL.

Image via Millennial Media

September 3, 2015
Millennial Media Guarantees 100% Viewability For In-App Ads

Mobile ad marketplace Millennial Media announced that it will offer its clients a guarantee of 100% viewability for in-app mobile ad campaigns. This comes as the industry is “desperately” seeking guidelines for viewability. It’s a bold move for sure.

The Media Rating Council announced last week that it has issued interim guidance for how to proceed with measuring and transacting around mobile viewability. This applies to the “Opportunity to See” an ad in a mobile web browser or a mobile app.

READ: Here’s How To Measure Mobile Ad Viewability

“In order to deliver on this first of its kind initiative, the company is partnering with Integral Ad Science, the only at-scale vendor that can currently measure in-app viewability,” a spokesperson for Millennial Media tells WebProNews. “The guarantee will be fulfilled by participating Millennial Media clients only being billed once their ad is verified viewable by Integral Ad Science.”

“This move is a significant step in Millennial Media’s ongoing commitment to make digital advertising more accountable, as well as helping the industry to spearhead well defined and commonly accepted standards around viewability (by continuing to work together with partners such as Integral Ad Science, as well as the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Media Rating Council),” the spokesperson adds.

READ: A Clearer Look At Mobile Ad Viewability

“The mobile ad ecosystem is desperately seeking guidelines around viewability,” said Michael Barrett, President & CEO at Millennial Media and an IAB Board Member. “Today, we are choosing the highest standard possible by offering a 100% in-app viewability guarantee. We have selected Integral Ad Science as our measurement partner because they are the only at-scale vendor that can currently measure in-app viewability. We will continue to partner closely with the MRC, IAB, and the mobile ad ecosystem to define industry-wide standards around viewability. We are committed to becoming the largest mobile marketplace that provides 100% viewable, brand safe, and fraud free impressions.”

Integral Ad Science recently completed an audit of the Millennial network, and both companies have been working with publishers on technical changes that improve viewability. It must be going well if they’re making a 100% guarantee.

Millennial defines viewability as 100% of the ad being in view for at least one second. The guarantee applies to in-app banner ads and interstitials Additional formats may be added later.

At first, the guarantee will only be applied to campaigns running on inventory originating in the U.S. and U.K. but a global rollout is planned for later this year. It dos not apply to inventory purchased programmatically, but Millennial is also working with Integral Ad Science to enable it in the Millennial Media Exchange.

You can learn more about the guarantee on this FAQ page.

RELATED:

Should Viewability Standard Just Be A Jumping Off Point?

Ad Viewability Contention Rages On

Report Looks At Ad Viewability Trends, Fraud

Image via Millennial Media

May 12, 2015
iOS Leads App Revenue Over Android
Millennial Media released its latest Mobile Mix report, looking at the impact the Verizon iPhone has made, as well as the growth of tablets/connected devices. In addition, there is some data on apps, and a comparison of different platforms, based on app revenue.

Following is a chart illustrating just that. Keep in mind this data is for the month of March:

Also interesting is the rate of Android market share growth, compared to that of iOS:

Here are some highlights:

The iPhone grew 17% month-over-month and iOS grew 11% month-over-month. This was largely tied to the growth of the Verizon iPhone (which accounted for 8.2% of iPhone impressions in March)

When breaking down app revenue by platform—iOS apps represented a 47% share. Android apps represented a 36% share.

Android remained the leading Smartphone OS for the 4th consecutive month with a 48% impression share. 14 of the current top 20 devices run the Android OS

Connected devices (non-phones—like the iPad, iPod Touch and Samsung Galaxy tablet) increased 21% month-over-month, and now make up 17% of the device impression share (compared to 64% for smartphones, and 19% for feature phones)

The BlackBerry Curve reclaimed the number 2 position in the Top 20 mobile phones, and the BlackBerry Torch grew 23% month-over-month. The RIM OS experienced a 29% growth month-over-month

To put the firm’s data in context, Millennial’s network reaches 90.3 million monthly users in the U.S.
April 14, 2011
Verizon iPhone 4 Impressions 4.5% of U.S. iPhones in Two Weeks

Millennial Media released its monthly Mobile Mix report this morning, finding (among other things) that Verizon’s iPhone represented 4.5% of U.S. iPhone Impressions in the two weeks following the launch.

Verizon is about 3 years behind AT&T in terms of offering the iPhone. Verizon said that it had a record first day of sales in the history of the company. “In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history. And, when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is an incredible success story. It is gratifying to know that our customers responded so enthusiastically to this exclusive offer – designed to reward them for their loyalty.”

The device became generally available from Verizon on February 10.

Verizon accounted for 20% of all carrier impressions on Millennial’s network in February. That network reaches 90.3 million monthly users in the U.S. Here are the top manufacturers and devices for the month, according to Millennial Media:

Samsung grew 50% month-over-month to reclaim the number two position on the Top 15 Manufacturers ranking, the firm says. The Samsung Galaxy Tablet debuted in the top 30 devices. Samsung also had three new Smartphones enter the Top 30 (Fascinate, Forte, and Captivate).

Android led iOS as the largest Smartphone OS on Millennial’s network for the third consecutive month, with a 51% impression share.

A study released this week by Blaze Software finds that the latest Android devices load Web pages 52% faster than the iPhone 4.

March 18, 2011
Report: iOS Grew Faster Than Android in January

Millennial Media released its Mobile Mix report for January, looking at trends for connected devices, mobile manufacturers, operating systems, and apps. "Last month we saw significant OS and Manufacturer growth on our network," a representative for the firm tells WebProNews. "iOS outpaced all other operating systems experiencing a 47% increase month-over-month. HTC claimed the number two spot on our Top Manufacturers ranking and is quickly closing the gap with Apple for the top manufacturer spot."

Millennial Media also found that HTC grew 36% in January to claim the number two position in the Top 15 Manufacturers Ranking. "This growth is tied to the significant number of HTC devices in the Top 30 Mobile Device Ranking," the firm says.

Here’s a look at the top 30 devices:

Apple represented 26% of the Top 15 Manufacturers impression share in January, a 24% increase month-over-month. Android continues to lead iOS as the largest Smartphone OS on Millennial’s network for the second consecutive month, with a 54% impression share in January.

Other highlights include:

– The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea and Japan claimed the top five positions in the Top Ten Country Rankings.

– Symbian impressions grew significantly in January, increasing 24% month-over-month.

– Wi-Fi experienced a 21% increase month-over-month in January. The increase in impression share of Connected Devices month-over-month contributed to the increase in Wi-Fi.

The full report is available here.

February 15, 2011
6 Verticals See Triple-Digit Growth in Mobile Advertising

Millennial Media has released its latest monthly SMART report, looking at the mobile advertising landscape. The report looks at the top verticals (six of which had triple digit growth YoY).

The report also looks at actions marketers are trying to get consumer to take when they see the ads. "Social media actions in particular had significant growth quarter-over-quarter, as marketers are trying to use advertising to drive actions such as ‘liking’ a FB page," a spokesperson for Millennial Media tells WebProNews.

Some takeaways from the report include:

– Telecommunications was the top vertical for mobile advertising. This was primarily driven by carriers and device manufacturers that doubled down their mobile buys doing the holiday season. Windows Phone 7 devices in particular relied heavily on mobile advertising.

– Six verticals had triple digit growth year-over-year. Automotive grew 623% and Retail & Restaurants grew 572%

– 49% of mobile campaigns were designed to drive consumers to a website. 16% of campaigns were designed to drive app downloads

– Leveraging the increasing consumer desire to use LBS as part of the mobile experience, 22% of campaigns used a "store locator" as the desired campaign action.

– 14% of campaigns had a "social media" post-click campaign action-where consumers can interact with FB or Twitter, or perhaps post pictures to a custom site

– 57% of campaigns used a general broad reach, while 43% targeted a specific audience. Of the targeted campaigns, targeting by demographic was the most popular method.

Millennial Media recently reported that Android surpassed iOS as the largest smartphone OS on its network in December. Find the new SMART report here.

January 27, 2011
Android Surpasses iOS For First Time on Millennial Media

Millennial Media has released its monthly Mobile Mix report looking at the smartphone market for the month of December. For the first time, Android surpassed iOS as the largest smartphone OS on the Millennial network, with an 8% increase month-over-month and 46% impression share on the firm’s network in December. iOS currently has a 32% share.

For context, Millennial’s network is the largest mobile ad network in the U.S.

According to the firm, Android ad requests grew 141% from Q3 to Q4 and since January 2010, Android has grown 3130%. When breaking down the revenue generated by apps in Q4, Android had a 55% share as opposed to 39% for Apple. Android also had a 13% increase quarter-over-quarter.

Apple remained the top manufacturer on the Millennial network (as it has been for the last 15 months), and the iPhone and iPod touch made up two out of the top three of individual mobile devices.

Apple ad requests grew 12% from Q3 to Q4 and since January, Apple has increased 14%. iPad requests increased 280% from Q3 to Q4.

HTC came in at number 3 in the Top 15 Manufacturers with a 9% month-over-month increase. "There is a direct correlation with this increase and HTC having the highest number of devices (nine) in the Top 30 Mobile Device-Ranking including the debut of four new devices on the Millennial network: HTC Nexus One (Passion), HTC Evo, HTC Droid Incredible, and the HTC Desire," a spokesperson for Millennial Media points out.

As far as carriers, Verizon experienced a 2% increase month-over-month in December. "Verizon’s impression share is likely a result of the popularity of Droid devices and the carrier’s ability to offer 13 of the Top 30 Mobile Devices," the spokesperson said.

It will be interesting to see how much Verizon jumps for the February report, with the release of the iPhone for Verizon.

Samsung maintained the number two position in the Top 15 Manufacturers for the third consecutive month.

January 13, 2011
Millennial Media Survey Forecasts Big ’11 For Android

When it comes to receiving attention from publishers and advertisers, rivals of Google’s mobile operating system are perhaps not going to do too well next year. New stats from Millennial Media are out, and Android appears ready to grab the figurative spotlight.

The graphs below, which were included in the State of the Apps Industry 2010 Report, pretty well show how 600 professionals responded to questions regarding where they plan to focus. The graphs represent great news for Google, and something akin to the apocalypse for Palm.

In between those extremes are Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft should be quite pleased to see the (projected) acceptance of Windows Phone 7; Millennial Media’s numbers indicate it’s done all the right things leading up to the actual launch.

Apple, meanwhile, may be unhappy about the iPhone’s showing, but can take some comfort in the fact that the iPad still appears towards the left side of both graphs.

Then here’s some good news for just about everybody: a post on the Millennial Blog stated, "Publishers anticipate significant growth in their applications revenue in 2011. A full 31% of those surveyed expect their applications to increase 100% or more in 2011, with another 17% expecting an increase of 50% or more."

November 4, 2010
Android Passes iPhone in Revenue on Major Ad Network

Millennial Media, which claims to have the largest data set of any third-party U.S. mobile ad network, reports that Android revenue exceeded iPhone-only revenue for its network. Android requests grew by 26% from the previous month,and 1283% since January.

Apple, which has been the leading device manufacturer on the firm’s network for the last year, accounted for 0% of impressions in September. iPad revenue growth increased 316% in Q3, with impression growth increasing by 156% in the same period. This comes as Apple just posted its own highest revenue of all time, and record iPhone and iPad sales.

Smartphone impression share grew 7% month-over-month and accounted for 58% of the Smartphone, Feature Phone and Connected Device Impression share for Millennial Media.

Here are the top manufacturers and devices for the month, according to the firm:

As you can see, RIM devices represented 5 of the Top 20 Mobile Phones. The BlackBerry Curve has been number 3 for two months in a row now. Meanwhile, Motorola moved up over Samsung to the number 2 spot on the manufacturer list.

The top 4 connected devices were the iPod Touch, iPad, Sony PSP, and the Sony PS3.

October 19, 2010
Report: Android Continues Market Share Growth

Millennial Media has released its Mobile Marketing Mix report for the month of August. Among its findings are continued Android growth, as well as significant iPad growth. The firm points to the following as the highlights:

– The Android impression share increased 7% month-over-month, and now makes up 26% of the Millennial network.

– The iPhone remained the top mobile phone on the Millennial network (by a significant margin), and iPad requests increased by 76% month-over-month

– In breaking down usage of the mobile web by carrier-7 different carriers had at least a 9% market share

– 45% of Blackberry users are Women (more BB stats on page 4)

Here are the charts for the top manufacturers and devices in August, according to Millennial Media:

The report also looks at some interesting info regarding RIM’s BlackBerry platform and data regarding its users. For example, the average income of BlackBerry users is 13% higher than the smartphone average.

The entire report can be found here.

September 28, 2010
Another Report Has Android Moving Up Quickly

Mobile ad network Millennial Media released its latest Mobile Mix report this morning. Android is now officially the number 2 OS on Millennial’s network. The Android OS grew another 47% month-over-month. Since January, Android has grown 690%. Android surpassed RIM as the number 2 OS on the network.

Apple ad requests increased 24% month-over-month, but are actually down 15% since January. iPad ad requests grew 327% month-over-month, however.

Here are the top manufacturers and devices:

There was a significant increase in app developers programming for RIM’s platform. RIM apps represented 11% of the US Developer Platform Usage Mix. This was a increase of 9%, and represents the increased importance app developers are placing on the RIM platform, the firm says.

Shopping and retail apps entered into the top 10 Mobile App Channels, perhaps reflecting a potential back-to-school trend, Millennial notes.

Smartphones and connected devices increased their impression share 7%, and now represent 68% of the total impression share. Millennial says this is an example of the continued demand consumers have for a rich media experience they cannot get on a feature phone.

August 18, 2010
Millennial Media Finds iOS Outpaced Android In June

For quite some time, Android has been gaining on Apple’s mobile operating system, looking more and more like it would become a favorite among advertisers. Millennial Media has determined that Android’s growth slowed a bit in June, however, while Apple saw some impressive increases.

According to Millennial Media’s latest Mobile Mix report, "Apple ad requests increased 36% month-over-month; iPad ad requests grew 206% month-over-month." Which is quite impressive, particularly considering the problems that surrounded the iPhone 4’s launch.

Android ad requests, meanwhile, grew just 23 percent in the same period, which is fine, but appears a little weak in comparison. And that number could signal something of a falloff considering that ad requests have grown 439 percent since January.

As for how the situation looks if you take a step back from the stats concerning ad requests, Millennial Media stated, "Apple OS remained the leading Smartphone OS on our network in June with a 56% share of impressions and an 8% growth month-over-month."

Apple would perhaps do well to press its advantage and take the necessary steps to resolve all the iPhone 4 complaints, then. Android devices come out on a regular basis; it’ll be quite some time before another iPhone surfaces to give Apple’s operating system an additional boost.

Stay tuned – we’ll be sure to report whatever Apple announces at its iPhone 4-centric press conference tomorrow.

July 15, 2010
Spending on Rich Media and Social Ads for Mobile on the Rise

Millennial Media has released its latest S.M.A.R.T. (U.S. Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting) report on how the mobile web is increasing. This includes more users, longer sessions, advertisers targeting more campaigns, etc.

The report also indicates a significant increase in advertisers’ spend on rich media, and an increase in campaigns sending consumers to social media sites.

Millennial says its audience reach accounts for 82% of U.S. mobile Internet users. Here’s a chart with some noteworthy statistics from the report:

Some other interesting stats from the report include:

– The US Mobile Web increased by approximately 3% from 73.2M users to 75.3M

– Average user time on the Mobile Web increased nearly one minute month-over-month, to 5:03 (min:sec) in May.

– Mobile Web represented over 77% of the Campaign Destination Mix (as opposed to App downloads)

– Advertisers increased their ad spend on Rich Media by 85% in May

– Campaigns sending consumers to multiple social media sites have grown 50% since Millennial began tracking the campaign action in January.

Find the entire report here. There is plenty more graphical information about telecom campaigns, campaign destinations, targeting, etc.

July 1, 2010
The Top 20 Mobile Phones in the US

Millennial Media has released its monthly Mobile Mix report, focusing specifically on various mobile devices and OS’s, and listing the Top 20 Mobile Phones in the U.S. "Mobile Mix measures device, OS, carrier, and now application trending data on our network. New to Mobile Mix this month, is a snapshot of the most active mobile app channels; and a quick view of the break-out of multi-platform app versus single platform app developers," Mack McKelvey, SVP of Marketing at Millennial Media tells WebProNews.

"On the single-platform size, the largest app channel growth we’ve seen so far this year is in the entertainment and sports channels, with 648% and 279% growth respectively, since January 2010," McKelvey added. "Social networking and gaming have also seen strong growth and took the top two spots in the channel ranking, by revenue, this month."

Some other highlights from the report include:

– Android requests grew 15% month-over-month, and have now grown 338% since January.

– The Apple OS remained the leading operating system on the Millennial network, but it had a month-over-month decrease of nearly 14%

– iPad requests grew 160% month-over-month

– For individual manufacturers, HTC received the largest share increase month-over month for the second consecutive month

– The Games category topped the list of top mobile app channels by revenue

There is plenty more device and carrier data about the top manufacturers, the top mobile phones, device input mix, carrier mix, OS mix, developer trends, and more. Find it here.

June 18, 2010
Android Ad Requests On The Rise

While just about everyone knows that Android is becoming more and more popular, a new report indicates that the mobile operating system is racking up not only users, but also ad impressions. Millennial Media found that Android ad requests increased by a huge amount between March and April.

A quick note with regards to Millennial Media‘s credibility: in January, the company saw more than 9 billion ad requests, and Nielsen has confirmed that its network reach takes account of 83 percent of the mobile Web. So these stats should be pretty solid.

As for how Android performed in April, then, Millennial Media’s report stated, "Android ad requests grew 77% month over month. Since January, Android has grown 282%."

Photo Credit: Millennial Media

And that’s much, much better than the competition. The report explained, "Apple ad requests decreased 17% month over month. Since January, Apple has grown 1.5%." Also, "RIM ad requests grew 10% month over month. Since January RIM has grown 36.2%."

So Android appears to be on its way to becoming advertisers’ best friend, even if it still has some catching up to do in terms of overall market share. (The chart to the right shows how things looked in that regard in April.)

We’ll be sure to provide an update when the data concerning May becomes available and see how much more progress Android has made.

May 20, 2010
Mobile Ad Report Shows Big Gains for Android, RIM, PSP

Mobile advertising firm Millennial Media has put out a report mobile devices and their impact on advertising. "For the past year Millennial Media has released a monthly SMART report (Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting), which discusses trends in the mobile ad space. Beginning this month, they’ve decided to release an additional device-focused report, the Media Mobile Mix," a representative for the firm tells WebProNews.

"The Media Mobile Mix will highlight monthly device-focused trends, including growth, percentage of ad impressions, etc," she adds. "For example, data for March shows that although Apple continued to represent the majority of impressions, the number served by Android and connected devices, like Sony PSPs or iPads, increased drastically."

Some other interesting data from the report:

– U.S. device impression data breakout: Smartphones (45%), Feature Phones (34%), and Connected Devices (21%).

– Apple’s OS remains the leading OS on our network in March with 70 percent share of Smartphone impressions. Apple’s OS has maintained the leading OS position since Millennial began reporting OS mix in August 2009.

– RIM remained the second largest OS for the eighth consecutive month with a 14% share of impressions; and four devices in the Top 20 Mobile Phone ranking.

– While Apple represented 40% of overall network impressions in March (top slot for the 6th consecutive month); manufacturers supporting Android enabled devices represented over 50% of the Top 15 Manufacturers. Samsung was firmly embedded as the second largest manufacturer on our network, with four devices in the Top 20.

"As the largest independent mobile advertising platform in the U.S., we support every major operating system and device. In March, one out of every five ad impressions on our network were seen on a mobile connected device, and not a mobile phone," said Erin (Mack) McKelvey, SVP of Marketing, Millennial Media. "We have reported monthly device trends from our network for a year, but given the proliferation of smartphones and connected devices, we felt that it was now time to spotlight this data for industry-watchers who are trying to understand the role of devices and consumer behavior in the overall mobile market."

For the first time, Android’s OS was in the top three in the ranking of smartphone impressions in March, and Android OS impressions share increased 3% in March alone mankind it 6% of U.S. Smartphone impressions for the month. Globally, Android impressions increased 72% month over month, while RIM also surged 25% globally, on the network.

April 16, 2010