With the World Cup entering its final days, football fever has gripped mobile users worldwide, with Asia and Africa consuming most content on handheld devices, according to new research.
The study, from Opera Mediaworks, highlights highest-ranking fans, platforms, advertisers around global sporting event.
As mobile use by an average U.S. consumer approaches three hours a day, analysts predict mobile will be the third-largest advertising medium by the end of the year.
The second quarter of 2014 was no different as mobile users across the globe were captivated watching the latest football news from Brazil on their mobile devices.
In the Q2 State of Mobile Advertising report, Opera Mediaworks paid special attention to mobile traffic to sites and apps containing content related to football, making the following observations about mobile behavior during this global sporting event:
• Traffic remains high, even as teams are eliminated. Starting June 12, mobile traffic began climbing, hitting a peak between the 23rd and the 26th, which was the last week of group matches — and then dropped off dramatically on rest day. As the Round of 16 began, traffic picked back up to reach the same level as the first 10 days, indicating that while some users may drop off as their team is eliminated, general interest remains high going into the playoff round.
• Asia and Africa are consuming more football content on their devices than the United States, Europe, and even Latin America. While the U.S, Brazil, Mexico and most European countries are in the top 10 for overall traffic, when it comes to football, they barely graze the top 25. Instead, countries like Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia and Pakistan are ranking the highest for traffic to football-related sites and apps.
• All eyes in West Africa and Eastern Europe are on Brazil. Looking at the relative share of impressions to football content, it’s clear that this region of the world is the most engaged in this global event. Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria rank highest, followed by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Algeria. Japan and Australia appear to be the least interested.
• A massive traffic spike within Brazil is being fueled by Android. As further proof of Android’s prominence, 79% of the increase in traffic within Brazil came from the addition of Android devices.
• Sony and Visa are the dominating mobile partners. Of the seven football partners, six are supported by the Opera Mediaworks platform. Sony served the most mobile impressions, and Visa had the highest performing ad campaigns, as measured by click-through rates. Coca-Cola and Adidas trailed these two partners.
Android inches closer to iOS as a revenue generator
In Q2 2014, Android not only took the no. 1 spot in mobile ad traffic, from 42.8% in the previous quarter to nearly 50% of impressions, but also grew significantly in revenue, accounting for 38% compared to 33% from Q1 2014, according to the report.
Android’s rise in monetization is not at the expense of iOS, which also grew in Q2 (to 53% of all revenue), but rather due to mobile users moving away from non-smart mobile devices, or platforms in the Other category.
Another monetisation trend, the report noted, is the value of content in the Health, Fitness & Self Help category. This now generates more revenue per impression than Business, Finance & Investing, which has led for two years straight. Social sites and apps continue to draw the most mobile traffic.
To view all of the findings from Q2 2014, visit http://operamediaworks.com/insights/.