Explosive Growth of Usage on New Devices Highlights Rapid Changes in Mobile Industry According to AdMob September 2009 Metrics Report

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AdMob, the world’s largest mobile advertising platform, examined the rapid and global growth of mobile Web and application usage over the past two years in their September 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report. This month marks the second anniversary of the Mobile Metrics Report and the growth in traffic since September 2007 demonstrates that mobile data usage is a truly global phenomenon. In September 2009 AdMob received more than 100 million ad requests from 14 countries, and more than 10 million ad requests from 64 countries.

The report also highlights the rapid growth in usage of mobile Web sites and applications on new devices in the past year. In September 2008, the Motorola RAZR was the top device in the US, and the iPhone was the only touchscreen device in the Top 10. In September 2009, the list of the top 10 devices includes five with touchscreens, six with Wi-Fi capabilities, and six with application stores. These devices are responsible for a much higher percentage of mobile usage than their share of handsets sold.¹ However, feature phones like the Samsung R450 and Motorola RAZR V3 still represent 60 percent of ad requests in the US. The strong mobile Web usage on these feature phones is likely driven by unlimited data plans.

Highlights from the September 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report include:

In September 2007 AdMob had 1.6 billion ad requests, in September 2008 5.1 billion, and in September 2009 10.2 billion.
Nearly every region of the world experienced immense growth in the past two years, with North America, Asia, Western Europe, Oceania and Latin America seeing a six-fold increase in traffic since September 2007.
Worldwide iPhone and iPod touch traffic increased 19 times from September 2008 to September 2009 in the AdMob network.
In September 2009 42 percent of requests in the US were made from Wi-Fi capable devices. 18 percent of actual US requests were made over a Wi-Fi connection in September 2009 compared to only 5 percent in September 2008.
Devices running on the Android Operating System (OS) accounted for 17 percent of smartphone traffic in AdMob’s network in the US in September 2009, up from 13 percent in August 2009. The HTC Dream (G1) was the number three device and the HTC Magic was the number 10 device in September 2009 in the US. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob’s network came from applications.

This data is based on usage of handsets and smartphone devices during the month of September 2009 in AdMob’s network of more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications. AdMob market share is calculated by the percentage of requests received from a particular handset; it is a measure of relative mobile Web and application usage and does not represent handset sales. Additional details and regional data are available in the full September 2009 report.

AdMob stores and analyzes handset and operator data from every ad request in its network to optimize ad serving. Each month, the AdMob Mobile Metrics Report aggregates this data to provide insights into major trends in the mobile ecosystem. Visit AdMob’s Metrics Report site (http://metrics.admob.com) to access the full September 2009 report, view past reports, or sign up to get an email notification when future reports become available.

About AdMob

AdMob is the world's largest mobile advertising platform, serving more than 8.5 billion mobile banner and text ads per month across a wide range of leading mobile Web sites and applications. AdMob helps advertisers connect with a relevant audience of consumers on mobile devices and gives publishers the ability to effectively monetize their mobile traffic. Incorporated in April 2006, AdMob provides the tools, data, and business models fueling the explosive growth of mobile media in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide.

AdMob has been named one of the most innovative companies in advertising and marketing in 2009 by Fast Company magazine, a 2008 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and one of Wired.com's 2008 Companies to Watch. AdMob works with thousands of advertisers and publishers, including Adidas, CBS News, Comedy Central, Gap, Lonely Planet, MovieTickets.com, MySpace, P&G, Tapulous, and Universal Pictures. To learn more about AdMob, visit www.admob.com.

¹ Please see AdMob Monthly Metrics Report – April 2009 for more details.