Today we released the October 2008 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report, our monthly view of the mobile traffic from our network of 6,000 publishers worldwide.  Worldwide requests increased 14 percent to 5.8 billion and we saw greater than 5 percent growth in all of our Top 10 markets.

The iPhone has finally taken over the top spot in our network, with a 4.1 percent share of worldwide requests.   In this month’s report, we highlight the wide distribution of iPhone traffic worldwide.  37 percent of traffic comes from outside of the US, with 19 countries sending more than 1 million requests in October.

We also announced that we saw more than 4.5 million unique iPhones in October (based on the serial number and other unique identifiers), this represents a reach of 1 in 3 iPhones in the world.   There were 236 million pageviews from iPhones in October – which means each iPhone in our network generated an average of 52 page views.

We have seen particularly explosive growth following the launch of our unique ad units for iPhone sites and applications in July 2008.  The engaging nature of the iPhone combined with these interactive ad units has gotten both brand and performance advertisers excited and they are running campaigns. In fact, in the last month alone 16 brand campaigns ran on our iPhone network.

Also included in the October Mobile Metrics report is a feature on Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that has doubled in size for us over the last year.  The feature breaks out the top handsets and manufactures for eight of AdMob’s top markets in the region including Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.

Email us at metrics@admob.com if you have any comments on the report or would like to be placed on our email distribution list.

Jason Spero

This month marks the one year anniversary of the AdMob Mobile Metrics Report, our monthly snapshot of the handset data we see from the billions of ads we serve each month.

AdMob’s network has experienced explosive growth in the past year, more than tripling in size.  When we put out the first Mobile Metrics Report last summer, AdMob had just celebrated serving the 5 billionth ad in our history, and this past month alone we served nearly 5 billion!

This growth has truly been worldwide.  Take a quick look at the list on page 3 of report at the growth by countries.  We found it particularly exciting that of the Top 20 countries in this month’s report, 15 of them had their traffic at least double from September 2007 to September 2008.

The iPhone has been a big part of the mobile growth story over this past year, with a real spike in the last couple of months. We see consistently strong usage of this popular device across all of the markets it is available in.  In fact, 40 percent of the 103m iPhone requests are from outside the US, with 14 countries - including Canada, the UK, Japan, and France - sending more than 1 million requests in September 2008.

This international strength is why the iPhone is higher in the worldwide rankings (#4) than in the US (#7). We know there continues to be a lot of interest in the iPhone and will provide a geographic breakout of iPhone traffic in the coming months.

Visit www.admob.com/metrics to download any of the AdMob Mobile Metrics Reports from the past year or send an email to metrics@admob.com to sign up for the monthly email distribution list.

We love to get feedback, so send us an email and tell us what you do or don’t like about the report.

Jason Spero
VP Marketing

Today we released AdMob’s August 2008 Mobile Metrics data. This report provides a snapshot into the manufacturer and device level data we see from the billions of ads we serve in our network each month.

The feature section in this month’s report focuses on smartphones.  The percentage of traffic generated from smartphones has been growing rapidly throughout our network; 25.8% of our worldwide requests now come from these devices.  Nokia dominates the worldwide smartphone market with 62.4% share.  The US market is much more fragmented, with RIM leading the way with 31.2 percent.  Download the August report for more details.

There have been many stories written recently about smartphones, with several research firms (including Gartner, IDC, and NPD Group) putting out notes and share estimates.  For clarification purposes, I wanted to point out the difference in methodology between the market share numbers in the Metrics Report and the market share numbers calculated in many research reports.   Neither methodology is inherently better or worse than the other, but it does affect how you interpret the results and the conclusions you can gather from the data.

The Metrics Report calculates market share based on the share of traffic we see from a device.  In other words, it takes into account the number of devices and the relative usage of the devices when calculating share.  It takes into account all devices actively accessing the mobile web, not just those purchased in a specific timeframe.  This method of tracking market share will most closely resemble the traffic you would see on your mobile site.

Many research reports are based off handsets sold during a specific time period.  For example, this Associated Press article (based on IDC figures) states that Research In Motion had more than a 50% market share in Q2 ‘08 while Apple lost share due to customers waiting to purchase the 3G iPhone.  Calculating share based on handsets sold does help to understand which devices are more popular over a certain time frame, although it doesn’t take into account relative usage of the devices.

Depending on how you are using the data, both methodologies can shed light on the adoption of various devices.  Visit www.admob.com/metrics to access the August 2008 report or any of our archived reports.  Send us an email at metrics@admob.com with any and all feedback you have or if you want to sign up for our monthly distribution list.

Jason Spero
VP Marketing

Today we released our July Mobile Metrics Report.  This report will help you see trends in the mobile ecosystem.  It will help you better understand who is using the mobile web and which devices are getting the most use.  Each month the report breaks down manufacturer, device and country-specific data based on ad requests from our thousands of mobile publishers around the world.

This month the Metrics report focuses on Africa, highlighting traffic and handset data in the top markets of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania.  From Q1′08 to Q2′08, AdMob’s mobile web traffic across Africa increased 21%, with particularly strong growth in Nigeria and Egypt.  Although South Africa still represents over 50% of impressions, mobile Web traffic in Africa is rapidly becoming more diverse.  Nokia dominates the market with a 51% share of traffic, followed by Samsung with 20%.

This month, for the first time, the report includes mobile browser share.  Nokia and Openwave are the top browsers worldwide with 34% and 29% share, respectively.  Globally Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm, and Safari (Apple) all had less than 5% market share.   Nearly half of Windows Mobile traffic came from HTC devices such as the Dash and the Touch.

This month we also added Philippines to the Metrics report due to continuing strong growth in mobile Web usage in the country.  In the Philippines 34% of traffic comes from Smartphones, and over 20% of traffic comes from devices with XL screen size, both metrics significantly higher than other countries.  Interestingly, the Sony PlayStation Portable and iPod touch are both in the Top 20 devices.

Send us an email at metrics@admob.com if you would like to sign up for to receive the monthly newsletter or have any feedback on the report.

Jason Spero
VP Marketing