Q2 2016 Mobile First Insights Report

M O B I L E F I R S T I N S I G H T S
A quarterly mobile marketing report from Opera Mediaworks
The world’s highest quality mobile advertising and marketing platform
Q 2 • 2 0 1 6

4 The Pace of Mobile Growth
5 Most Popular App Categories
6 Top Apps by Engagement & Conversion
8 Mobile Brand Performance
12 Beyond the App Install
13 The Power of the SDK
15 Mobile Manpower
17 Common Obstacles in Performance Creative
18 Tips for Brand Performance Advertisers
21 Methodology
M O B I L E F I R S T I N S I G H T S | Q 2 2 0 1 6
2 | w w w . o p e r a m e d i a w o r k s . c o m
H I G H L I G H T S
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
DATA
Mobile users are spending nearly 10% more time each day in the most
popular apps, and brands in the Retail, Food, Automotive and Technology
industries are investing heavily in performance campaigns served to mobile
devices.
TECHNOLOGY
Brands looking to build an audience of high-quality users can leverage
up to 22 post-install events to build lifetime value models to accurately
measure the efficiency of their performance dollars.
CREATIVITY
Brand performance advertisers face a unique set of challenges when it
comes to mobile creative. But by thinking beyond their logo, putting value
front and center to the user, and carefully adapting elements to the mobile
medium, they can optimize creative for maximum impact.

D ATA
T H E PA C E O F M O B I L E G R O W T H
T O P 1 0 0 A P P S , Q 2 2 0 1 6 - A V E R A G E M E T R I C S 1
( G L O B A L )
“In just three months, we’ve seen the time spent per
day jump nearly 10% to reach 33.5 minutes per day.”
In the beginning of 2016, both Gartner and IDC
reported* that the pace of global device shipments
was slowing down, dipping to single-digit annual
growth levels in Q1, which indicated that the
volume of mobile devices was no longer exploding.
While that might concern hardware manufacturers,
it soon became clear that while the pace of
device growth was slowing down, the volume of
mobile use by the average global consumer was
increasing – and at a far faster pace than anyone
was predicting.
By the end of 2015, mobile was responsible for
65% of digital media time in the United States, and
that time was dominated by apps, which accounted
for 58% of total media time.**
We found in our own data, too, that worldwide mobile
users were spending an inordinate amount of time –
30 minutes a day – in mobile apps that fell into the Top
100 ranking on our platform, as measured by Monthly
Average Users (MAU).
This quarter, we discovered that on a micro-level,
mobile use continues to grow steadily. In just three
months, we’ve seen the time spent per day jump 9.4%
to reach 33.5 minutes per day. The average session
time also increased by 10.8% and is now 9.4 minutes.
This significant quarterly growth shows us that the
importance of the mobile device in the daily life of
today’s consumer is increasing – and at an even
greater pace than that of mobile media ad spend.
DAU MAU Sessions Sessions Time (secs) Sessions Time (mins) Time / Day (mins) Time / Month (hrs)
1,237,514
+4.4%
8,178,810
-5.1%
3.63
+0.8%
565.2
+10.8%
9.42
+10.8%
33.5
+9.5%
16.7
+2.5%
1
Averages of the Top 100 mobile apps on the Opera Mediaworks platform.
2
Percentage difference from Q1 2016
*Source: Gartner and IDC
**Source: comScore, 2016 US Cross-Platform Future in Focus

D ATA
0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
N E W S & I N F O R M AT I O N A P P S A R E N O . 1 F O R I M P R E S S I O N S
T H E M O S T P O P U L A R A P P C AT E G O R I E S B Y I M P R E S S I O N S
News & Information
Games
Social Networking
Communication services
Sports
Arts & Entertainment
Music, Video & Media
Technology & Computing
Health & Fitness
Lifestyle
Shopping
Travel
Productivity
Education
Business, Finance & Investing
Food & Drink
Source: Opera Mediaworks mobile ad platform (U.S.) - June 2016
In June 2016, the News & Information category was no. 1 for impression volume in the United States. More than 1
in 4 impressions served in the United States in June were in apps with daily utility to users, such as weather apps
and a mobile reader for Reddit.

D ATA
5 categories with highest CTR
Education Games SportsLifestyleTravel LifestyleGames Health
&Fitness
Technology
& Computing
Productivity
5 categories with highest conversion rates
E N G A G E M E N T C O N V E R S I O N S
Height of bar indicates relative value over the average CTR or conversion rate of ads served on the Opera Mediaworks platform (U.S.) in June 2016.
E D U C AT I O N , T R A V E L S H O W H I G H C T R ;
G A M E S I S T O P C O N V E R T I N G
The highest engagement levels are seen on ads run in the
Education and Travel categories, with Lifestyle, Games and
Technology & Computing rounding out the Top 5 (CTR).
Once again, Games, Sports and Lifestyle are in the top five
categories for conversions, with Games providing conversion
rates that are well above the platform average. Newcomers
to the Top 5 are Health & Fitness and Productivity.

“Brand advertisers, seeing what mobile DR has to offer – like
deeper audience and measurement capabilities – are beginning
to play in the mobile performance sandbox, too.”
— Bryan Buskas, 5 ways brands will forever alter the mobile performance space
iMedia Connection | May 2016
Bryan Buskas, EVP Global Performance,
Opera Mediaworks
D ATA

The projection that mobile ad spend will eclipse that of desktop this year still stands, and even halfway through 2016, we
seem on track to meet that milestone. But where is this spending going within mobile? Just one year ago, response still
ruled the roost, accounting for at least 60% of digital advertising dollars – and some industries, such as Retail, Automotive
and Financial Services, were allocating an even higher percentage to DR.
Interestingly enough, at the same time, eMarketer reported that the same brand advertisers that were focusing on DR were
also directing their investments into the mobile medium. Retail, Financial Services and Automotive brands are the top three
spenders in mobile advertising.
D ATA
Healthcare and pharma
Other
Entertainment
Media
CPG and consumer products
Travel
Telecom
Financial services
Retail $6.65
$3.49
$3.43
23.2%
12.1%
12.0%
Source: eMarketer, May 2015 (via Ad Age)
Note: Total mobile ad spending equals $28.72 billion; includes classified, display (banners and other, rich media and video), email,
lead generation, messaging-based and search advertising; ad spending on tablets is included.
M O B I L E I S P R I M E F O R P E R F O R M A N C E
U . S . M O B I L E A D S P E N D I N G B Y I N D U S T R Y
In billions and percentage of total

This is no coincidence. Fortune 1000 brands in these three verticals are seeing massive impact from their mobile response
campaigns.
And, looking at data from the Opera Mediaworks platform, we found supporting evidence that both Retail and Automotive
brands are some of the largest spenders in performance-based mobile advertising. More importantly, these two categories
show the most consistent growth pattern over the past year.
Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 2016 Q2 2016
Food Delivery / QSR
Retail
Business, Finance & Insurance
Automotive
Entertainment
Technology
Travel
Typical Q4 spike across most verticals
D ATA
B R A N D P E R F O R M A N C E S P E N D B Y I N D U S T R Y,
Q 3 2 0 1 5 - Q 2 2 0 1 6

We found that two other types of advertisers
came out on top when it comes to overall spend:
Technology / Gadgets (24.3%) and Food Delivery /
Quick Service Restaurants (23.4%).
Large technology companies are competing for
buyers of both hardware, such as phones and other
gadgets, and software solutions, mostly mobile
apps. Within the latter category, tech companies are
seeing the most success with apps that offer daily
utility to the user, such as those that increase photo
storage or track stocks.
The other king of mobile performance, Food
Delivery / QSR, arose toward the end of 2015 and
has been a top vertical throughout the first half of
2016. One of the unique challenges of this industry
is the existence of multiple KPIs; these brands are
looking to do much more than drive app installs.
Many QSR brands want to drive post-install user
action (email registrations, coupon downloads),
which adds two more elements to optimize. But it
doesn’t stop there: The final KPI is lift in traffic to
brick-and-mortar locations, which is achieved by
(and measured by) in-store coupon redemptions.
These are the advertisers that are recognizing the
value of performance-based advertising on mobile
– and seeing significant returns on their investment.
But, as marketers get better at measurement
and attribution, the lines between performance
spending and branding are blurring, and we believe
that not only will the current leaders continue to
reinvest, but brands in other verticals such as Travel
and Entertainment will begin to more fully adopt
performance advertising tactics as part of their
mobile strategy, too. Particularly as we head into
American football season (NFL), advertisers should
keep their eye on fantasy sports apps, as many of
those will see major spikes in daily use and levels of
ad engagement.
1 0 | w w w . o p e r a m e d i a w o r k s . c o m
D ATA
T O TA L S H A R E O F A D S P E N D B Y I N D U S T R Y,
Q 3 2 0 1 5 - Q 2 2 0 1 6
Food Delivery / QSR, 23%
Retail / E-commerce, 15%
Business, Finance & Insurance, 11%Automotive, 15%
Entertainment, 9%
Technology / Gadgets, 24%
Travel, 2% Other, 1%

App install is still the core metric of most
performance campaigns, even outside of the Gaming
vertical. Many mobile-first companies, such as Uber,
Twitter and HotelTonight, are heavily focused on
app download volume as their advertising strategy
is focused around increasing their app’s footprint
among mobile users.
However, many brands, like the QSR example
previously mentioned, are looking beyond the app
install and optimizing for post-install events that add
to the value of each user. Each industry, and each
brand for that matter, has a different definition for
a “high-quality user.” Those focused on app installs
(e.g., Gaming) look at a combination of retention
and in-app purchases, or iAP, and build out their LTV
models from those two metrics.
When a brand doesn’t have as many data points
because app use is not as regular and iAP
transactions are slim, which is common outside of
Gaming, measurement becomes more difficult. As
a result, brands will often turn to metrics around
session behavior, such as
• The number of sessions in the first week
• Average session duration
• Stability/instability and growth/decline of
session duration for each user
• Registrations
T E C H N O L O G Y
B E Y O N D T H E A P P I N S TA L L
This is where post-install events come into play. Mobile marketers have a plethora of post-install events they can
optimize for to push users through the funnel and build their lifetime value. And tracking these events gives them
data points they can then correlate to LTV.
“Advertisers are more capable of tracking and understanding all these downstream
events with the help of more sophisticated attribution and analytics solutions. The
best buyers are optimizing to these events at the channel level and focusing spend
on sources that can deliver results.”
—Kevin Teng, Senior Director, Performance Advertising
P O S T- I N S TA L L E V E N T O P T I M I Z AT I O N
R E TA I N E N G AG E M O N E T I Z E
App Open Session Transaction/Purchase
Install Search Reservation
Activation Content View Add to Wishlist
Registration Tutorial Completion Add to Cart
Login Level Achieved Checkout Initiated
App Rated Achievement Unlocked Payment Info Added
App Update Social Sharing Purchase Amount
Opera Mediaworks Core™ engine uses post-install event (PIE) data to improve campaign performance with optimally targeted
ads to lookalike audiences.

T E C H N O L O G Y
A global QSR chain partnered with Opera Mediaworks to drive app installs and post-install actions.
P E R F O R M A N C E C A S E S T U D Y: Q S R
O B J E C T I V E
Increase QSR app’s footprint amongst mobile users. Drive user action in-app
and increase in-store traffic through brick and mortar coupon redemption.
S U C C E S S M E T R I C
App downloads at targeted CPI rate, in-app email registrations, in-app coupon
download, in-store coupon redemption
O P E R A M E D I A W O R K S ’ S O L U T I O N
• Worked closely with agency and client’s third party reporting provider to
tag in-app events crucial to driving campaign objectives and optimization.
Tracking post-install events ensured performance data was being collected
at the site and audience level.
• Using Opera Mediaworks’ proprietary optimization algorithm, we
matched patterns and behaviors of common converters while building and
employing look-a-like model targeting to increase delivery to users who
matched similar demographics and patterns of behavior, thereby increasing
campaign performance and media efficiency.
#1
Partner in volume
of downloads
#1
Partner for percent of
total in-store coupon
remption
44%
Below targeted CPI

T E C H N O L O G Y
T H E P O W E R O F T H E S D K
In performance advertising, machine-learning is
what makes the difference between a mediocre
campaign and a top performer. The algorithm is
everything – but like all artificial intelligence, it is
only as good as what you put into it. If you feed
your algorithm with 100% accurate data signals,
you can identify patterns of behavior and create
highly-refined, scalable lookalike models on
which to base campaign targeting.
Furthermore, by tracking post-install events,
brands can understand which users are the most
valuable to them in the long run, and then focus
on the tactics they used to attract those types of
users.
While it is possible to obtain accurate data signals
and to track post-install events using a source
other than a mobile ad SDK, that source must
be trustworthy. As seen in the graphic, when
the publisher is using the mobile ad SDK of the
advertising partner, that accuracy is ensured.
Direct connection with publishers
→ ensures inventory quality
→ optimal ad placement
Captures accurate data signals
→ feeds the algorithm
→ improves targeting capabilities
Track post-install event
→ Understand conversion drivers
→ Optimize to attract highest quality users
“The brand performance space is no different from the traditional brand world; the
technology platform you partner with matters. The SDK ensures a level of tracking
and targeting accuracy and efficiency that advertisers need to obtain their desired
outcomes. It’s the difference between being a mobile player, or just playing in mobile.”
—Jude O’Connor, Vice President, Brand Performance

T E C H N O L O G Y
As powerful as a well-fed algorithm is, like any technology, it requires top-notch
people to use it the right way – and to continue to build and improve it. One of
the reasons mobile-first companies have seen such wild success in their app-
install programs is because they have built strong User Acquisition (UA) teams
in-house that can run and optimize campaigns. And those teams continue to
grow, adding more talent that can analyze KPIs and navigate reporting and
attribution structures.
As brands move into performance, working with a partner that has those
dedicated teams in place is what will allow them to compete with every mobile
company, not just other brands, for the best inventory. An expert UA team, for
instance, knows exactly how much to nudge up a Cost Per Install rate to be able
to compete for new inventory sources and boost install volume by as much as
100% – and knowing, too, that as the campaign becomes more competitive,
conversion rates will go up, which will contribute to the exponential volume
increase.
For these mobile teams, user acquisition is not just an initiative, it’s their sole
focus.
5 M O S T C O M M O N Q U E S T I O N S F R O M B R A N D
P E R F O R M A N C E A D V E R T I S E R S
What should I be building into my app to attract users?
Which parts of the app or type of content should we highlight in our ad
campaigns?
What kinds of ad formats should we use – and where, and when?
What is the optimal length for video?
What should our SDK partner tag within the app that represents a high-value
event that represents greater Lifetime Value?
How do we design creative to maximize the Call To Action (CTA) and improve
conversion rates?
M O B I L E M A N P O W E R

C R E AT I V I T Y
M O S T C O M M O N M I S S T E P S
For many brands, putting together a creative campaign for performance can be
more challenging than a traditional brand awareness campaign. In many cases, they
will attempt to repurpose existing creative, such as TV commercials, for the mobile
campaign, but simply porting over these large-format, glossy-style commercials to a
smaller screen is not visually effective.
But if you can’t repurpose those video assets, what can you use? Brands and agencies
are often at a loss for which assets they should create for mobile, but a strong mobile
partner will know how to tap into visual resources they may not have thought to use.
Pulling real-life in-app content such as enticing real estate listings or trendy, colorful
apparel items for sale and displaying that in the background provides a sense of real-
time discovery. We’ve found, too, that in-app footage and messaging around the value
that the app brings to the user is key to “selling” the app.
Another large pain point that brands have around creative production is brand
guidelines. While these are essential to any large brand to ensure consistency
and quality across all consumer touch points, the inability to be flexible with those
guidelines and test never-before-used variations on them is a significant obstacle to
creating the best campaign possible. Why? Because if the brand cannot alter various
elements of the mobile creative, it cannot conduct real A/B testing to find out which
versions are resulting in the highest conversion rate – and thus optimize the campaign
accordingly.
After working with hundreds of performance campaigns for both mobile-first companies
and Fortune 1000 brands, our creative team has established best practices that will
both safeguard brand identity and also maximize efficiency and performance of rich
media display and video ads.

C R E AT I V I T Y
M O B I L E C R E AT I V E : T I P S F O R B R A N D P E F O R M A N C E A DV E R T I S E R S
E V E R Y B R A N D H A S
A S TO R Y.
Even if you’re not a gaming or entertainment
company, you have assets beyond just your logo.
Think about your customers and your brand story
as you brainstorm new, mobile-only assets. Or, pull
from existing assets, but be “creative” in their use.
Mobile offers the ability to bring your brand story to
life with sight, sound and motion – and that is key
for maximizing effectiveness and conversions.
X- F A C T O R
Personalized experience: “Draw your custom
search area”
D I F F E R E N C E I N E F F E C T I V E N E S S
(■Opera creative vs. ■Client creative)
Conversion rate 2.8X
Install rate 2.8X
CTR 1.1X

P U T VA LU E F R O N T
A N D C E N T E R .
Your creative should always immediately answer
the potential user’s question, Why should I
download this? Deliver the story of the app in use
and show how it brings value to the user, not the
story of your brand.
X- F A C T O R
Tells the whole story: Snap a picture, list item,
discover listed items nearby, close transaction – all
in 27 seconds.
D I F F E R E N C E I N E F F E C T I V E N E S S
(■Opera creative vs. ■Client creative)
Conversion rate 4X
Install rate 1.2X
CTR 1.1X
C R E AT I V I T Y

C R E AT I V I T Y
A DA P T E L E M E N T S
TO M O B I L E .
T E X T O V E R L AY, N O T V O I C E O V E R .
Don’t assume the sound will be on! The background
music should therefore not be essential to the
overall impact of the creative, and any messaging
should be written in large text, preferably as
“bubbles” that pop up on the screen to catch and
hold the user’s attention.
M A K E I T Q U I C K .
The pace of the creative, whether it’s a video or an
animated display ad, should be fast. Mobile users
do not wait around for you to get to your point.
BEST VIDEO LENGTH =23-29 SECONDS.
For some straightforward apps in less competitive
categories, it’s even shorter: 17-18 seconds. *For
more tips on optimizing creative for app install
campaigns, see our Q2 2016 Creative Best
Practices study.
Seconds

M E T H O D O L O G Y Q 2 B Y T H E N U M B E R S
Other information contained in this report comes from third-
party sources:
Gartner:
Global Smartphone Sales, 2015 report
IDC:
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 2016 forecast
comScore:
2016 US Cross-Platform Future in Focus
eMarketer:
U.S. Digital Ad Spending Estimates, by Industry & Objective, 2015
All data cited as coming from “the Opera Mediaworks
global ad platform” is based on aggregated
information obtained from Opera Mediaworks mobile
advertising platform and mobile ad exchange servers.
The data presented represents track and monetization
metrics and statistics compiled across multiple
advertising campaigns delivered to us by our mobile
publisher customers. The data includes ads requested
from and delivered by us on behalf of multiple ad
networks as well as directly sold campaign created
by our customers themselves. Country-level details
(e.g., United States only) are based on IP addresses of
the originating ad requests as forwarded to us by our
mobile publisher and app developer customers.
5000+ Apps (at least 100 requests)
added every month to our network
170 Apps added every day
New app added every 9 minutes
L A R G E S T A D S D K F O O T P R I N T I N T H E T O P 1 0 0 0 A P P S A F T E R G O O G L E

M O B I L E F I R S T I N S I G H T S
info@operamediaworks.com
Please direct media inquiries to: press@operamediaworks.com

Q2 2016 Mobile First Insights Report

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