Tablet ad CTRs massively outperform smartphones, except in retail and dating

We’ve pretty much reached the stage where tablets and smartphones are no longer lumped together under the mobile umbrella, as each device encourages entirely different user behaviours and outcomes for brands.

For example, we’ve seen a huge amount of evidence which shows that tablets drive more traffic and higher conversions that smartphones.

And just to drive the point home, a new report from Adfonic again underlines the fact that tablets outperform smartphones by almost any advertising measure.

Throughout 2012 Adfonic tracked a steady increase in the number of ad impressions viewed on tablets, rising from 9% in Q2 to 14% in Q4.

This is important for marketers, as the report also shows that clickthrough rates (CTR) for tablets are far higher than on smartphones in both direct response campaigns (such as cost per acquisition, per click, or per impression) and branding campaigns based around cost per thousand (CPM).

As the report points out, these two campaign types would typically involve different creatives or user journeys, yet tablets outperform smartphones for both types.

Adfonic’s data also looks at the CTR for different advertisers verticals. Compared to smartphones, tablets achieve particularly strong CTRs in style/fashion (+106%) lifestyle/health (+99%) and entertainment/media (+81%). 

However, it appears that there is an opportunity for FMCG/retail brands, probably because shoppers are used to looking for store locations and searching product information while on the go.

Dating/social brands also achieve a higher CTR on smartphone than tablet, presumably because people access these sites to kill time while out and about.

The design and usability of tablets means that they are commonly used for leisure and entertainment, so usage peaks in the evenings when people are at home. 

The report shows that ad requests on tablets begin to rise sharply at around 3pm and then spike between 6pm and 7pm, remaining high for the rest of the evening.

Smartphone ad requests also peak in the evening, but at a much lower level than on tablet.