The ongoing competition between mobile web and apps: which platform will prevail as the prime destination for advertising investments?
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, mobile apps are emerging as the preferred platform for both consumers and advertisers. According to recent studies, US consumers spend more time using mobile devices for apps than watching television, with 89% of media time being spent on apps compared to just 11% on the mobile web [1].
This trend presents a significant opportunity for marketers, who must decide between placing their campaigns on the mobile web (WAP) or within apps. The advantages of in-app advertising are numerous, particularly regarding time spent, attribution, and lifetime value tracking.
Firstly, users typically spend more uninterrupted and engaged time inside mobile apps. Compared to mobile web sessions, apps offer a faster, more seamless, and personalized user experience due to their ability to store data locally and operate offline or with intermittent connectivity [2]. This increased engagement benefits ads displayed in apps, as users are already invested in the app's environment.
Secondly, mobile apps allow for more precise attribution tracking. Apps can use device identifiers, SDKs, and deeper analytics integrations that link marketing interactions directly to user actions within the app, such as installs, purchases, and sessions [2]. In contrast, tracking on the mobile web relies heavily on cookies or browser signals, which are increasingly limited due to privacy constraints.
Thirdly, in-app environments facilitate the continuous tracking of user behavior over time, enabling better calculation of lifetime value (LTV) by monitoring repeat interactions, in-app purchases, and engagement metrics. This enhanced LTV analysis is crucial in evaluating the true value of media spend [2].
The industry's confidence in apps for delivering measurable value is evident in the growing market share of in-app mobile advertising. By the end of 2025, in-app mobile advertising in the US is projected to command a significantly larger share ($188 billion) than mobile web ads ($40 billion) [3].
Tools like Tune (www.tune.com) and Appsflyer (www.appsflyer.com) are essential for marketers seeking to better understand and optimize their advertising spending, focusing on in-app attribution and post-back attribution [4].
In conclusion, mobile apps offer faster, more personalized, and persistent environments that improve user engagement and enable sophisticated attribution and lifetime value tracking models compared to mobile web advertising. This makes in-app advertising a superior channel for marketers targeting mobile users effectively.
References: [1] Mary Meeker's Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers report (2015) [2] IAB (2015) [3] eMarketer (2021) [4] Comscore's 2015 Mobile App Report and various industry reports on mobile advertising trends.
Technology plays a crucial role in this trend, as it enables the development of mobile apps that offer faster, more personalized, and persistent environments, improving user engagement. The advantages of in-app advertising, such as increased engagement, more precise attribution, and better lifetime value tracking, are mainly due to technological advancements.
