Close to 95% of national advertiser campaigns now use some form of location targeting in mobile, says xAd in its 2012 year-in-review report. The study notes that locally-targeted campaigns performed significantly better than industry standard metrics. Among the available audience targeting tactics, search behavioral targeting providing the biggest lift, at 60%. Close behind, place-based targeting showed a 55% lift over the benchmark.
Throughout 2012, though, place-based targeting (targeting users that are in or around specific places of business) was the most popular form of audience targeting, leveraged in 67% of campaigns. Comparatively fewer used search behavioral targeting (20%), although it grew 212% between Q1 and Q4, faster than any other form.
The study reveals that advertisers became much more sophisticated during the year: the percentage of campaigns using standard geo-targeting (zip, city, DMA) dropped from 64% in Q1 to just 13% in Q4. At the same time, the proportion using geo-precision (such as geo-fencing and geo-specific behavior targeting) tripled from 27% to 81%. Verve Mobile noted a similar trend in its year-in-review study.
Other Findings:
- Restaurants were the top search category for 2012, followed by travel, health and beauty, retail, and professional services.
- The top advertising categories for the year were telecom, financial services/insurance, and travel.
- New York was the top city for mobile search activity, though the South led regionally with 4 of the top 10. And while San Francisco was the most targeted city for mobile ads (in terms of impressions served), the South and the Midwest tied for regional honors.
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