Attn. Marketers: Searches On Tablets, Smartphones Just About Even

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

A new report shows that search spending growth on smartphones outpaced growth on tablets by over three to one, making the two types of devices almost equal as sources for searches.

The quarterly report, released by IgnitionOne, looks at the search spending trends among marketers in the United States, tracking more than 106 billion impressions and more than 3.2 billion clicks in the reports. 

Marketers now divide their advertising resources almost equally between smartphones and tablets, according to the new study. The search spending on smartphones increased 173 percent in the second quarter of 2014 compared to the second quarter of 201, while advertisers increased their search spending on tablet ads 47 percent.

The balance between search spending on smartphones and tablets is now almost equal, with 51% being spent on tablets and 49% being spent on smartphones.

Overall search spending rose almost 10 percent from the same quarter in 2013, although actual quarter over quarter (QoQ) growth was flat.

Smartphones and tablets now account for 27 percent of the total search spending in the United States. In the second quarter, smartphone growth accelerated from the 79 percent growth for search spending in the first quarter of 2014, while tablet search spending growth shrunk from 107 percent.

Meanwhile, Google regained the engine market share, while the Yahoo! Bing Network lost some ground in the US search market share, down to 21 percent of spend versus Google’s 79 percent, reversing several previous quarters’ modest growth.  This is the widest gap since quarter 2 2013.

As marketers move to Google Shopping Campaigns by August, quarter 2 Product Listing Ads made up 32 percent of total search spend, 24 percent  of total clicks and 27 percent of total impressions for marketers who use both PLAs and paid search. Product Listing Ads feature product images and prices from merchants prominently in the central area of a Google search results page. They replaced free comparison shopping listings.

The device breakdown provided in the report is significant because it does not show smartphones closing the gap in PLAs as they have with traditional search ads.

The study also found that programmatic display spend increased 221 percent over Quarter 2 2013, and display also say YoY increases in impressions (150 percent), clicks (146 percent), and conversions (132 percent), all due to marketers moving additional budget to these ads that have produced excellent, trackable results.

Facebook Exchange (FBX) took about 18 percent of display ad spend in the quarter, up from 8 percent in Q2 2013, per the report. FBX served about 42% of programmatic display impressions, generating 66 percent of clicks and 36 percent of conversions. The social site also continues to grow tighter with search companies, such as Kenshoo, which Facebook named a winner in its innovation competition honoring Preferred Marketing Developers.

 “Our clients closely track ROI and will follow results when deciding where to spend their next dollar,” says Roger Barnette, president of IgnitionOne. "It is because of this sophistication we are seeing the shifts in budget toward the most efficient performance areas like smartphones and FBX for their additional budgets.”