Android overtakes iOS in mobile ad revenues

While traditionally iOS has seen higher mobile ad revenues than Android, this trend saw a reversal in the last quarter as per the new State of Mobile Advertising report by Opera Mediaworks. Opera points out that while Android ousted iOS from the top spot in terms of mobile ad impressions or traffic back in the first quarter of 2014, the same period in 2015 saw the platform overtake iOS in terms of ad revenues as well - if only by a very slight margin.

Of course Opera's figures are based on impressions served and revenue generated on its own mobile advertising platform. The company on its Q1 2015 report page said, "For the first time since we started The State of Mobile Advertising report in 2012, Android is leading revenue generation across our platform, albeit by only a fraction of a percentage point."

As per Opera's figures for the first quarter of 2015, Android had a 65.17 percent global share of mobile ad traffic, while iOS had a 22.34 percent share. In terms of ad revenue however, Android had a 45.77 percent share of the market, while iOS had a 45.44 percent share.

BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Phone accounted for 1.87 percent, 3.99 percent, and 0.16 percent of the global mobile ad traffic share respectively, and 1.96 percent, 1.27 percent, and 0.09 percent of the global mobile ad revenue share, respectively. Other platforms made up for the remaining 6.46 percent share of mobile ad impressions, and 5.48 percent of the global mobile ad revenue share.