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I think CPCs are declining because mobile is inherently tougher to monetize with the smaller screen real estate and Google not being the default destination for

by IBM 12y ago

I think CPCs are declining because mobile is inherently tougher to monetize with the smaller screen real estate and Google not being the default destination for everything (like they are on desktop). There's lots of competition for attention on mobile and apps are silos out of Google's reach (though they're trying to combat this with app indexing). Paid clicks are growing rapidly, but that seems to be more from them squeezing the pennies out of their desktop properties. There will be a natural limit to the amount of ad inventory they can fill it up with as well. Facebook isn't having the same problems monetizing mobile. I haven't looked too deeply into their results, but last I checked their ad margins are rising rapidly. Facebook ads seem to be a lot more valuable to advertisers than a Google ad, and they have lots of runway with a lot of premier real estate on mobile devices (Instagram, WhatsApp). If the "post-pc" trend continues and people increasingly do their computing on tablets or phones, the future doesn't bode well for Google.

nostrademons 12y ago
The smaller screen space would show up in mobile revenue (which is not broken out by Google, so we don't actually know whether that's happening), but not in mobile CPC. CPC is "cost-per-click", so if fewer ads are shown per page, there will be fewer clicks, which might even drive CPC up if only the highest-quality ads are shown. CPC as a metric is usually used as a proxy of the value of a Google ad to an advertiser; because of the auction system, an advertiser bids only what the ad is worth to them. Facebook has a very different ad strategy on both desktop and mobile. They target brand awareness much more than purchasing intent. As a user, I'm starting to see Facebook ads in my newsfeed of sites I never searched for or Liked on Facebook; AFAICT, they're using cookie data from the advertiser's website itself to inject the ad into your stream, so that you're reminded of the product on a regular basis. I can see why this would be worth a lot to the advertiser (targeted brand advertising!), but as a user, it is creepy and annoying as hell.
- IBM 12y ago
  I'm aware of what CPC is. Screen real estate limits the display ads and are much less compelling on mobile.
_delirium 12y ago
> apps are silos out of Google's reach (though they're trying to combat this with app indexing) They also own AdMob, which is one of the more successful in-app-advertising platforms.

by IBM 12y ago

nostrademons 12y ago

The smaller screen space would show up in mobile revenue (which is not broken out by Google, so we don't actually know whether that's happening), but not in mobile CPC. CPC is "cost-per-click", so if fewer ads are shown per page, there will be fewer clicks, which might even drive CPC up if only the highest-quality ads are shown. CPC as a metric is usually used as a proxy of the value of a Google ad to an advertiser; because of the auction system, an advertiser bids only what the ad is worth to them. Facebook has a very different ad strategy on both desktop and mobile. They target brand awareness much more than purchasing intent. As a user, I'm starting to see Facebook ads in my newsfeed of sites I never searched for or Liked on Facebook; AFAICT, they're using cookie data from the advertiser's website itself to inject the ad into your stream, so that you're reminded of the product on a regular basis. I can see why this would be worth a lot to the advertiser (targeted brand advertising!), but as a user, it is creepy and annoying as hell.

IBM 12y ago
I'm aware of what CPC is. Screen real estate limits the display ads and are much less compelling on mobile.

_delirium 12y ago

> apps are silos out of Google's reach (though they're trying to combat this with app indexing) They also own AdMob, which is one of the more successful in-app-advertising platforms.