In-app video spend more than doubles in APAC: Pubmatic

In-app video advertising is on a meteoric rise. Ad spend on the format more than doubled (110%) in APAC in Q4 2019 versus the previous quarter, according to Pubmatic's Quarterly Mobile Index report.

The biggest rise occured in the Americas, where spend on the ad format grew by 156% between Q3 to Q4 2019. Growth was lowest in EMEA, with spend up 50% quarter-to-quarter.

This comes as mobile video is expected to account for 79% of mobile data traffic by 2022, helped by faster network speeds with the advent of 5G, according to a Cisco white paper.

Interestingly, time spent on mobile video is increasingly occupied by long-form video: 83% of time spent watching mobile digital videos is now on programming that is at least 21 minutes long.

As in-app spend grows, so is the technology supporting it. The adoption of first-price auctions and SDK integrations in-app is allowing growth in header bidding transactions. Mobile in-app header bidding spending doubled over last quarter, with strong performance across Android and iOS platforms.

The report is based on PubMatic analysis of 13 trillion advertiser bids that occur on its platform on a monthly basis. The Q4 2019 QMI incorporates impressions, revenue and eCPM data from these reports to provide analysis of key trends within the mobile advertising industry.