John Koetsier

Like them or not, ads pay publishers for producing and hosting content that consumers want. Without ads, there's no revenue. Without revenue, there's no content. In this third report in our series on mobile ad blocking, we review how much smartphone owners are willing to pay to not see ads, and what this means for publishers and marketers alike.

The number of smartphone owners using mobile ad blockers is growing, and growing fast. In fact, according to brand-new data from almost 4,000 American and European consumers, the growth rate of ad blocking mobile users more than tripled in the last three months alone.

Scientists in Antarctica are downloading mobile games. Parents in Syria worry about kids using too much tech. Islanders in American Samoa connect with 4G, and sherpas in Nepal chat on their smartphones while lugging 75-pound loads.

What’s happening?

The mobile economy is reaching a global tipping point.

Mobile advertising is already one of the busiest, fastest, and most changeable ecosystems in history. What happens when you throw a massive shopping holiday into the mix?

We wanted to know. So we studied 700 million ads on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

We’re in the middle of the most massive media shift in history, and brands are lagging behind.

While 2.1 billion mobile users have downloaded over 350 billion apps, time on device grew 76 percent last year, and we are spending more time on our phones than watching TV, brands have yet to completely embrace mobile advertising. That’s led to what Mary Meeker has called a $25 billion opportunity gap in mobile ads.

But some brands aren’t waiting. And they’re discovering how to win.

We surveyed 375 mobile developers with over 900 million monthly average users to find the best mobile marketing automation platforms. Then we analyzed 1.8 million apps in Google Play and the iOS app store, conducted 23 live interviews, and surveyed 23 MMA providers.

I studied 1.8M apps and 230 app publishers to discover the best mobile app analytics solutions available.

230 app developers with 9,000 apps and 397 million MAU told us what works best in mobile user acquisition.

The results are surprising:

A method that only 5% of developers like results in the best users: high LTV users worth $26 and up. By contrast, the most-favored method provides users who are 66% sub-$10 LTV, and 17% zero LTV.

What do successful developers do differently? Simply put, they use different strategies, and different ad companies. Based on a study of 176 developers with 300 million downloads and $600 million in annual revenue.

47 pages, 5,600 words, 30+ charts and graphs

Companies covered:
Google, Flurry, Chartboost, Tapjoy, AdColony, Apple, Upsight, Millennial Media, NativeX, SponsorPay, Vungle, MoPub, Tapjoy, and others. We studied 51 companies and 18 different monetization options.

No Other Gods is my first science fiction novel.

It's an exploration of the juxtaposition of two quotes, one from legendary scientist and author Arthur C. Clarke, who said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," and one from the Old Testament, which says "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me."

It's 95,000 words, 315 pages, and has all 5-star reviews on Amazon (so far!).