Nanigans, one of the biggest buyers of Facebook ads, is reporting a massive gap on advertising ROI. ROI on iOS is 17.9 higher than on Android. The study focuses on retail segments. Let's think about this for a moment.
Assuming their observation is true and is representative of the general populations, I would suggest 2 points:
1. iOS devices commands a premium in the market. Hence its users are more affluent and have more disposable income. However, people with more income not necessarily more inclined to be swayed by marketing messages. My best guess is that the click through rate could be the same or lower in iOS to Android. However, iOS users have way higher conversion since they have more purchasing power to click that checkout button at the end.
2. If this phenomenon of ROI gap persists against more than retailer type ads, then economics forces would change the prices. If iOS is 17.9 times more effective in ROI, the cost would rise over time when compared to Android. The equilibrium point would be that the ROI are the same on both platform. iOS ads cost more than Android to justify for its effectiveness.
Now let's poke holes in Nanigans' observation:
1. Their ad creative do not do well against Android users. We all know you need to test and optimize the creative in your ads to do well. To the extreme, it means the advertiser are not at all effective in writing ads targeting Android users. Probably because people responsible for writing all those ads are using iOS themselves.
2. Retail business is not the same as game and e-commerce industry. Nanigans' data is by no means designed to be representative. It is limited to be retail-focused and draws data only on ads on facebook platform. Could it be that Facebook is simply better at serving ads and targeting ads on iOS platform than on Android?
Only time will tell if any of the above observation is true. However, economic forces will let people exploit the discrepancies in efficiency. If your ads are doing better in iOS, spend more on iOS. If you are better at Android, do more in Android.
Source of inspiration:
http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/16/facebook-ad-profit-a-staggering-1790-more-on-iphone-than-android/
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