by

Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 16, 2018

Apple Search Ads jumped into the Top 5 ranking in the 2017 edition of the Singular ROI Index to capture a larger share of digital marketing budgets.

The search newcomer leaped from

No. 10 in 2016 to No. 4, which means the ads delivered the fourth-highest ROI on iOS in 2017, according to a report that ranks top-performing ad channels driving the highest ROI on iOS and Android.

In the Americas, Apple’s search ads drove the second-highest return on investment (ROI) on iOS — surpassed only by Facebook, according to the Index. Apple’s search ads also captured a larger share of mobile marketing budgets, rising from No. 23 to No. 6 for the highest-volume media source on iOS as measured by total ad spend.

“If you think about it ASA has become a necessary channel many must consider, because if they don’t a competitor will take that position away from them,” said Susan Kuo, cofounder and chief operating officer at Singular.

“I know the Apple search ads work very well for marketers, but to rise to the number two spot behind Facebook in the Americas during their second year of business is pretty amazing,” Kuo said. “Number two is a coveted position.”

Singular’s ranking analyzes the top-performing mobile media sources based on 30-day ROI for iOS and Android, leveraging a large data set for cost, revenue, and fraud. It takes into consideration $1 billion in revenue data from more than 1,700 apps with 315 million installs and combines this with insights from Singular’s Fraud Index to evaluate more than 1,200 mobile media sources.

AdWords also took back the lead spot from Facebook on Android in 2017. Singular attributes this move partly to the massive awareness efforts behind Universal App Campaigns (UAC). And while AdWords held the top spot in Americas and APAC on Android, Facebook beat AdWords in EMEA.

The index also notes that Snapchat entered the ranking on iOS in the No. 6 spot, driving the highest ROI for the Non-Gaming category and the fifteenth-highest ROI across all verticals.

Twitter also did well, with the second-highest ROI across both Android and iOS in the Non-Gaming category.

Vungle, Unity Ads and AdColony also climbed into the Top 5 on Android and iOS in 2017 compared with 2016, according to the report.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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