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The social media marketing vendor tracked campaigns for 276 clients in the last quarter and reported Facebook's new mobile ads are already outperforming desktop ads in click-through rates and CPMs by 14 times. Mobile newsfeed ads garnered a 1.14 percent CTR on average. Facebook is banking on the success of mobile ads as well, earning $9.86 for every thousand mobile ads served. That's 13 times more than it receives for desktop ads.

Last but certainly not least, Facebook's recently released News Feed targeting options are delivering significantly better CTR. Mobile ads received CTRs 14 times that of desktop ads, on average. The desktop category, which includes News Feed ads and the ads on the right-hand side, saw the lowest CTR at 0.083 percent. The mobile News Feed, by contract, saw an average CTR of 1.140 percent. How does this compare with Twitter? The smaller social network saw an average CTR of 0.266 percent. This would indicate Facebook's mobile ad CTR is four times that of Twitter's. That's impressive. Other highlights from the report include: Sponsored Stories continue to perform better than standard Facebook Ads: Analysis of 13.8 billion impressions in the first and second quarters of 2012 shows Sponsored Story ads receiving 53 percent higher CTR than standard ads. Cost per fan also saw major improvements with 39 percent savings.

"Facebook is making quick progress in growing its mobile advertising business, according to major ad platform Kenshoo. It sees 20% of all Facebook ad spend going to mobile. That's a big boost from October when Facebook said 14% of its ad revenue came from mobile. Meanwhile, 71% of Facebook ad spend targeted to mobile phones goes to Android, further proving Facebook has to focus more on Google's OS."

"Unsurprisingly, Google is still at the top of the pile: it will account for 56% of all mobile ad sales. Perhaps more surprisingly, Twitter is doing better than Facebook in driving revenues where mobile ads are concerned: the world's biggest social network will make half as much as Twitter in mobile ads this year: $72.7 million versus $129.7 million, the analysts say. However that is bound to be reversed over time: eMarketer predicts that by 2014, Facebook will be making $629.4 million in mobile ads, compared to $444 million for Twitter, putting Facebook at a distant second to Google. Longer term, eMarketer predicts that U.S. mobile advertising will generate sales of $12 billion by 2016."

Mogreet launched the AdStitch mobile advertising service Tuesday, combining high-quality video ads with mobile messaging to help brands easily recoup return on investments. Cox Media Group's Oakland, Calif. television station, KTVU, has been testing a morning weather alert to subscribers along with an ad in the MMS message on mobile phones. The ad in the message typically ranges from five to 15 seconds, but more advertisers want to create shorter clips. The best-performing ad units are shorter, according to Mogreet CEO James Citron. "An automaker knows showing a five- or a 15-second video of a car performs better than 20 characters in text, banner or display ad," Citron said. He believes MMS is the only way publishers can reach 95% of Americans with mobile video.

"Of the 30 brands that have signed on thus far, only five will be running campaigns in the U.S. Twentieth Century Fox, one of two global launch advertisers, will promote its upcoming film Life of Pi with ads in the Xbox Video app, Xbox companion mobile and tablet app SmartGlass app and the Casual Games app, which spans Xbox and Microsoft's desktop and mobile operating systems. And next month the other global launch advertiser, Nissan, will run ads in the Bing and Xbox Music apps. Though it seems the in-app ads are initially only slated to run within Microsoft's own apps, the company said several publishers-such as The Associated Press, Bonnier Corporation, Photobucket, Slacker Radio and The Tribune Company-have agreed to run the units. In announcing the roster of initial advertisers, Microsoft also put out some stats regarding consumer perception of the ad units. The most encouraging stat found that the ads scored a 92 percent in ad recall, but the other numbers suggest brands may prefer consumers forget their ads. Only 39 percent of respondents said they're happy to see advertising within Windows 8, and only 33 percent agreed that advertising on Windows 8 improved their opinion of a brand."

"Big Is Beautiful As smartphone screens get larger, companies have found some success with ads such as "takeovers" that briefly fill all or most of a device's screen. San Francisco app company Fotopedia sells such ads on its iPhone and iPad apps, which let people flip through high-quality photographs of Paris, national parks or wild animals. Marketers including National Geographic and travel websites Jetsetter and Expedia Inc. EXPE -0.23% pay roughly $1 to $1.50 for each user who clicks an ad, which fill a full screen. Like fashion ads in a luxury magazine, the Fotopedia ads appear every 10 "pages" or so of the app. As many as 18% of people who see an ad click on it, said Christophe Daligault, Fotopedia's senior vice president of global operations. On the Web, it isn't unusual for just 1% of people shown an ad to interact with it, marketers said. Still, big ads should be used sparingly, some marketers said. Craig Bierley, director of General Motors Co.'s GM -0.84% Buick advertising, said the auto maker tends to limit takeover ads to major product introductions because otherwise "people might find it annoying.""

The Yankee Group study forecasts that tablets will account for 53% of mobile ad dollars in 2014 compared to 47% for mobile handsets. By 2016, tablets' share of mobile ad sales will rise to 60%. Ads within mobile applications in particular will help to drive growth. Yankee Group found that a quarter (24%) of tablet owners clicked on ads while using apps, and 29% purchased extra content.

"Google earns 56 percent of all mobile ad dollars and 96 percent of mobile search ad dollars, according to eMarketer. The company said it is on track to earn $8 billion in the coming year from mobile sales, which includes ads as well as apps, music and movies it sells in its Google Play store. But the vast majority of that money comes from ads, it said."

The vast majority that clicked on ads was likely to take some action, including receiving a coupon (51%), research a product (49%) or making a purchase (46%). After coupons, ads featuring specific product searching, favorite brands, and location information were most likely to entice smartphone users to interact with them. When it comes to mobile platforms, the study found iOS users trumped Android device owners in ad responsiveness. People using iPhones and iPads were more likely to make a purchase than Android-based users. The findings, presented Monday at the IAB's Mobile Marketplace conference, were based on a survey conducted by ABI Research of 552 U.S. adults who use a smartphone with data service at least once a week, and 563 corresponding tablet users. The sample was split evenly by gender and covered those18 to 65+. The study also emphasized that mobile no longer means merely "on-the-go," with virtually all tablet and smartphone owners using their devices at home-the most common place for mobile activity. Tablets are viewed mainly as media consumption devices;  smartphones are considered "mission-critical" tools that 70% won't leave home without.

"With Promoted Tweets, we've seen engagement rates from 1 to 3 percent on average. On mobile, the engagement rates are even higher," said Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner. Mobile Newsfeed ads on Facebook garnered a 1.14 percent CTR on average, according to TBG Digital. Twitter declined to provide the engagement rates it's generating on mobile, but it has a much narrower gap between CTRs on desktop and mobile than Facebook. Facebook's mobile ads outperform desktop ads in CTRs and CPMs by about 14 times, according to TBG Digital.

A new survey by mobile ad network Greystripe suggests mobile shoppers are more likely to evangelize brands or products than people who prefer to make purchases in physical stores. The study found almost half (49%) of mobile shoppers routinely writing reviews about their product experiences, compared to only 31% of their traditional counterparts.   But if a mobile shopper is unhappy with a purchase, that also indicates they are more likely to complain about it online. The study showed that mobile shoppers are more likely (31%) to visit a brand's Web site or app first when looking for product information than in-store shoppers (24%).

"So, how does a Facebook mobile ad network solve this problem? Easy: Evernote allows its users to sign-up using their Facebook account.  Facebook takes this user ID, and checks the cookies the same user's browser had last time he or she logged into Facebook or visited one of the pages tracked by Facebook's data partners. Facebook then takes the anonymized data about this user (really, many similar users) and sells Evernote ad inventory to advertisers trying to reach that kind of user. If the Facebook mobile ad network works out, it is a big, positive development for several constituencies: Advertisers, who will be able to reach customers on mobile, a platform that is going to be bigger than desktop by the end of the decade. App developers, who will be able to monetize through targeted advertising. Users, who will have more and better apps to use because there will be a better financial for developers to make them."

Tumblr is launching its new mobile ad platform, which will allow brands to advertise their wares from within Tumblr's mobile apps. Tumblr's mobile ads will be clearly marked as sponsored and users will only see four of them per day.

"Specifically, the mobile video ad resulted in 79% general recall, 58% brand recall, 48% message recall, 24% ad favorability and 15% purchase intent. Here's how those figures compared to online and TV across the same five metrics:   General Ad Recall: Mobile video was 2.7 times higher than online; 1.6 times higher than TV. Brand Recall: 4.8 times/online; 5.8 times/TV. Message Recall: 5.6 times/online; 7.5 times/TV. Brand Favorability: 3.4 times higher than both online and TV. Purchase Intent: 2.5 times/online; 3.8 times/TV."

"The company is running its new mobile advertising campaign within The Weather Channel's iPhone application. Home Depot has used mobile advertising in the past to bolster brand awareness and engagement. "By adding store location functionality to the ad unit, the brand expertly displays their understanding and appreciation of the unique contextual requirements of an audience made up of a sizable percentage of likely moving targets," said Scott Forshay, mobile and emerging technologies strategist at Acquity Group."

Leake says LocalResponse will deliver the ads in two ways: If you mention a company on Twitter, you'll receive a response that links to a relevant retailer landing page. Even more impressive, you'll see banner ads in some mobile apps that can expand and show you the store's circular. (The latter feature is only available in-app currently, but Leake says it will be available for the mobile web by the fourth quarter.) I asked if any consumers were weirded out by this very direct ad targeting, but Leake said the response has been overwhelmingly positive. She said that consumers realize their check-in data and social media posts are public (unless they've been locked down). Additionally, LocalResponse is very careful to share intent data only with the relevant brand (so a check-in at Macy's won't be seen by any competitors).

"If these are really the dimensions that matter, why are mobile ad rates so low? This is simply an issue of time and of product and market development. The market is still illiquid and sub-scale, and great ad products haven't had time to develop. I don't know what the new mobile ad products will look like yet, and they won't be one-size-fits-all. But to be great they'll need to act like "content" in the context of an app and will need to be interactive and "push-button remote control" simple."

But it's AOL's own properties the company aims to build up as a go-to premium buy for brand advertisers. Display revenue on AOL properties grew by 2 percent. The company is betting on premium ad formats such as its rich-media laden Project Devil units to entice brands to spend more. AOL reported that more than half of the advertisers who bought the ads in Q1 re-upped this past quarter. Armstrong admitted that last year the company's focus was not data-driven, and stressed the firm's renewed mission to ensure that data - meaning results-related numbers proving the value of buying AOL's ad products - is at the heart of its sales approach. People cannot leave the building without data, said Armstrong. Mobile and video ad revenue are key to future growth for AOL, said Armstrong, who said that last summer 75 percent of insertion orders included both platforms. Today, it's close to 100 percent, he said. The company reported that videos, video views, and video revenue rose at double-digit rates, though it did not break out revenues for video advertising.

"Like seemingly every startup currently exploring an ad-supported business model, Waze has gone native for its ad platform. Typically startups wade into advertising by working directly with brands then erecting a self-serve platform down the road. Waze sped things up. The company began testing ads in its U.S. app over the summer, working directly with Zipcar, Best Buy and a number of fuel brands and convenience store chains; at launch it has added Procter & Gamble, Dunkin' Donuts, Wyndham Hotels, Whole Foods, Jamba Juice, CircleK and Kum & Go to its advertiser roster. The direct sales channel continues, but Waze has also set up a self-serve platform for its most basic ad units. The self-serve platform operates on an auction model with floor prices set at $1 per thousand impressions. In addition to a branded search result, marketers can pay to plot branded pins at their locations on the Waze map. When users click on these branded pins, they can click a link to the company's website, a number to call the location or-borrowing the idea of drive-to advertising popularized by driving navigation company Telenav-a button that would navigate them to the location."