Nielsen has compiled new data (through June 30, 2016, using approximately 40,000 Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings campaigns) that shows mobile ad campaigns are improving at their success rate of reaching their target audience. The study shows that the mobile market on-target rate has increased from 49% n 2015 Q1, to 60% through the first half of 2016. The on-target rate is the percentage of the number of ads that were viewed by the target audience out of the total number of ads that made up the marketing campaign.
The data shows that for digital advertising, the total on-target percentage stayed roughly the same, with at 61% last year, and at 59% this year. The data also shows that the broader the target audience of an ad campaign, the less success the campaign would have if trying to reach a female audience. However, the numbers also show that males were more easily reached when using a broader target audience.
Another difference that the data showed was when targeting ages 18-34 and 25-44, there was a higher on-target percentage via mobile versus desktop. However, if the target audience was broadened to 18-44, then there was a higher on-target percentage seen on the desktop platform, rather than the mobile market.