As I walked to the grocery store with my friend the other day, he pointed how glued I was to my smartphone. I “obviously” had to check the Facebook notifications on the live video I created earlier in the day, only to get distracted by the latest posts on my feed. But as soon as I put my phone in my pocket, I immediately took it out again to search for dinner recipe ideas on Google. Mobile allows me to stay connected to friends and get all the information I need right at my fingertips, so this week’s advertising insights show how Google and Facebook are taking over mobile.

In her latest internet trends report for 2016, Mary Meeker and KPCG shows how Google and Facebook combined capture 76% of internet advertising spend -- all other digital platforms and ad serving networks combine for just a quarter of the pie. Facebook’s ad revenue grew by an amazing 59% while Google grew by yet another 18% year-over-year. With the massive dominance of these two platforms, it is clear that advertisers see the value. Combine your customer data with Facebook and Google ads to boost your ROI by targeting your best customers, acquiring new customers with lookalike audiences, or save ad dollars by suppressing audiences you don’t want to target.

A major reason that Facebook and Google lead in both digital advertising revenue and revenue growth is because they top the charts for mobile app users. According to Nielsen, Facebook and Google combine to own all of the top eight mobile apps in 2015! Because of the ubiquity of single sign on across these apps, with Facebook and Google you can target the same person across multiple devices, and these companies are both well-positioned to continue to dominate in an era of mobile-first consumers. In fact, 82% of Facebook’s revenue last quarter was from mobile.  

Facebook itself published a new study last week on the dominance of mobile for the upcoming Olympics. This can be describe as the first truly mobile-first Olympics; half of everyone interested in the games will watch replays on their mobile devices, and two-thirds will use a mobile device to look for news about the games. If you are already planning a TV advertising campaign for the Olympics, consider supplementing it with a mobile video advertising campaign to share your message across multiple channels where your customers spend their time.

To learn more about the opportunities that exist on Facebook with mobile, check out our whitepaper!