Google Has 49 Pct Of Mobile Ad Revs, Just 18 Pct Of Time Spent

Google makes more than its “fair share” of mobile ad revenue based on time spent with Google mobile properties, whereas Facebook’s revenues are in line with time spent. That’s according to data published by Flurry, relying on ad revenue estimates from eMarketer.

The chart below contains eMarketer’s global revenue projection for mobile advertising. According to these estimates, Google will bring in more than $14.5 billion in mobile revenue in 2014, while Facebook will generate just under half of that or roughly $6.8 billion.

Flurry’s report found that mobile users spend 86 percent of their time in apps and 14 percent of time with the mobile web (browser). Of browser time, users spent half that time (7 percent) with Safari and 5 percent with Google’s various mobile browsers.

Facebook is far and away the dominant mobile app with 17 percent of time spent. Google’s YouTube captures a much smaller 4 percent of time spent. The Google search app is buried, presumably, within “utilities” (collectively 8 percent).

While Google is probably uniquely positioned among mobile properties and publishers in some respects (brand, search, cross-platform assets) the first chart above argues that some mobile ad money should flow from Google toward the broader app ecosystem in the future.

However, like TV in the traditional media world, Google will probably hold on to a larger share of mobile revenues than its engagement/time spent metrics would otherwise justify.