Shopping and retail applications experienced a 40 percent growth month-over-month in mobile advertising revenue, according to Millennial Media.

This revenue growth is largely tied to the increase of multi-platform retail brand apps where customers can research and shop on their mobile device. Gaming applications reclaimed the No. 1 spot as the leading application category on Millennial’s network, representing 37 percent of the application revenue in March.

“Shopping and retail applications grew 40 percent month-over-month in March, and placed in the top 10 mobile app categories,” said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore. “As back-to-school buying season approaches, we envision retailers continuing to turn to mobile advertising as a unique way to reach consumers looking to shop.

“When looking at the top platforms by application revenue—iOS held the top spot with a 47 percent share,” she said. “This was partially a result of the increased number of iPad applications—as developers are dedicating more resources to tablet advertising and leveraging the growing connected device space.”

Key findings
When breaking down app revenue by platform—iOS applications represented a 47 percent share on Millennial’s mobile ad network, while Android apps represented a 36 percent share.

Android remained the leading smartphone OS for the fourth consecutive month with a 48 percent impression share—14 of the current top 20 devices run the Android OS.

Connected devices—non-phones such as the iPad, iPod touch and Samsung GalaxyTab—increased 21 percent month-over-month, and now make up 17 percent of the device impression share, compared to 64 percent for smartphones and 19 percent for feature phones.

The BlackBerry Curve reclaimed the No. 2 position in the Top 20 mobile phones, and the BlackBerry Torch grew 23 percent month-over-month.

RIM’s BlackBerry OS experienced a 29 percent growth month-over-month.

The iPhone grew 17 percent month-over-month and iOS grew 11 percent month-over-month.

This was largely tied to the growth of the Verizon iPhone, which accounted for 8.2 percent of iPhone impressions in March.

“As Verizon iPhone adoption increases, we are starting to see a measureable imprint on our network,” Ms. McKelvey said. “The iPhone grew 17 percent month-over-month in March and iOS as a whole grew 11 percent month-over-month.

“This growth may have been tied to the iPhone’s multi-carrier availability,” she said. “Android was once again the leading OS on the our network last month, with a 48 percent impression share.

“The diversity of phones running the Android OS has been a huge factor in Android’s success, and 14 of the top 20 mobile phones on our network last month were running the Android platform.”

Final Take