Advertising is a strong source of revenue for many digital products, may that be blogs, online magazines and newspapers, or apps. So it goes without saying publishers (websites owners, app developers, etc.) want to be able to monetize the best possible way they can. According to a study conducted by Opera Software, the company that brings us Opera web browsers, ads on iOS make more money than ads on any other mobile platform.

Opera Software runs its own Opera mobile ad network which serves ads from over 100 different advertising networks. Opera conducted a study based on the data it garnered from its ad network during Q2 of 2012. Results of that study show that ads on iOS has an eCPM (effective cost per 1,000 impressions — the money publishers make per 1,000 times the ad is shown; the higher eCPM, the better it is for publishers) of $2.49 followed by $2.10 of Android. Breaking that iOS number down further, the iPhone has an eCPM of $2.85 while the iPad has an eCPM of $3.96. Correlating with this higher eCPM, iOS commands 46.53% of traffic but 61.41% of revenue whereas Android has 24.43% of traffic and 26.56% of revenue.

All the above data is good but what does it mean in layman terms? Are Apple’s iAds more valuable than Google’s Mobile AdSense? No, not exactly. Opera is not saying iAds have higher eCPM than Mobile AdSense; Opera is not valuing any ad network over the other. What Opera is telling us is, according to this study, iOS users click on and/or interact with ads (ads from any network, they don’t necessarily have to be from iAds or Mobile AdSense) more than Android users. (This, of course, is inline with an earlier story we ran that said Mac users click on ads more than Windows users.) As a result, displaying ads to iOS users is more valuable for publishers than Android users. This data may not have wide-spread implications for apps but it will surely affect website content with websites looking to cater more towards iOS content to attain that higher-quality ad traffic.

You can view the full study by Opera Software via the link below:

Opera Software study

[via Forbes]