Chitika: Mobile Local Queries See Higher CTRs

Every once in a while we see affirmations of the general premise that mobile and local ads perform better than non-targeted equivalents (at the risk of sounding obvious).

Mobile ad network Chitika has been measuring ad performance and releasing its findings in various places over the past month, but I’ve only recently been able to catch up with the company. In conversations with head of research Dan Ruby, he tells me that ads served with local search queries see 38 percent higher CTRs than searches that aren’t local.

The data slice even further, when you segment by local searches that happen only on mobile devices. Here, the CTR multiple is even greater with a 68 percent higher rate. This was all based on a sample of 5,374,376 queries across the Chitika advertising network.

This is all a function of user intent and is subject to definitions of what constitutes a local search. Ruby claims it comes down to the company’s proprietary measurements for defining mobile searches and targeting ads accordingly. This is the basis for the Local Ad Exchange (LAX) it launched recently with the intent of going after the local market.

LAX builds on Chitika’s existing ad network which operates both online and in mobile. Its forays into local have also been solidified with a partnership with Yellowbook to resell mobile local ad placements into Chitika’s extensive network of online and mobile publishers.

Expect to hear more from Chitika as it moves further into local, gets written up here and pops up in various ways at our next few conferences.