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Android phones whip iPhone at wooing mobile ad traffic but...

Android generates the most mobile ad traffic to smartphones, though iOS is still the top money maker, says Opera Mediaworks.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
Opera Mediaworks

Android generates more mobile ad traffic for smartphones than does the iPhone, according to a new report from Opera Mediaworks.

Looking strictly at smartphone platforms, Opera found that Android scooped up a 36 percent share of all ad impressions during the fourth quarter of 2013. That number beat the iPhone, which sliced off a 28.7 percent share.

But factor in the iPad and iPod Touch, and iOS is still at top of the heap.

Overall, iOS accounted for 43.4 percent of mobile ad traffic, leaving Android (smartphones and tablets) with 37.7 percent. Further, iOS generated the highest slice of revenue last quarter, taking in 55.7 percent compared with Android's 31.7 percent, the report said. Android's share of revenue is expected to grow this year but isn't likely to surpass Apple's cut.

Global ad traffic is booming, according to Opera, with more than 60 billion ad impressions reaching 425 million consumers each month. And advertisers can thank increased sales of mobile devices. During the three days including and surrounding last Christmas, the number of smartphones and tablets seen by Opera jumped by 13 percent in the US and by 22 percent in Europe.

"2013 was a tremendous year for mobile advertising," Opera Mediaworks CEO Mahi de Silva said in a statement. "Many publishers found their smartphone and tablet traffic eclipse their desktop internet traffic, and some even made more money from mobile advertising when compared to desktop."