Millennial Media: Android OS Grew By 47 Percent In July, iPad Requests Up 327 Percent

Mobile ad network Millennial Media is releasing its monthly mobile mix report today. According to Nielsen, Millennial’s ads reach 63 million of a total of 77 million mobile web users in the U.S., or 81% of the U.S. mobile web. In July, Android OS grew at a faster clip than in June, with requests increasing by 47 percent, compared to a 23 percent growth in the previous month. Since January, Android OS requests have grown 690 percent. Android has also surpassed RIM to became the number two OS on the Millennial network (surpassing RIM).

Apple ad requests increased 24 percent month-over-month, and are up 15 percent since January. However, iPad requests continue to show massive growth, rising 327 percent in July. RIM ad requests increased 18 percent month-over-month, rising 66 percent since January.

In terms of ad impressions, Apple’s OS remained the leading Smartphone OS on Millennial’s network in July with a 55 percent share of impressions and an 1 percent drop month-over-month. Android was the second largest Smartphone OS, representing a 19 percent share of impressions for June, increasing by 8 percent from last month. RIM’s OS fell to third place after 11 consecutive months in the second spot, representing 16 percent of impressions, dropping by 1 percent from June

When splitting ad impressions by device manufacturer, Apple remained at the top of the list with approximately 35 percent share of impressions in July. RIM maintained its number three position in the Top 15 Manufacturers for the fifth consecutive month and represented over 10 percent share of impressions for the month. Nintendo broke into the manufacturer list for the first time, which Millennial attributes to the introduction of school age games on its devices for the summer.

Android devices represented six of July’s Top 20 Mobile Phones. The Motorola Droid moved into the top three with 5 percent impression share. The Motorola Cliq Android device also entered into the Top 20 for the first time. Of the top 20 mobile phones on Millennial’s network, 12 were smartphones, which represented 47 percent impression share in Jule. RIM took the number two spot on the device list with the Curve.

This month, the U.S. Carrier Mix data showed diversity of the Mobile Web. In July, five different carriers, including Verizon, Sprint and At&T all had a 10% share of impressions or greater on Millennial’s network.

In terms of mobile app interaction, RIM apps represented 11 percent of the U.S. Developer Platform
Usage Mix in July, up 9 percent since June. Last month, Apple’s platform was used 100 percent of the time by multi-platform developers. Android came in second with 75 percent and RIM in the third position with nearly half developing for their platform.

Gaming apps placed in the number one spot for the third consecutive month and accounted for 47% of app revenue on Millennial in July. Music–related apps moved from the sixth position on the Top Mobile App list in June to the number three spot in July, representing nearly 9 percent of app revenue. Shopping & Retail–focused apps jumped into the Top Ten Mobile App Categories for July at number eight. And Home & Family apps entered the Top Ten App Categories for the first time since May.

As one of the largest mobile ad networks in the space, the under-the-radar Millennial has been growing like gangbusters. Millennial bought mobile metrics and analytics firm TapMetrics earlier this year and is planning to make more acquisitions in the future. And the Baltimore-based company is now planning to IPO next year, CEO Paul Paulieri told us last month.

The long-term effect of Apple’s iAd platform on the space is still a big question on everyone’s minds. While some advertisers are praising iAds for performing well for both advertisers and publishers, some developers are frustrated with the how controlling the platform is when it comes to design and creativity.

And there is still the looming question of how Apple’s apparent iAd policies on outside networks advertising will play out. While the policy initially was thought to have excluded Google’s AdMob from serving ads on the iPhone, we heard last month that AdMob ads are still being served the iPhone.

But Millennial seems confident with its place in the mobile advertising space; and doesn’t seem to be worried about iAds or competing against Google.