Mobile ad platform StartApp has released the findings of a study into CTRs (clickthrough rates) for in-app ads. The company looked at the performance of ads based on the category of app in which they appeared.

The study is based on usage data garnered from 15bn ad impressions generated within 170,000 apps that are actively using StartApp’s SDK. The data was collected between 1 and 31 May. StartApp studied six of the most common categories of in-app ads. The findings were:

Games
Mobile game ads see high engagement within Productivity apps (20.3 per cent), Medical apps (19.9 per cent), Photo/Video apps (18.3 per cent), Social Networking apps (17.7 per cent), and within other Games apps (16.6 per cent). Games ads see less engagement in more education and enterprise-oriented apps including Education apps (8 per cent), Finance apps (5.5 per cent), and News apps (1.5 per cent).

Tools
Ads for Tools apps see high engagement within Casual Game apps (20.7 per cent), Health/Fitness apps (15.7 per cent), Education apps (15.2 per cent), and Productivity apps (14.4 per cent). Tool app ads see less engagement in Social Networking apps (10.2 per cent), Media/Video apps (9.8 per cent), and in other Tools apps (4 per cent)

Entertainment
Entertainment app ads see high engagement within Games apps (15.5 per cent), Health/Fitness apps (12.9 per cent), Productivity apps (12.5 per cent), and other Entertainment apps (12.3 per cent). Lower engagement rates are seen in Communication apps (9.2 per cent), Photography apps (7.1 per cent), and Sports apps (4.5 per cent)

Business
Business app ads see high engagement rates within Medical apps (29.6 per cent), Games apps (16 per cent), Productivity apps (15.8 per cent), and Communication apps (13.8 per cent). Lower engagement rates are found in Travel apps (11.1 per cent), Lifestyle apps (7.4 per cent), News apps (6.7 per cent), and Social Networking apps (2.7 per cent).

Lifestyle
Lifestyle app ads see high engagement rates within Games apps (21.8 per cent), Photo/Video apps (20.7 per cent), Social Networking apps (19.7 per cent), and Education apps (16.1 per cent). Lower engagement rates are found in Entertainment apps (10 per cent), Health/Fitness apps (6.8 per cent), Tools apps (5.2 per cent) and other Lifestyle apps (3.5 per cent).

Education
Education app ads see high engagement rates within Casual Games apps (13.7 per cent), Books/Reference apps (12.5 per cent), Communication apps (9 per cent), and Music/Audio apps (8.7 per cent). Lower engagement rates are seen in Social Networking apps (6.1 per cent), Personalization apps (4.1 per cent), and Sports apps (0.3 per cent).

The study also found that Games was the best-performing app category, and that the creative plays a key role in CTR performance. StartApp’s full-screen interstitial ads delivered a 14.4 per cent CTR. Variations on the full-page interstitials, the Splash ad (app launch ad with customizable pre-ad splash screen) and the Overlay ad (full-page interstitial with transparent background), delivered CTRs of 26.6 per cent and 20.6 per cent, respectively.

“The findings from this report presented compelling results,” said StartApp CMO, Itay Rokni. “Though we found it made sense for some advertisers to place their ads in apps where there would be less competition for users, for other advertisers, the ad placement you would expect to work did work. That said, the report shows that advertisers can more often than not increase the clickthrough rates for their ad campaigns simply by targeting the right type of apps.”