• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, June 11, 2015

Nearly all (91%) mobile ad-buyers have increased their programmatic spend in 2015, according to a new survey and research report from Millennial Media, a mobile ad exchange.

The company interviewed 137 advertisers during the first quarter of 2015 and pulled campaign data from its exchange for the report.

Millennial notes that 46% of respondents are spending under one million on mobile programmatic campaigns this year, down from 63% in 2014. Over one-third (36%) are spending between $1 million and $5 million, up from 22% last year. And the number of marketers spending over $15 million via mobile programmatic has more than tripled -- up to 13% from 4%. The number of buyers spending between $5 million and $15 million has decreased to 5%, from 11%.

Most of the activity is happening in the U.S. and Latin America, with roughly two-thirds (63%) of all buyers located in the Americas. Just over a quarter (26%) of mobile programmatic buyers are in EMEA, and 11% are in Asia-Pacific, per Millennial Media.

North America makes up 59% of the impressions on Millennial’s exchange, followed by APAC (11%) and Europe (10%).

Native ad formats have boomed in the past year, with 40% of those surveyed saying they are investing in native programmatic. The category wasn’t even counted at this time last year in Millennial's report. Some higher-quality formats -- such as video and Rich Media -- are receiving more attention this year as well. Three-fourths (74%) of those surveyed said they are investing in programmatic mobile video, up from 51% last year. 

Looking at data collected from its exchange, Millennial says that the number of programmatic mobile video ad requests grew an average of 1.5% per day during the first quarter of 2015.

As markters have shifted toward these high-quality formats, they’ve also moved toward high-quality marketplaces, i.e. private exchanges. In 2014, Millennial notes that nearly half (44%) didn’t dedicated mobile programmatic ad spend to private marketplaces, but that number has dropped to 21% in 2015.