A new Nielsen report shows that mobile advertising is now just as effective as desktop advertising in terms of reaching intended audiences, according to CIO.

The marketing and statistics firm claims marketers had success in targeting age and gender. Based on a survey of 40,000 mobile campaigns in the US, 60 percent of mobile ads were viewed by the correct demographics from April to June of this year. This rate is up significantly from the same period last year, during which only 49 percent of mobile ads were viewed by people who were targeted based on their demographic, per the Nielsen report.

For a long while, ads served to desktop users were generally considered the most successful ads. This was mainly because the technology used to identify and target consumers on desktop devices was more mature and consistent than the technology available for mobile advertising.

The report described some challenges marketers have faced when trying to use mobile advertising to reach consumers. Ad-blocking technologies have recently become prominent, including the native ad-blocking support in the latest Apple iOS release. Also, the lack of persistent cookie support makes it more difficult to identify mobile users and track their activities.

The report suggested that the mobile advertising situation has changed, with mobile ads closing the gap with desktop ad performance.

“This now puts the average on-target percentage for mobile campaigns on par with that of desktop campaigns — a factor that could influence considerations of media buyers and sellers planning digital media campaigns,” the firm noted.

In particular, Nielsen reported that marketers are using mobile ad campaigns that target narrower niches within broad demographics. It also said the fact that mobile devices are inherently personal and full of rich preference information may also play a part in the rise of mobile ad effectiveness.

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