Despite the fact a huge number of us now carry a smartphone in our pocket, mobile advertisers have their sights set higher: the iPad has become the most in-demand platform for the industry.

A new study from mobile ad exchange MoPub showed that while ad prices overall rose 50% in Q4 2012, Android prices went up 54%, iOS ad prices across the board rose 66% with iPad prices being the highest of all.

MoPub collected information from more than 30 billion ad impressions and found there was quite a wide spread in prices depending on the device. And there was a sharp peak around the Christmas period.

The reasoning for this is fairly sound: iOS devices in general produce higher click-through rates (CTRs), with stats showing owners tapping on ads 1.3% of the time in December, and an even larger 1.7% at the beginning of January. Android users, by contrast, yield a CTR of just 1%.

A question asked by many marketers is whether rich media adverts are more effective than the traditional static images: the answer, it seems, is no. While rich media ads did gather CTRs between 20-37% higher than static ads, they also cost up to 40% more. So until rich media prices are more in-line with those of static ads, the cost vs benefit ratio is not compelling.

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• Tablets Becoming Mainstream, But The Demographics Are Changing