17 countries generate 80% of its mobile advertising traffic
Google has released detailed information about where its 2 billion daily mobile ad requests come from. While the AdMob network generates monthly ad requests from more than 190 countries, 17 countries account for more than 80% percent of total traffic in December 2010.
According to their data, most regions had 2-3 countries that accounted for more than half of total ad requests. The remainder of the requests across these regions was spread across a set of smaller, but generally more rapidly growing countries.
This data is based solely on ad requests in the AdMob network of mobile web sites and iPhone, Android, webOS, and Flash Lite applications.
Three countries – India (26%), South Korea (13%) and Japan (12%) – accounted for just more than half of ad requests from Asia in December 2010. Five countries in Asia – South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore and Thailand – had growth rates of more than 1000% in 2010.
Two countries – Mexico (31%) and Brazil (26%) – drove more than half the ad requests in Latin America in December 2010. Brazil’s growth in 2010 far outpaced that of any other country in the region at 1251%.
Three countries – the UK (33%), France (17%) and Germany (12%) drove more than 60% of ad requests from Western Europe in December 2010. The top 10 countries in Western Europe all experienced a greater than 400% growth rate in 2010.
Three countries – Nigeria (21%), South Africa (21%) and Egypt (12%) – accounted for more than half of the ad requests from Africa in December 2010. Sudan experienced the most explosive growth in Africa at 2466%, but started from a small base and only accounted for 6% of African requests in 2010.
Millennial Media raises additional $27.5 million investment funding
Mobile advertising agency, Millennial Media has raised an additional US$27.5 million in growth equity funding, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Charles River Ventures (CRV), and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) participating. This new investment brings the company’s equity funding to more than US$65 million.
The company is considered to be the largest independent mobile ad agency after larger rivals; AdMob and Quattro were brought by Google and Apple respectively.
Millennial Media is also planning to use the growth investment in part to build on its 2010 acquisition of TapMetrics, a mobile analytics company, with additional acquisitions in 2011. Additional investments will be made in the company’s international and platform lines of business.
According to Patrick Kerins, General Partner, NEA, Millennial Media continues to be one of their best-performing portfolio companies, and has achieved profitable results. The company has exceeded its revenue and EBITDA projections for ten consecutive quarters. As part of their growth equity strategy, they target companies like Millennial Media, as it has the seasoned management team, operational excellence and long-term vision to dominate the mobile advertising market.
The company’s US mobile ad network business reaches more than 85% of US mobile web users, serves more than 17 billion mobile ad impressions each month, and counts 18 of the top 25 Ad Age advertisers among its clients.
Millennial Media is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, has offices in New York, London, and San Francisco; with sales offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta.
AdMob’s Omar Hamoui leaves Google
Omar Hamoui, founder and chief executive of Google-acquired mobile ad startup AdMob, is leaving the company citing personal reasons.
According to the company, Hamoui built a fantastic business in a short period of time, and the company wishes him all the best. Mobile advertising across search and display is now a billion dollar business for Google, with AdMob a key part of that. Google is fortunate to have a great team of leaders who are driving the next phase of rapid growth and innovation across all the company’s mobile ads products.
Hamoui founded AdMob in early 2006 while a student at the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School at the time, he was struggling to kickstart fotochatter, a mobile social networking startup enabling users to share photos with friends. Calculating that the time and money spent marketing fotochatter translated to customer acquisition costs of $30 per user, Hamoui turned instead to the emerging mobile web, paying sites a penny per click to promote the solution. The lessons learned formed the basis of the AdMob model.
Hamoui spent only about five months working at Google the Federal Trade Commission did not approve the AdMob acquisition until May. After a lengthy probe the FTC determined the deal did not pose a threat to competition in the mobile ad market, adding its initial antitrust concerns were overshadowed by subsequent developments in the mobile ad segment, most notably the introduction of Apple’s iAd effort.
As per the reports by a research firm IDC, Google now represents 21% of the U.S. mobile advertising running neck and neck with iAd.
RIM looking to acquire m-advertising network
If sources are to be believed, RIM is anticipating acquiring a mobile advertising network. In fact, the company was recently in discussion with US-based mobile ad network Millennial Media about a prospective acquisition.
However, the concessions ended due to differences in the value of Millennial. Millennial also brokers ad sales to a group of other mobile ad networks.
According to sources, the recent sale prices carried by competitors AdMob and Quattro Wireless have encouraged Millennial to demand for US$ 400 million to US$ 500 million. RIM has been reluctant to pay such a price.
RIM executives are unwilling to pay up for Millennial, stating that Apple and Google overpaid for their mobile-advertising acquisitions.
Google AdMob versus Apple iAds- the battle begins
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Google’s purchase of AdMob got the regulatory green light after intense scrutiny to ensure the acquisition won’t make Google a de facto monopoly in mobile advertising. Google got extreme help from the upcoming launch of Apple iAds to clear the antitrust hurdle.
Diverse array of online services and moving parts is occupied by Google, hailed as just an emperor of online search engine. Advertising too act as a driving force for the company, reason why Google was so aggressive in outbidding Apple to acquire AdMob for $750 million.
Apple acquisition of Quattro for $275 million, less than half of what it had bid for AdMob also acted as spice as AdMob deal would have been blocked by the FTC out of fear that it gives Google too much of an advantage in the mobile advertising market.
According to FTC, the Commission has reason to believe that Apple quickly will become a strong mobile advertising network competitor as Apple not only has extensive relationships with application developers and users, but also is able to offer targeted ads (heretofore a strength of AdMob) by leveraging proprietary user data gleaned from users of Apple mobile devices.
Apple’s iPhone OS and Google’s Android OS are battling each other in the smartphone arena and the once allies against Microsoft have turned into biggest rivals with both the companies also fighting for the ad revenue generated on those mobile platforms. Click-to-call functionality will be included by Google in its mobile ads enabling advertisers to include a phone number directly in the ad text that users can simply click to contact the business directly via phone.
Apple on the other hand hopes to help developers monetize apps without the user having to leave the app to see the advertisement. Apple is structuring iAd with a revenue sharing model that pays 60 percent of ad revenue to the developer.
10.7m iPhone devices in April on AdMob network in the USA
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In April, the USA had 10.7 million iPhone devices as compared to 8.7 million Android devices. Unique devices that requested at least one ad from the AdMob network in April are represented by these numbers.
IPhone, iPad and iPod Touch shipments have been 18.3 million during the same period. The gap between platforms increases to two to one in the US with the inclusion of the iPod touch. The iPhone platform has considerably more exclusive devices than Android in the AdMob network at an international level.
There were 27.4 million iPhone devices compared to 11.6 million Android devices globally and the ratio between iPhone OS devices and Android devices was 3.5 to 1. In North America, there are around 75 percent of Android devices as compared to 49 percent of iPhone OS devices.
iAds expected to make billion dollars
iAds, Apple’s upcoming mobile advertising program is expected to be a moneymaker. Analysts are predicting that the program could generate a whopping US$4.67 billion in revenue in just one year’s time.
While Apple is expected to earn $2.48 billion, this is more or less a from-scratch profit stream for Apple, and with developers receiving 60% of the revenue from iAds, Apple won’t be the only company making money.
According to CEO Eric Schmidt, Apple’s iAds announcement should convince those concerned that Google’s deal with AdMob is good to go, and that the two companies will just be one big player in “a highly competitive market.” Of course, Google has a bit more advertising experience than Apple — it made most of its $23.7 billion revenue last year from its online advertising model.
Apple enters mobile ad business
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an aim to enter the archrival Google’s turf, an ad platform has been built by Apple into its new iPhone OS. Full-screen video and interactive ad content within apps will be delivered by the platform apart from letting users to return to where they left off.
An advertising capability called iAd will be included in the new OS allowing apps developers to run ads in their software, giving them a potential revenue stream from the App Store.
According to CEO Steve Jobs, the mobile ad market is distinct from the PC search market, which has been dominated with Google’s search-based ads and the aim of the company is to help developers make money so they can survive and keep the prices of their apps reasonable
Apple also confirmed that it had bid for mobile adv company AdMob before Google snapped it up for $750 million.
AdMob claims credit for Game’s App Store Ranking
AdMob has claimed that Zattikka’s ‘Finger Frenzy’ game has raced up the UK App Store ranking in the 100s to number 24 in just a few days with the help of an ad campaign on mobile ad network.
Initially Finger Frenzy was released in December complete with an Apple ‘What’s Hot promotion, but apparently fell on the radar soon after.
AdMob cost-per-click text and tile ads were used by Zattikka, which send users directly from the ad to the app’s download page. With just one click, consumers were able to buy the game, which challenges them to type the alphabet as quickly as possible.
According to Matt Spall, Head of Product Development at Zattikka, the company turned to AdMob to re-ignite download activity, and their campaign resulted in an immediate increase in downloads, and an even higher ranking impact than the ‘What’s Hot’ placement they previously held in the UK App Store
