I would love to sit in on a Google strategy meeting some morning. It would be an education. As you watch all media becoming more digital, you can see the company encroaching on all fronts. Last week could be an important week for Google’s mobile and tv ad strategy. There were a number of big announcements at this year’s Google I/O event, but the most eye-catching was the launch of Google TV. Google TV is looking to bring the web into the living room, and is partnering Sony to bring the new product to the masses. What I found interesting about this announcement was that Google TV is being built on the Android OS. This timed nicely with the FTC approval of the $750 million dollar Admob deal. It is the biggest mobile ad network globally, and it will fit nicely into ad strategy for Google TV. Android apps will run on the new platform, and you would assume that mobile advertising will be served across all web properties running on Google TV. If that is the case, think of the mass market that Google will have the potential of monetising. The global TV ad spend is worth hundreds of billions of euro. If it gets any traction in the TV market, it could be a huge revenue stream for Google. The Admob purchase seems even more important now with the release of this new product.
» eBuddy, a leading mobile and online IM specialist, has announcend a new partnership with global mobile ad network, Inmobi. The one year agreement is thought to be a seven-figure deal, which suggests there are some guarantees on inventory. Inmobi’s previous deal with eBuddy, announced in November of last year, covered twelve countries, including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Australia and India – but it is not known if the new arrangement covers these markets. The partnership was announced by Onno Bakker at the recent Plugg event. eBuddy is one of the biggest IM providers on mobile and has an estimated nine million unique users a month. [The Next Web]
Mobclix Offers Audience Profiles To Ad Network Partners
Mobclix, the largest mobile ad exchange for the Iphone ad market, has announced it will re-sell audience profiles to its ad networks partners. The move will allow agencies and advertisers to better target specific audiences through the Mobclix exchange. The demographic segments will be provided from Nielsen’s PRIZM and ConneXions programs. Read more about this story here.
The mobile display space is experiencing a lot of activity: increased number of M&A deals; the emergence of new platforms; and increased competition in the market. Only yesterday Apple beefed up its mobile sales team in Europe, as it seeks to leverage the Quattro acquisition to grab more market share here.
Mobile display continues to be the headline grabber: Google, Apple, Amobee and Opera have all made significant acquisitions in the past couple of months to bolster their presence in the space. The market is due to grow significantly this year due mainly to the take-up in smartphone apps.
Exchanges and ad network optimisation are now emerging in mobile display. The latest mobile ad net optimisation service to be rolled here in Europe comes courtesy of Improve Digital. Janneke Niessen, COO of Improve Digital, took time this week to speak to ExchangWire.com about the new offering for European publishers.
Apple finally unveiled its highly-anticipated tablet computer. They’re calling it the iPad, and it looks set to deliver Apple another blockbuster success. Apple has signed up a number of high-profile publishers, and its being touted in some quarters as a vital revenue stream for ailing publishers.
The most interesting thing about the new iPad though is the app market. Like the iPhone, this latest bit of Apple hardware will have an app store of its own. The official SDK has been released to developers today, and applications developed specifically for the iPad should appear in the coming weeks.
It was announced this week that Opera was buying mobile ad network Admarvel for $15 million. Opera has presently the biggest share of the global mobile browser market. Opera will probably leverage Admarvel to monetise all of its branded mobile products. Good move given its market reach.
Is this of the end to the wave of takeovers sweeping through the mobile ad market? There could be a few more big moves to come.
Microsoft does have some presence in the mobile display market – but might feel that it too needs to acquire an established mobile display player. Yahoo might also want to improve its present mobile ad platform and buy.
There’s been a lot of M&A action of late in the mobile display market. Google and Apple have made significant purchases to stake their claim in this growing area of online advertising.
It follows then that yield optimisers, Admeld and Pubmatic, have also made their way into mobile display, sensing the market is now ready for their ad network optimisation service. How long before we see the arrival of a buy-side DSP for mobile?
This news comes on the back of a similar move by Admeld. Both clearly see opportunity in the growing mobile display market. And both are now looking to work with existing publisher partners to improve yield on their mobile ad inventory. But will it be as easy to onboard mobile ad networks as it is in online display? The market is still evolving, and there is still a lot of growth to be had. Ad nets might think they’re better off working with publishers directly.
The yield optimisers (or publisher exchanges) will probably get most traction in monetising international traffic for premium publishers. Dealing with global ad nets requires resource and time – and pubs will gladly partner Admeld and Pubmatic to optimise and manage those relationships.
Admeld announced yesterday it was hiring Marc Theermann as its VP of mobile. Theerman has extensive experience in the mobile ad industry. He has worked at mobile application company, Everypoint, and mobile marketing firm, YellowPepper.
More recently Theerman worked for Smaato, the market’s leading mobile ad network optimisation platform. Doubtless it was this optimisation experience with Smaato, which attracted Admeld in the first place.
Theerman will lead the mobile ad optimisation service, as Admeld looks to help clients optimise both mobile and online ad inventory.
The new Admeld exec believes that convergence of mobile and online display is now a reality, and will ultimately lead to premium publishers demanding a more integrated offering:
The convergence of mobile and web advertising is happening faster than anyone predicted. As this trend accelerates, premium publishers will increasingly require a fully-integrated toolset to manage and optimize their inventory across all platforms. As the leader in ad network optimization for premium publishers, AdMeld is uniquely positioned to provide its customers with this groundbreaking functionality, and I am thrilled to be leading their mobile initiatives.
I would love to sit in on a Google strategy meeting some morning. It would be an education. As you watch all media becoming more digital, you can see the company encroaching on all fronts. Last week could be an important week for Google’s mobile and tv ad strategy. There were a number of big announcements at this year’s Google I/O event, but the most eye-catching was the launch of Google TV. Google TV is looking to bring the web into the living room, and is partnering Sony to bring the new product to the masses. What I found interesting about this announcement was that Google TV is being built on the Android OS. This timed nicely with the FTC approval of the $750 million dollar Admob deal. It is the biggest mobile ad network globally, and it will fit nicely into ad strategy for Google TV. Android apps will run on the new platform, and you would assume that mobile advertising will be served across all web properties running on Google TV. If that is the case, think of the mass market that Google will have the potential of monetising. The global TV ad spend is worth hundreds of billions of euro. If it gets any traction in the TV market, it could be a huge revenue stream for Google. The Admob purchase seems even more important now with the release of this new product. 
» 
