mobile world congress 2014

BARCELONA — The move to native mobile advertising formats will give a much greater say to one of the most important participants in the mobile app ecosystem, according to mobile ad network InMobi. App developers, until now, didn’t have a say,” says the firm’s head of publisher-side products Krishnendu Majumdar. “If they have to monetize, they’re […]

BARCELONA — The so-called “native advertising” opportunity, which sees straight-up display ads replaced by sponsorships that look like content, may be young – but mobile ad network InMobi is moving aggressively in its direction. “We’re going to break up the banners,” InMobi global strategic partnerships VP Pankaj Bengani tells Beet.TV. “Instead of showing banners to users, […]

BARCELONA — How often is too often for developers to update their mobile apps? “We know companies doing updates at least on a weekly basis just to keep you live,” says Bruce Beckloff, corporate development head at Marmalade, a London agency whose technology helps developers deploy across multiple platform standards. “Everybody sees a little bit […]

BARCELONA — Some may say the ad business is like a soap opera these days – but InMobi thinks it should come in “episodes”. “We came up with an episodic learning platform which uses a methodology to work with consumers campaign-to-campaign,” says mobile ad network InMobi‘s head of products, brand and commerce Preetham Venkatesh. “If […]

BARCELONA — The developer behind some of the biggest mobile social games is offering to help others monetize their apps. “We are taking on third-publishing – that will change our model,” says James Peng, head of user acquisition and monetization at Redwood City, California Dragon Story and Bubble Mania developer Storm8. “We’re helping to launch games […]

BARCELONA — Audio-identifying mobile app Shazam is trying to create a business selling data to advertisers by encouraging users to tag content other than music. “We’re now able to target advertising based on Shazam activity,” CEO Rich Riley tells Beet.TV. “We can do that on Shazam and off Shazam. We can follow a device ID on […]

BARCELONA — Freemium has become the super-dominant app store monetization method, with some 94% of App Store revenue coming from free downloads supporting in-app purchases, according to Distimo’s 2013 Year-End Review. But that doesn’t mean app developers can guarantee success just be deploying in-app goods, says former Guardian News & Media strategy head James Cooper. […]

BARCELONA — If you want to understand apps, you need to understand app users. That’s according to one mobile advertising technologist. “The core of the search era was the keyword, the core of the social era is the stuff you share on social networks,” says InMobi‘s product director Abhishek Bapna. “In the app ecosystem, neither of them are […]

BARCELONA — AOL will soon launch a native advertising unit aimed specifically at mobile publishers, AOL Networks global media director Chad Gallagher told Beet.TV at Mobile World Congress. “We’re going to have a major announcement here in a few weeks about our native solution which we think will be really interesting,” Gallagher said. “If you look […]

BARCELONA — Mobile advertising has come a long way – but it could go a lot further if it truly used mobility as a core planning component. That’s one one mobile exec thinks. “Advertisers don’t have access to cookies. They do have access to location data,” says Tyler Bell, product VP at Factual. “We have a location […]

BARCELONA, Spain — Will the mobile web kill off apps? That is an oft-asked question. Right now, however, the route for advertisers to take is clear, says ad group Mindshare’s chief digital officer Norm Johnston. We’ve moved past the mobile vortex and confusion,” he tells Beet.TV. “But there are still some fundamental issues. “Do brands […]

BARCELONA — WhatsApp’s mega acquisition by Facebook should be welcomed as another pointer that mobile messaging could be a money-spinner, according to one mobile ad exec. (Mobile) will go either toward commerce or toward advertising,” InMobi north America MD Crid Yu tells Beet.TV. “It’s amazing to me that, after all these years, the most commonly […]

BARCELONA  — We’re not just in a “mobile-first” world when it comes to advertising, according to mobile ad network InMobi – smartphone adoption is changing the very nature of ad planning and buying. “People don’t even realize how disruptive mobile is going to be around their media buying,” says InMobi’s global alliances GM Anne Frisbie. […]