Convergence Plus Journal

1. Where does India stand in the business of Mobile advertising in the world? How does InMobi’s mobile advertising business model work?

Globally, mobile advertising is expected to reach USD60 billion in the next three years. Advertisers see the opportunity to reach billions of consumers globally with a highly targeted, impactful, and measurable creative that will greatly improve ROI.

There are over 700 million people using mobile phones in India with about 10-15 million new mobile users being added every month. Of the 700 million users, about 60 million are mobile Internet users. It is no wonder then that the Indian mobile ad market continues to grow at a rapid pace. According to latest InMobi network data, the Indian mobile ad market grew by 1.5 billion ad impressions (27%) between October 2010 and January 2011. These numbers clearly indicate that consumers are showing an interest in clicking on ads on their mobile phones. The sheer quantity of monthly impressions highlights the opportunity for advertisers to reach the masses via mobile media. As per industry estimates, the mobile advertising industry in India is expected to reach a turnover of Rs 200 crore over the next 2 to 3 years.

As technologies evolve and brands get a better understanding of the medium, InMobi has started seeing a lot more traction from advertisers in the local market. We are seeing tremendous response from across the industry and with our rich media offerings and the acceleration of 3G rollouts we expect this growth to continue through the end of this year and beyond.

InMobi technology helps advertisers reach specific consumers over mobile Internet sites run on several handset models, and measure the results of ad campaigns by tracking the clicks. We earn revenues from advertisers who want to leverage our ad serving technology to ensure targeted consumer outreach. On the supply side, InMobi works with both mobile site owners and app developers who produce sites or apps for consumers. InMobi is venture-backed with marquee investors including: Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures.

2. How conscious are the Indian brands, mobile companies and app makers as far as reaching out to the audience is concerned by effective use of mobile ads?

Mobile advertising in India is still at a nascent stage. Aside from infrastructural roadblocks such as mobile browser constraints, data charges and delayed 3G rollouts, marketers are still largely unaware of mobile advertising as anything beyond SMS marketing. There are also knowledge gaps among the consumer set when it comes to sophisticated mobile technology usage as well as the concept of mobile advertising itself. Another key challenge that has deterred greater industry adoption is the lack of a standard set of metrics to measure the medium and its usage/users. There is a crucial need for this information to be made available to help the industry understand the evolution of the mobile medium and discover its value.

However, a key trend seen in the mobile market both locally and globally is the massive global consumer transition to high-quality smart devices. According to InMobi network data, smartphone growth has outpaced advanced phones and they now represent 14% of the overall Indian market. Smartphone impressions grew by over 44% in the October 2010 to January 2011 period, now representing over one billion monthly ad impressions. This, combined with 3G network rollouts, indicates the future acceleration of mobile media consumption in the country.

3. How do you keep up the competition against digital advertising?

It’s easy to have an edge based purely on the strengths of the mobile medium. Its immediate, targeted and personalised reach is unparalleled. For instance, if an OEM has decided to sell a new $200 phone, it is most likely wanting to reach out to an audience that already owns a $100 to $175 phone. They also want to reach out to an audience that has a phone that is old enough to be replaced. When we get an ad request from a publisher, we know the device specifics including the operating system and the model. We can therefore map out a very accurate consumer base for the OEM to take their device to. This kind of a targeted approach is not possible with any other marketing medium, be it digital or traditional.

This is an extremely exciting time for mobile technology. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, new developments are already taking off in the mobile advertising space. InMobi recently partnered with Cooliris to produce 3D advertisements that allow consumers to have a deep engaging experience with products, which is very relevant for verticals like automobiles, consumer electronics and devices. 3D advertisements are already running live on the InMobi network. InMobi has also seen success with rich media ads where users can watch movie trailers on the same page instead of having to open another browser. Click-to-call ads are also popular with retailers as mobile users can call the merchant directly by touching the ad. This delivers a truly engaging experience that Internet advertising is not able to provide.

4. Any new technological innovations taking place at InMobi?

InMobi has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to investing in our product and technology. This is largely because when we’re delivering billions of impressions every month, we need to have a product that is scalable to that level of exponential growth. In addition to the constant innovations in our ad serving technology, InMobi will also be launching a mobile payments solution in May this year. The combination of the InMobi advertising network along with the payment platform will give developers the complete set of tools necessary to take their content/app to a global level.