A closer look at AdMob

Ever since I started to blog about mobile advertising, I’ve blogged about a lot of mobile advertising companies. Yet, some stand out distinctly. One such company is AdMob.

Sure, there are other mobile advertising companies which have been successful in their own right. But still, AdMob is unique in the sense that it has become a market leader in a short period of time.

AdMob, which started off as a small startup with just one staff, has now become a huge success and has served over a whopping 20 billion ads all over the world. On an average, AdMob serves around 3 billion mobile ads. Its founder, Omar Hamoui, is confident that the company will see new highs in the next few years, as mobile advertising industry is predicted to grow enormously by 2012.

AdMob specializes in sending targeted mobile ads to users based on a variety of things like geographical location, preferences, type of handset, and more. Surprisingly, this process is almost entirely automated. AdMob has a gazillion mobile websites as publishers under its belt and enjoys a big market share. However, things will not be the as easy in the future.

Big names like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Nokia have been eyeing the mobile advertising space for quite some time now and have entered the market with their own service. The competition is going to be fierce and it remains to be seen if AdMob could tackle this monstrous competition.

However, when questioned about the competition in the mobile advertising market, Omar Hamoui simply smiles and says that it will be an interesting battle and it will be easier for a small company like AdMob to adapt to the ever-changing mobile market than it will be for the big names. That, I think, is what you call confidence. What do you say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Friendster releases mobile site in Philippines

Friendster, the famous social networking site, has released its mobile site in the Philippines. If you are a Filipino, you’ll now be able to access Friendster right in your mobile phone.

The Philippines has long been Friendster’s territory. Such is the overwhelming popularity of the site that over 94% of internet users in Philippines have a Friendster account. So, after becoming the market leader in the country, it’s only a natural progression for Friendster to get into the mobile phone. Especially, with mobile social networking being the buzz word now, Friendster has decided to join the party to grab its market share.

If you are a member of Friendster, you’ll be able to access the site in your internet enabled mobile phone. However, if you are not a user, you cannot open an account in Friendster through your mobile phone. But Friendster authorities have said that they are working on it and soon people will be able to open an account via their mobile phone.

I think Friendster has made the right move at the right time. At a time when mobile social networking is on the rise, this move can be very fruitful for Friendster. Especially, its undisputed dominance in the Asian market will help it grab its market share in the mobile market also.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking.

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Pittsburgh Penguins’ innovative text alerts program

The thing about mobile advertising is that it’s an inclusive market. While big brands fight over the coveted market leader position, small players can quietly carve a niche for themselves. If you’ve got something valuable to offer, you will certainly find takers. Take for example, a National Hockey League team which has struck the right chord with its fans big time via its text messaging program.

Pittsburgh Penguins, the famous NFL team, has been sending text message alerts to college students about its ticket sales, available tickets, discount offers, and other things for the past two years successfully. It all started when the team wanted to reach out to college kids, who form a considerable fan base. The team started sending text messages to college kids about the number of tickets available and the discounts offered and the response was pretty good. Encouraged by this good response, the team hired the services of Vibes Media, a mobile marketing agency, and came up with the idea of mobile based contests and giveaways. The response was brilliant as more than 80% of the fans responded by taking part in the contests. Now, Pittsburgh Penguins regularly sends team news, game recaps, and plenty of other alerts to more than 20,000 fans.

Already, popular brands like Pizza Hut have sponsored some of the text alerts and thanks to the positive response from the fans, the team is thinking of an idea to tap this market and earn some revenue through sponsored text alerts. Now, is that smart or what?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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