2010 mobile advertising boom in SA, Africa?
9 Feb 2010
There is a clear indication that the South African mobile advertising sector is headed towards a massive boom as the 2010 FIFA World Cup draws near - thanks to the phenomenal growth of the continent's cellphone market and soccer passion.
The SA sector, boosted by a partnership signed in December last year between local WAP mobile advertising firm MobiClicks and India-based InMobi, is on the way to becoming one of the world's most lucrative markets, with over 650 million mobile ads requests per month.
Partnership terms
One of the terms of the partnership includes MobiClicks helping InMobi localise advertisements to further increase local mobile ad campaigns and brands engagement in the country, in a view of taking the market to ‘another level' in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
It is believed that InMobi, based in Bangalore, is currently the largest mobile advertising network in SA. InMobi said its services have been expanded to countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt, where the market is also showing signs of unstoppable growth.
The InMobi-MobiClicks partnership will steer the first-ever mobile rights in streaming all 64 matches live on people's mobile handsets.
MobiClicks CEO Shaun Rosen optimistically believes 2010 will be a banner year for mobile advertising in SA, thanks to its ‘solid' partnership with InMobi, which will help reach a significant number of consumers in the region.
SA's 10 million internet users, who the industry says are highly engaged on their mobile devices as measured by click-through rates and advertisers' return on investment, could reach some 15 million by 2013.
No longer a luxury
Mobile internet is no longer a luxury in Africa as it has become a valuable tool of global development, Vodacom executive head of Internet services Jose Henriques said last year.
SA mobile market's success is now expanding to other African countries where the model is accelerating the entire continent's economic growth, according to InMobi head of global ad sales Abhay Singhal. Singhal added that his company is ready to lead the market and connect brands and publishers to this emerging market.
InMobi says its advanced technology enables advertisers to discover their target audience on mobile internet sites in a measurable manner. It also says that publishers can leverage the capability to serve contextual ads to the users of their sites, thereby increasing the value of their mobile property.
InMobi operates in 37 countries around the world, including South America and Europe, and is working toward entering the US market. It recently announced a partnership with Jumbuck as it expands globally in Australia. Its network experiences 7.5 billion ad requests per month, making it the world's biggest independent biggest ad network.
For more, go to www.inmobi.com.
About Issa Sikiti da Silva
Issa Sikiti da Silva is a winner of the 2010 SADC Media Awards (print category). He freelances for various media outlets, local and foreign, and has travelled extensively across Africa. His work has been published both in French and English. He used to contribute to Bizcommunity.com as a senior news writer.
