Mobile has evolved. Did Ad tech follow its lead?
“With mobile internet ad spending increasing every year, the Indian market holds a wealth of possibilities” By Manish Singh Rajawat, GM Appnext India
I am a true believer in the mobile industry. I should be. After all, I have worked in this fast-paced industry most of my career. Mobile is expanding across the globe, and as a direct result, mobile ad spending and the ad tech industry as a whole is growing. In India, my homeland, the situation is even more noticeable.
Think of it :India and China are the only two countries in the world with more than a billion people. China crossed the 1 billion mobile-user marker in 2012. In India, the user base has grown only recently but it is growing as we speak.
Why is this important? Because it can explain why, according to eMarketer, mobile internet ad spending will reach $242.6 million this year, representing an increase of 100 percent from 2015. Growth change may slow down over the coming years, but mobile is forecasted to reach $1.2 billion in spending by 2020.
The way I see it, the mobile ad industry in India has its future ahead of it. More people are using mobile as their sole means of communication, and there is a surge of demand for good, useful and fun apps. Don’t forget that the majority of mobile users in India, around 70 percent, are young people, (38 percent are at the age groups of 20-30 and 29 percent are between the ages of 31 to 40) who want to use the same apps, social media networks and games that are popular in the West.
Source: eMarketer
App development in India. A challenge?
The cost of developing an app in the U.S., as compared with India, could explain the projected rise of developers in India. The country's developer community is growing rapidly. Businesses, brands, and publishers would do well to take note of how different markets affect the cost of developing an app.
But even after an excellent app is created, its success depends 90 percent on marketing and 10 percent on the quality. That is why it is important to have the appropriate promotion strategy in place. Apart from just depending on organic app store optimization techniques, I highly recommend using a good ad network that can apply state-of-the-art technology and algorithms to determine 'who & when' will constitute the most relevant and active subscriber base for the app and will help app developers to acquire the right audience and more important - to retain them and keep them interested and engaged.
The ad-tech scene in India
The ad-tech scene has known many changes and developments throughout the years. From humble beginnings and flashy banners to more sophisticated, contextual and pin-pointed ads that act as smart suggestions which bring actual value to the users.
Understanding the mobile ad-tech Industry in India is vital for companies who wish to work in the local scene. We need to know the customer's outreach and target groups, because it is not only ‘who’ they are serving but also ‘when’ and ‘where’, context being the key for higher conversions and performance.
The ad tech industry is developing rapidly, adding more "brains" to the process of offering the right ad to the right person at the very right contextual moment. This could and will affect the way we use our mobile phones, for the better.
