India Is The Largest Mobile Advertising Market In APAC : Inmobi

Inmobi has released a network research report that looks at mobile advertising trends in India and the Asia Pacific region between July and October 2010. There are reports for the US and EU as well, but we’ll focus on India and APAC.

James Lamberti, VP of Global Research & Marketing at InMobi said “The Indian mobile advertising market continues to show rapid growth due to the improving ad ecosystem. Major publishers are bringing their media into the mobile channel while brands are simultaneously discovering the power of mobile advertising. This healthy ecosystem along with 3G network infrastructure improvements will position India as one of the most influential mobile markets on the globe”.

According to Inmobi the data has been sourced from its mobile advertising network with served 24.1 billion impressions globally in October 2010. Before we look at India specifcally, lets look at some if its findings pertaining to the entire APAC region.

• Mobile Ad impressions grew by almost 1 billion impressions in 3 months.(around 8.7%)
• Apple’s iPhone was the primary driver for increases in smartphone impressions.
• Smartphones in Asia represent just 10% of the global mobile ad ecosystem.
• As far as Operating Systems go – Nokia-Symbian had the largest percentage of impressions followed by iPhone and Android. Windows Mobile and RIM together accounted for less that 1% of the impression share.
• Simlarty when it came to handsets Nokia had the largest share but saw a 4% drop over the 3 month period. Samsung came in 2nd, with a 2% increase. Sony Ericsson was 3rd but saw a drop of nearly 3%. Apple gained 7.7%..
• As a single phone, Apple’s iPhone had the largest number of impressions, but 17 of the top 20 were Nokia handsets.

India

• India is now the single largest mobile ad impression market in the Asia Pacific Region. It saw a 22% increase over the 3 month period. Inmobi attributed this to the fact that a number of local advertisers and publishers had rushed to embrace the medium. It went on to say that it is a viable compliment to TV as an advertising channel.
• Smartphones still have a very small percentage of these impressions. Android and iOS combined have a share of 0.4%. It will be interesting to watch this number as the quarters pass though. 2011 should see a steady rise in the smartphone share.
• As an OS, Nokia-Symbian is still the largest by far accounting for a total of 65% of the impressions. Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile had a meagre 0.2 percent each.

• Nokia handsets also accounted for nearly 65% of the impressions – mirroring the effect of operating systems – and unlike the region as a whole, Nokia saw a 0.5% rise in the region. Samsung handsets accounted for nearly 20% of the impressions with a 2% increase. Sony Ericsson however saw a 1 person drop.

• 12 of the top 15 – in fact 9 of the top 10 handsets were manufactured by Nokia. The other 3 were Samsung phones.

As in most cases, the Indian Market presents an interesting dichotomy. While a lot of the press around the world is writing off Nokia – it still seems to be doing well in India. That said, it cannot rest on its laurels as there seems to be an Android onslaught in the market. Also, I have to admit, there is an element of hyperbole in calling India the largest mobile advertising market, as the map indicates the likes of China and Japan – which certainly have more impressions than India – were not a part of this report. Nevertheless, the number of impressions is still pretty sizable and will go only up.