InMobi claims 759M monthly active users, second only to Facebook

Bangalore- and San Francisco-based mobile ad network InMobi claims that its mobile ad network is reaching 759 million active users per month across 165 countries via mobile devices. In terms of global reach, the firm is now second only to social networking giant Facebook, which had 945 million monthly active users as of December 31, 2013. InMobi also claims that it receives over four billion ad requests on a daily basis.

"According to IDC, smartphone shipments are expected to surpass one billion for the first time in 2014. Mobile has overtaken even TV to become the preferred media platform to obtain necessary information for everyday life," said Naveen Tewari, CEO, InMobi, adding that the company's platform processes 240 terabytes of data per day.

As of May 2012, InMobi had 691 million monthly unique users, with 156 million coming from the US, followed by China (63 million) and India (49 million).

Set up in 2007, InMobi's platform enables brands, publishers and developers to engage with global consumers through mobile advertising. The company is backed by investors such as SoftBank Corp, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. In 2011, it had struck what was at that time the largest deal in the mobile internet space in India with $200 million commitment from Japan's SoftBank. The company has offices in India, the UK and the US, as well as in other global locations.

It currently employs 800 people and has customers in 165 countries and had expanded its footprint into the rest of Asia, Europe and Australia. Recently, InMobi launched a new platform, which enables brands/advertisers to enhance video ads by introducing clickable windows and call-to-action buttons to increase the interaction rate.

The platform also helps end consumers receive contextually relevant ads based on external feeds like location, weather and live data like stock market feeds. Last month, the firm had introduced native advertising on its platform, which enables brands to deliver ads that do not distract users from their app's primary experience.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)