InMobi scoops up AerServ for $90 million

Mobile advertising platform InMobi has acquired mobile video ad serving and mediation platform AerServe for $90 million in cash and stock.

With the deal, announced Wednesday, InMobi says it now offers the largest programmatic video advertising platform and “the industry’s first mediation platform with a unified programmatic auction” for mobile app publishers. Additionally, InMobi says header bidding will be available in-app for the first time with its ad exchange. AerServ says its platform is used by more than 2,000 mobile apps.

For advertisers, Abhay Singhal, chief revenue officer and co-founder of InMobi, told MarTech Today that, “With increased adoption of third-party verification solutions such as Moat, IAS, DoubleVerify, ActiveView, Pixalate etc., InMobi and AerServ together boast over 90 percent viewability and over 70 percent video completion rate, more than double the industry benchmark for mobile.”

The AerServ supply-side platform (SSP) integrates with over 75 demand-side platforms (DSPs), exchanges and agency trading desks. The InMobi exchange also integrates with major DSPs such as Adelphic, AppNexus, The Trade Desk, TubeMogul, AudienceScience and Turn. Combined, the two exchanges cover a large majority of the Fortune 500 brand buyers, says InMobi.

With the deal, InMobi aims to beef up its positioning in the US and scale its ad exchange globally. InMobi’s video and programmatic business will account for 35 percent of the overall company revenue, according to the announcement.

“This acquisition fits in perfectly with our global strategy to bring best-in-class technology for premium publishers and driving mobile programmatic video revenues to them. Our combined entities will double our headcount in the US while establishing a product and tech hub for InMobi in Los Angeles, a hotspot of innovation for media and video content,” said Abhay Singhal, co-founder and chief revenue officer at InMobi, in a statement. “We are two profitable companies combining forces in North America and this will further cement our leadership position in video advertising, enabling us to continue investing heavily.”

Josh Speyer, CEO of AerServ, said joining InMobi “will allow us to scale our platforms together across the globe and build a strong business in previously untapped markets such as China and broader APAC.”

The deal marks the first big ad tech acquisition of 2018. We’ll be watching how acquisitions change the Martech landscape throughout the year. Singhal told us that the company doesn’t expect material impact from Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention — unlike companies like Criteo — due to the fact that it focuses on in-app advertising rather than mobile web. With Google having faced significant backlash over brand safety concerns both on YouTube and its ad network, InMobi will likely continue to emphasize brand safety and third-party verification as selling points to brand advertisers.