Twitter confirms MoPub purchase
Twitter has purchased mobile advertising firm MoPub to keep up to date with the dual trends of consumers’ shift towards mobile and online advertisers moving their budgets towards automated trading.
The deal was confirmed late yesterday (9 September) with exact details of the deal yet to be confirmed, although an FT report has dubbed the deal as its “largest acquisition”. Twitter has declined to comment on the value of the purchase.
MoPub is an online marketplace that lets app publishers sell ad space via a variety of methods, everything from direct selling, ad networks or via its own exchange using real-time bidding technology, from a single hub.
Twitter claims its purchase of the automated trading company means it can take advantage of the dual trend of consumers towards mobile devices and advertisers channeling their budgets through automated trading as online targeting technology improves. This comes ahead of Twitter’s much expected IPO, which many anticipate to take place next year.
In particular, Twitter has identified the opportunity to offer new types of “native advertising” on mobile devices via the MoPub exchange, to both traditional publishers and advertisers alike.
Kevin Weil, Twitter’s VP of revenue product, says: “Twitter sits at the intersection of these, and we think by bringing MoPub’s technology and team to Twitter, we can further drive these trends for the benefit of consumers, advertisers, and agencies.
“We also plan to use MoPub’s technology to build real-time bidding into the Twitter ads platform so our advertisers can more easily automate and scale their buys.”
It remains unclear as to how the MoPub team will be integrated into Twitter’s outfit, but in a blog post MoPub CEO Jim Payne underlined the company’s commitment to its existing publisher clientele.
“It’s important to underscore that our commitment to you, the publisher, will not change. In fact, it will be strengthened.
“Twitter will invest in our core business and we will continue to build the tools and technology you need to better run your mobile advertising business. In addition to investing in new capabilities for our publisher platform, we believe there are opportunities to bring better native advertising to the mobile ecosystem,” he adds.
