We keep hearing that mobile advertising is poised for big growth in the year ahead, and here is one more indication that this is already well underway. 4INFO, one of the larger independent ad serving companies, says that in 2010, the number of mobile ads that it served grew nearly 2,000 percent.
The company, which originally made the bulk of its revenue in SMS advertising and marketing, has more recently been expanding its operations in the more lucrative area of mobile internet and app display advertising.
Zaw Thet, CEO of 4INFO, tells us that today traffic is roughly split between SMS and the display business, but that SMS makes up less than 20 percent of its revenues. “It’s not that our SMS business has gone down,” says Thet. “It’s that the other part has grown.” He adds that the SMS component remains a vital way of tracking user behavior through the response codes, which can then be used towards better display ad campaigns.
Part of the growth has also been because more big brands have started to come on board its AdHaven mobile ad network. 4INFO says that some of its display clients in the past year included KFC, Universal Picture’s Little Fockers film, and various products from Proctor & Gamble such as herbal Essence and CoverGirl.
Acquisitions: Last year, 4INFO bought mobile advertising startup Butter for an undisclosed sum, which added tracking technology to the company’s existing ad products. Thet hints there may be similar acquisitions on the horizon, looking for “Great opportunities to bring on specific experts, small players, that would build out our breadth of value.”
But Thet thinks it’s still early days for independent ad companies like 4INFO. “We [collectively] are still in a ‘prove-it’ phase,” he said. Q1 and Q2 will continue to be about execution. “But later in the year I think we will see more big consolidation happening.”
Nielsen’s figures put 4INFO’s ad network reach at 69 million unique users, which works out to about 75 percent of the U.S. mobile web audience.

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