India’s Vserv.mobi teams up with Yahoo! to target South East Asia

Indian mobile ad network Vserv.mobi has announced a strategic partnership with Yahoo! that will see the two companies attempting to conquer South East Asia.

In an official blog post, Vserv says the move is part of Yahoo’s efforts at becoming predominantly mobile company.

“With this partnership”, the company says, “our advertisers will be able to experience the superior audience targeting capabilities of our network on Yahoo’s inventory across Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam”.

The Next Web quotes Vserv.mobi VP Vikas Gulati as saying the deal will bring “lucrative benefits” for Yahoo! and the advertiser ecosystem.

“Being a premium digital publisher with a phenomenal number of loyal viewers, Yahoo will be able to effectively offer their mobile inventory to our wide advertiser base across Southeast Asia, while being able to monetise it with optimal yields within the region,” he said.

The Indian company started out in 2010, and has two main products: AppWrapper and Audience Pro. The former offers one-click monetisation for 20 000 plus apps while the latter uses operator data for its targeted mobile ad network.

In the past year it has established partnerships with publishers “like Okezone, Kompas, Viva News, Antara News, Metro TV News, Utusan (Malaysia), Cosmopolitan (Indonesia), 9X Media, Sony Music, India Today, Mid Day amongst others”.

The two companies aren’t alone in trying to grab a slice of the South East Asian market. Chinese search giant Baidu has serious aspirations in the area, as does social giant Tencent.

All of them are taking a mobile first strategy in the region too. That’s hardly surprising. In 2012, smartphone penetration across South East Asia grew 78% and overall mobile penetration grew by 24%, a much healthier rate than what is currently being reflected in the global market.