While you were busy digesting this week’s OMG-IPG megamerger news, there was another acquisition you might have missed.
On Tuesday, mobile video ad platform LoopMe bought mobile monetization platform Chartboost from mobile game publisher Zynga. That’s a lot of mobile.
Zynga, which is owned by Take-Two Interactive Software, bought Chartboost in 2022 for $250 million. Business Insider had reported in October that, just two years later, Take-Two was looking to offload Chartboost.
So why does LoopMe want it?
After seven years of consistent, stable revenue growth, LoopMe is looking for more scale, Stephen Upstone, the company’s CEO and founder, told AdExchanger.
LoopMe lacks sufficient SDK integrations, Upstone said, and these relationships take many years to build. Which is where Chartboost comes in. LoopMe expects Chartboost to more than double LoopMe’s percentage of direct SDK traffic.
Direct integrations bring more user data and a fuller picture of available app inventory compared to open bidding, which is what LoopMe currently relies on for many of its deals.
The former Zynga subsidiary also brings a wide roster of performance advertisers to the table. Today, LoopMe mostly works with brand advertisers, he said.
With more scale and direct connections to app publishers, “more brand dollars are going to move into the app environment,” Upstone said.
Going direct
There are numerous advertiser advantages to bridging gaps between supply and demand. “Supply-path optimization” isn’t a top industry buzzword for nothing.
In LoopMe’s case, direct integrations with mobile app SDKs improve ad rendering and the quality of reporting data, such as clicks and view-through rates linked to specific mobile ad IDs, Upstone said. But with extra hops in the supply chain, he said, buyers risk getting stuck with lower-quality data at higher costs.
Direct paths also give buyers a more accurate view into total ad avails, he said. Programmatic partners only see their own slice of the supply pie, which is a recipe for a bad ad experience.
LoopMe has lost out on prospective clients who demand a certain degree of direct scale, Upstone said. But Chartboost will allow LoopMe to “fish in new ponds” and attract new mobile app advertisers, he added.
Most importantly, though, LoopMe will marry its device graph and data management platform with publisher data directly from Chartboost, which Upstone said will give it a better sense of how campaigns are performing.
Brand advertisers increasingly want a way to track outcomes. They’ve got the CRO breathing down their neck to justify every media dollar they spend, including on streaming.
As foreseen in CTV
But connected TV is starting to become more of a performance channel, rather than only a branding vehicle, so it’s attracting more interest from performance marketers.
CTV campaign data can give performance marketers a better sense of who they’re reaching and who’s clicking on their ads. LoopMe, for example, uses its device graph to group mobile ad IDs into households to help marketers optimize campaigns for reach and frequency. LoopMe also has a CTV measurement product and is in the middle of building a CTV-focused supply-side platform, Upstone said.
LoopMe is far from the only mobile ad network to break into streaming. App marketing platform AppLovin, for example, bought video distribution platform Wurl in 2022 to optimize streaming campaigns for app installs and other outcomes. Columbia-based mobile ad network Adsmovil launched a streaming service that same year for similar reasons.
Eventually, Upstone said, LoopMe may start to run streaming campaigns for mobile app marketers. It’s a longer-term goal, he said, but it’s on the list.
Regardless, he said, expect mobile and CTV to be two of the most important pillars for the future of brand advertising.
