Twitter Inc. said its new mobile-advertising product will be able to reach more than 1 billion devices, rivaling the number of users on Facebook Inc.
The ads, aimed at software-makers seeking to encourage downloads of their applications, will be carried both on Twitter and outside the microblogging service, the company said in a blog post Thursday.
The initiative marks the first time marketers will be able to buy ads via Twitter and take advantage of MoPub, a mobile-advertising exchange that Twitter bought in October. Combined with Twitter’s 241 million users, advertisers will be able to reach an audience similar in scale to Facebook, which has 1.2 billion users. The promotions for mobile-app installs are among several features being developed with MoPub, according to Kevin Weil, vice president of revenue products at Twitter.
With the app-install ads, Twitter will be able to attract customers in the e-commerce and gaming industries. MoPub, which can display ads to more than 1 billion mobile devices, handles over 130 billion ad requests in Android and iOS applications every 30 days, the company said.
The company has been testing the app-download ads with developers including Spotify Ltd., HotelTonight Inc. and Kabam Inc.
Business, Pages 22 on 04/21/2014