• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 14, 2010

With its proposed $750 million acquisition by Google, AdMob would be the biggest mobile ad network with a 21 percent share of the U.S. market, according to an IDC estimate last December. Especially key is AdMob’s ability to serve ads into iPhone apps. The iPhone operating system generates half of AdMob’s smartphone impressions worldwide, making it the network most closely associated with the popular Apple device. Whether Google will close the deal remains to be seen, as the acquisition has come under greater FTC scrutiny than expected.
U.S. audience: N/A
No. of publishers: 15,000
Monthly impressions (worldwide): 10 billion
Targeting options: Geographic, demographic, operator (in some countries), phone manufacturer, operating system, model or capability (e.g., video streaming)
Pricing model: CPM, CPC. Rates calculated through an auction-based pricing system in the AdMob Marketplace.
Estimated 2009 revenue: $31 million ($59 million with Google)
Est. 2009 market share: 11 percent; (Google and AdMob: 21 percent)

The mobile extension of Google’s contextual ad program for third-party publishers. Besides mobile Web sites, AdSense also powers ads in Android and iPhone apps. Whether Google can accelerate its expansion into mobile advertising through its proposed acquisition of AdMob remains to be seen.  
U.S. audience: N/A
No. of publishers: N/A
Monthly impressions: N/A
Advertisers: 1-800-Flowers; vegas.com; Corcoran
Targeting options: Ads are contextually matched to the content of a mobile Web page
Pricing model: CPM, CPC
Est. 2009 revenue: $28 million
Est. 2009 market share: 10 percent; (Google and AdMob: 21 percent)

The biggest rival to AdMob, Millennial also boasts billions of monthly impressions, but from only about 300 mostly brand advertisers. Emphasizing premium inventory, 80 percent of its impressions come from the top 100 sites on Nielsen. Millennial also has a much more U.S.-centric audience than AdMob’s, which gets 54 percent of its traffic from abroad. Rumored as a possible takeover target for big technology companies trying to keep pace with expansion by Google and Apple in mobile advertising (see Microsoft and Yahoo).
U.S. audience: 60 million
No. of publishers: Thousands
Monthly impressions: 9.9 billion
Advertisers: Coca-Cola; McDonald’s; Gucci; Electronic Arts
Targeting options: Demographic, geographic, carrier, handset model, manufacturer, operating system, time of day, location, Wi-Fi
Pricing model: CPM, CPC
Est. 2009 revenue: $35 million
Est. 2009 market share: 12 percent

Apple plunged into the mobile ad business with its purchase of Quattro Wireless in January for a reported $275 million. Quattro provides the foundation for Apple’s new iAd platform. Through iAd, Apple aims to raise the bar for advertising within mobile applications with a sleek display format packaging multimedia content and ecommerce capability. Apple will sell the inventory and serve the ads itself, giving developers a 60 percent cut of ad revenue.
U.S. audience: 30 million
No. of publishers: 1,000  
Monthly impressions: 4 billion
Targeting options: Contextual, demographic, location, frequency, carrier, device class, manufacturer, model, features, operating system, browser
Pricing model: CPM, CPC
Est. 2009 revenue: $20 million
Est. 2009 market share: 7 percent

Jumptap has long emphasized premium inventory and close ties to wireless operators as an edge, especially for advertising on carrier decks. It offers both branding and direct-response advertising across premium inventory on mobile publishers, operator portals and in applications for the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android.  
U.S. audience: 55 million
No. of publishers: 400  
Monthly impressions: 8 billion
Targeting options: Demographic, geographic location, carrier, on/off-deck, device types and browser, time of day, day of week, content category and frequency controls
Pricing model: CPC, CPM or CPA
Est. 2009 revenue: $18 million
Est. 2009 market share: 6 percent

Greystripe has built its business around inserting rich-media ads in games and applications. Sound like Apple’s new iAd platform? Not exactly. Unlike iAd, which doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash, Greystripe’s secret sauce is a technology workaround that allows advertisers to extend Flash-based ads from the desktop Web to the iPhone and iPod touch.
U.S. audience: 8 million
No. of publishers: 2,500
Targeting options: Country, DMA, age, gender, device
Pricing model: CPM, CPD (cost per download)
Est. 2009 revenue: N/A
Est. 2009 market share: N/A

Yahoo’s mobile operations span the mobile Web, search, and applications for the iPhone, BlackBerry and, later
this year, Android phones as well. Yahoo has mobile distribution partnerships with 80 carriers globally. The Web portal offers customized ad units for the iPhone and other specialized formats, like its Smart Ads, which tailor ad content on the fly to mobile users.  
U.S. audience: 37 million
No. of publishers: Many of Yahoo’s top properties
Monthly impressions: N/A
Targeting options: Demographic, geographic, carrier, day-parting, device and behavioral, local targeting via Yahoo Local Mobile
Pricing model: CPM, CPC
Est. 2009 revenue: $29 million
Est. 2009 market share: 10 percent

Microsoft offers advertising across properties including MSN Mobile, Windows Live Mobile, Bing for Mobile and MSNBC Mobile. Through a multiyear deal with Verizon Wireless signed last year —reportedly worth $600 million — Microsoft exclusively provides search via Bing and manages ad inventory on the home screen of the nation’s largest carrier. The launch of Windows Phone 7 — the latest version of its mobile operating system — at the end of 2010 could give Microsoft’s mobile ad business a boost.
U.S. audience: 36 million
No. of publishers: N/A
Monthly impressions: 2 billion
Targeting options: By device, demographic (gender, age, household income), geographic and behavioral
Pricing model: CPC, CPM or CPA
Est. 2009 revenue: $23 million
Est. 2009 market share: 8 percent