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LoopMe CEO Stephen Upstone on the rise of mobile video advertising
Key insights
6 takeaways- 01Mobile video advertising is shifting from traditional ad networks to programmatic demand-side platforms to better leverage real-time data for targeting specific user behaviors.
- 02The industry now processes approximately 30 billion full-screen ad impressions monthly, requiring infrastructure capable of handling 30 billion data points daily to optimize delivery.
- 03Legacy ad networks must modernize their technological infrastructure to support programmatic buying or risk obsolescence in an increasingly data-driven market.
- 04The Chinese market is a primary growth driver, supported by data sets tracking 800 million smartphone devices and a high concentration of globally competitive game developers.
- 05Strategic alliances with local data providers are essential for companies looking to enhance targeting capabilities and expand into competitive Asian markets.
- 06The influence of Asian markets on the global mobile advertising ecosystem is projected to soon rival or exceed that of the United States.
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Transcript
so first of all who are you and what does your company do hi I'm Steven up stone I'm the CEO of Luke me and Luke me is a mobile ad network and also a DSP that's focused around video advertising so we are the largest supplier of video advertising globally we make full screen video appear in mostly in games but also on mobile web and uniquely as well as accessing pools of incentivized video which is about one or two percent of the available impressions globally we are able to access VA st video and also HTML video which gives us now a larger number of impressions available every month than even the likes of youtube right gotcha so it's a very very big area full screen video and we are leading that
area with offices based globally around the world okay so obviously this is a sort of new ish trend in pushing to full screen video this is something you think is going to persist in 2015 what do you think they're going to be the new developments in your sector yeah I think it's a great question i think the the interesting big themes driving mobile advertising are and what one is around format so for instance for brand advertisers to get involved with with mobile they want to have formats they trust and understand like video going to people like Unilever of built their businesses for a 50 70 more years on the back of video so I think a format that people trust and understand is is going to be very very important and we saw how quickly Facebook transformed the market by moving to native fullscreen ads and we see the same move towards video video is a 200 billion TV advertising stories a 200 billion annual business that's today bigger than
the whole of digital together soon digital be another 200 billion dollar TV business as well so the with users now spending more and more time on their mobile phones and one more time consuming video on their phones and tablets we see a huge move there the other trend apart from format is the move towards programmatic buying now what that means to you or me or is that basically any advertiser can buy almost any slot if you like now so more and more everything's becoming open so the old ad networks are going to die or have to change and new technology is called SS bees or exchanges sit within apps or within mobile web and they allow people to buy any impression now when you can buy any impression and there are about 30 billion full screen ads each month for instance then you can you need a very very good data targeting back end in order to make decisions in real time
about which impressions to buy so the big trends are the move towards programmatic by and the move towards richer formats and that is underpinned by use of data and give you an idea a company like lutely processes 30 billion new pieces of data every single day from all the different ad requests because every ad request has number of pieces of data in it and so every day there's that much new day coming so you need a different type of technology to learn which are going to be the best impressions a simple question you want to ask is is someone going to watch a video again after watching that video are they going to download a game for instance right or if it's a brand are they going to watch a video they then go to go and buy something so it's a really exciting time to be in and around mobile advertising at the moment well you're anticipating some shifts coming in 2015 for example what was the differences you noticed last year from the beginning of the year was there anything that occurred that perhaps you didn't expect in the industry or did he pretty much see the changes coming we saw the trends coming i think the move towards video
was a lot faster than we had anticipated ok i think if i look back on my year last year we're about three years old now it was a big year of growth and I think one of the most interesting areas for us was the development within the Chinese market place Chinese developers you know obviously a huge amount of intellect and ability in that country that are creating games now that are selling around the world so lutely opened offices we opened quite a few offices around the world in India and China and strengthened our US operations as well but the Chinese market became a very very important market and we also made some interesting alliances last year as well so we worked with local Chinese companies like talking data who can give access to enhance or data targeting so they had they see 800 million smartphone devices in China and they are they have a data story across those that can then be used to create
better targeting so very excited about China 2014 was a year of growth for us internationally expanding and we think that this it was also a great sort of I guess introduction in around this big video and big data area and I think for going forward you know I think very quickly the China market and Asian markets are beginning to come even more important than the u.s. I think over disease ok
Summary
Mobile video advertising is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by the shift toward full-screen formats and programmatic buying. As brand advertisers increasingly seek familiar, high-impact formats to reach mobile audiences, the industry is moving away from traditional ad networks toward sophisticated demand-side platforms and exchanges. This evolution allows advertisers to access massive pools of inventory—surpassing the scale of platforms like YouTube—by leveraging real-time data to target specific user behaviors, such as app downloads or brand engagement.
The scale of this sector is significant, with approximately 30 billion full-screen ad impressions available monthly. Managing this volume requires advanced technological infrastructure capable of processing 30 billion data points daily to optimize ad delivery. This data-driven approach is essential for determining the efficacy of impressions, ensuring that campaigns reach the right users at the right time. The transition toward programmatic buying is effectively democratizing access to mobile inventory, forcing legacy ad networks to modernize or face obsolescence.
Global expansion, particularly into Asian markets, has become a critical growth driver. The Chinese market, in particular, has emerged as a dominant force due to the high volume of globally competitive game developers and the availability of massive data sets, such as those tracking 800 million smartphone devices. Strategic alliances with local data providers have proven essential for enhancing targeting capabilities in these regions. Looking forward, the influence of Asian markets is expected to rival or exceed that of the United States, as the global mobile advertising ecosystem continues to prioritize rich, video-centric formats underpinned by deep analytical insights.
