In a sign of the growing market for advertising on smartphone and tablet devices, Velti has launched a new mobile advertising network that is helping brands such as Unilever, M&M?s and McDonald?s increase customer engagement.

The Velti Media ad network will connect marketers to 1.4 billion consumers around the world. The mobile marketing and advertising technology and solutions provider is taking this step to further capitalize on the growth in mobile advertising, having experienced an 82 percent increase in mobile advertising revenue last year for a total of $54.3 million.

?In combining mobile advertising and marketing with performance data and predictive analytics, Velti is now able to make recommendations to brands on the best types of campaigns to run in order to achieve a specific set of goals,? said Krishna Subramanian, chief marketing officer at Velti, San Francisco.

?Velti is also able to tap into the Mobclix exchange for access to inventory of over 40K applications, providing marketers with immense reach in key geographies,? he said.

?Finally, we?re giving advertisers access to 1.4 consumers on mobile devices around the globe.?

Unified data model
Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach $11.4 billion in 2013, up from $9.6 billion in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2016, the number is expected to reach $24.5 billion.

The number of mobile advertising networks is on the rise and they are all competing for brands? small but growing mobile budgets. Others in this space include AdMob, Jumptap, Greystripe and Millennial Media.

The Velti Media network will combine mobile advertising and marketing solutions in a single technology platform across a unified data model.

Some of the brands already using Velti Media include Intel, Toshiba, Hasbro, Disney and eBay in addition to Unilever, M&Ms and McDonald's.

Multi-screen targeting
Velti has also introduced its Multi-channel Targeting technology, a universal data analytics platform on mobile that will enable brands to target consumers with relevant advertising and marketing interactions across smartphones, tablets and PCs. As a result, brands will be able to identify and target consumers as they move between devices throughout the day.

To help manage the new platform, Velti has hired Michael Hess as senior vice president of advertising sales.

Typically, advertisers need to use multiple solution providers to achieve their goals in mobile, from building their brand and driving conversion to increasing frequency and loyalty.

The Velti ad network combines advertising and marketing with performance data and predictive analytics to enable brands to drive new customers into the marketing funnel, increase engagement and manage customer lifecycle management through different programs.

?The ability to reach consumers across a range of devices is becoming more and more critical,? Mr. Subramanian said.

?The ability to retarget from desktop to mobile Web, mobile app and mobile messaging, allows advertisers to continue delivering deeper levels of engagement as consumers switch to other devices,? he said.

?Velti will be the first universal data analytics platform on mobile that allows brands to target consumers with relevant advertising and marketing interactions on smartphones, tablets and PCs, so they can identify and reach the same consumers across any device or platform.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York