By Gary Schwartz

Jumptap may be the last man standing of the incumbent mobile advertising networks to have its exit. The all-stock $225 million acquisition this week by erstwhile competitor Millennial Media in a predominantly stock transaction may not be the glory finish that many had hoped. What does consolidation mean to the mobile ad world?

Good things – in the long term.

Grooming a network
George Bell came on as the new Jumptap CEO in 2010 to ostensibly position the company for an exit. Mr. Bell was the ideal candidate coming from General Catalyst Partners and being an accomplished network dealmaker.

Back in 1996, Mr. Bell took the Excite network public. Apart from a few digital faux pas such as turning down the then two-year-old startup Google offer of $750,000 for its search engine, the Excite network continued to grow with impressive revenues through 1998.

Over the past two years, under Mr. Bell’s leadership Jumptap has grown in position in the crowded media market, establishing global partnerships in markets in Asia and vied for the budgets of digital agencies, direct response and brand advertisers and the inventory of publishers globally. And mobile budgets have grown for all mobile ad network stakeholders.

In Jumptap’s M&A prep this year, the company took in a $27.5 million investment from ad conglomerate WPP, Keating Capital and General Catalyst, topping its venture funding to date at $121.5 million.

Key was Jumptap’s decision to bring on board John Hadl, a mobile media veteran and rainmaker who advised Millennial Media, AdMob and Quattro Wireless.

2013 was its make-or-break year.

Patents alone
On patents alone, Jumptap should hold significant market value. After the first patent was issued in June 2009, Jumptap has received 52 patents at an impressive IP quota of one monthly. It has many more published patent applications in the pipeline.

Mr. Bell has advocated from day one for IP differentiation and has continually stated that patents underscore the company’s commitment to ad targeting and smart ad solutions.

The company holds a good spread of patents from ad targeting, coupon selection, bid optimization (real-time bidding) and the management of third-party data.

Augme Technologies’ lawsuit against Millennial Media over ad targeting last year – patent mudslinging – seemed to be the first indication of a mobile ad war.

The Millennial Media acquisition of Jumptap may not vindicate the hard work and positioning on patents and network growth and may speak more to the general mobile ad market ennui.

Ups and downs
The mega valuations that AdMob and Quattro Wireless commanded from Google and Apple, respectively, four years ago soon rang hollow after Apple shelved Quattro’s platform and mobile ad sales showed halting growth.

It seemed that the online leviathans were just building a mobile ad network and waiting. Mobile buying remained challenging – there was not the scale and simplicity that is required to attract media dollars.

Then last year the market began to heat up with cool results: InMobi received strategic investment from Softbank, Opera purchased AdMarvel and Millennial Media, after trying for a Quattro-like exit, opted for an IPO which was surprisingly successful.

Market results remained challenging.

Velti and Augme, both of which had transitioned their business to mobile advertising away from their traditional higher-margin mobile marketing business, showed slowing growth.

Of the ad networks, Millennial Media was the closest to turning a profit and generating consistent positive operating cash flow. Now, with its expanded holdings, what should the network focus on to grow?

Cross-screen
There is an oft-quoted line in technology that many are over optimistic in the short term and overly pessimistic about the long term.

In the short-term mobile revenues will grow slowly and organically as budgets move into digital.

However, in the long term there is tremendous opportunity to accelerate these budgets if we can manage to simplify the mobile buy across all digital touch points.

Jumptap’s Unified Audience Exchange and its previous partnership with 24/7 – which has credibility on the PC side – was a sign of a multiscreen ad strategy.

Networks such as Jumptap and TapAd had begun touting the importance of a cross-channel ad buy. Paul Palmieri, Millennial Media’s founder/CEO, mentioned Jumptap’s expertise in cross-screen media a key asset to its network.

Brands want to follow their consumer across their many interactive screens. Google, Facebook and Pandora have made their mobile offering increasingly advertiser-friendly.

CEO Larry Page on his quarterly call last month said that Google wants “ to make advertising super simple for customers. Online advertising had developed in very device specific ways with separate campaigns for desktop and mobile. This made arduous work for advertisers and agencies, and meant mobile opportunities often got missed.”

DIGITAL CONSUMER engagement has become a top priority for advertisers and publishers. There is a trend to make mobile advertising easier to buy.

Online, mobile and offline media need to be seamlessly connected. Targeting across multiple screens, not just mobile, is essential for brands to drive conversion and path-to-purchase.

Gary Schwartz is president/CEO of Impact Mobile, Toronto. Reach him at [email protected].