Yahoo is set to acquire mobile app analytics firm Flurry for an undisclosed sum, said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The analytic tools that Flurry offers to developers are crucial for advertisers trying to make the leap to mobile ads, and Yahoo will use the company’s technology to help boost its own advertising revenue from smartphones.
“When completed, our acquisition of Flurry will be a meaningful step for the company and reinforces our commitment to building and supporting useful, inspiring and beautiful mobile applications and monetisation solutions,” said Scott Burke, Yahoo’s head of advertising technology.
“Our combined offerings will enable more effective mobile advertising solutions for brands seeking to reach their audiences and gain unique insights across desktop and mobile,” he added.
Flurry’s president and CEO, Simon Khalaf, said that “as part of Yahoo, Flurry will continue to serve the application developer community in the way we always have, only better.”
“Mobile and its applications have disrupted every segment of the economy from media and entertainment, to communications, to travel, to retail and healthcare,” he said. “Time spent on mobile devices by the average US consumer has risen to two hours and 42 minutes per day in 2014.
Eighty-six per cent of that time is spent in apps, and about 60% of that time is spent in applications built by independent app developers. Over the past six years, we have been honoured to work with and support these developers.”
According to figures from eMarketer, the global mobile advertising market is set to reach $32.71bn in 2014, up 85% from 2013’s total of $17.71bn. But Google and Facebook accounted for more than two thirds of that total, and while Yahoo has called its earnings from the market “meaningful” on its most recent earnings call, it does not report its revenues from the sector.
The firm does report its share of global digital ad spending, however, which is down year on year: in 2014, Yahoo’s portion of the digital ad market is 2.52%, down from 2.86% a year prior, also according to eMarketer. Its share of digital ad revenues is also falling in the US, from 6.8% to 5.8%.
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