Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) announced its acquisition of Namo Media as the social media firm continues its initiative of bringing native advertisements to mobile app publishers to be able to create a more seamless and less intrusive ad experience for users.
The popular microblogging company started integrating native ads after purchasing MoPub, mobile advertising exchange for $350 million last year. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) did not disclose the acquisition price of Namo Media.
There were reports that the microblogging company is also considering runs at Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), Spotify and SoundCloud.
Shared vision to improve mobile app monetization
In a statement, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) said, “We believe strongly that all app developers large and small should be able to monetize their applications without sacrificing the user experience. In our conversations with the Namo Media team, it became clear we share a vision for how native advertising can improve the state of mobile app monetization for marketers, app publishers, and users.”
On the other hand, Namo Media said its technology combined with MoPub will offer a more powerful platform to generate revenue for customers while maintaining an amazing user experience. “If you’re an existing publisher partner looking for more information on how to take advantage of these future capabilities, we’ll reach out to help you transition to MoPub’s native ads platform,” according to the startup in its press statement.
Former Google employees founded Namo Media
Namo Media was established by former employees of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last year. The native advertising startup received investments from Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Betaworks, Trinity Ventures and Susa Ventures among others.
Twitter at the intersection of major trends in advertising and mobile
Last year, Kevin Weil, vice president of product for revenue at Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), explained that the microblogging company is at the intersection of the two major trends happening in the mobile and advertising industries. These trends include the “shift of user to mobile” and the “industry shift to programmatic buying; and are the reasons why Twitter acquired MoPub and continues to improve it by incorporating the technology from Namo Media to generate more revenues from advertising.
The stock price of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is up by more than 4% to $34.32 per share as of 2:33 PM ET New York. The shares of the company were also recently upgraded to Outperform rating with a $45 price target by analysts at Pacific Crest.
