IronSource, a major advertising tech firm for mobile games and apps, has acquired ad-quality insights platform Soomla.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies are based barely 10 minutes apart in Tel Aviv, Israel, and they’re examples of the country’s leadership in advertising and marketing automation technology.
IronSource chief revenue officer Omer Kaplan said in an interview with VentureBeat that the deal adds another layer of data and visibility to ad monetization, in addition to the services IronSource already offers mobile game and app companies.
“Our vision is really to build a leading game business or game growth platform,” Kaplan said. “The value that Soomla provided is giving gaming app developers visibility and control over everything that they’re running with their monetization. We see this [as a] very important value for the ecosystem.”
While IronSource has 800 employees and Soomla has just 15, Soomla has tech that enables developers to better identify harmful ads and manage the user experience.
Soomla provides its ad-quality insights as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering to help developers manage ads running inside their apps. If ads are misleading or violate a “deny list,” for example, they could potentially harm user experience and cause churn (people deciding to drop an app or game). Developers can act on such insights to create a better user experience.
Following the acquisition, Soomla’s solution will continue to be available to developers using other mediation services.
“It gives a developer the capability to see what’s running on the inventory from several angles,” Kaplan said. “First of all, for everything around it, quality monitoring — to see that you’re not running any inappropriate ads or anything that is not adjusted to what you want to show. Another angle is analyzing the creatives that are running on your inventory — so whether the creative part of an ad is not working. You can even see heat maps and different things around creatives.”
Above: Soomla’s platform
Kaplan said the goal is to become a comprehensive platform for mobile app developers, adding new features that empower developers to create, grow, and sustain profitable and successful businesses.
In-app ad monetization has continued to grow, with greater adoption across apps and games. This includes mobile game genres that have traditionally relied on in-app purchases and are now driving additional revenue from their games through ads strategically incorporated as an integral part of gameplay.
IronSource was founded in 2010, while Soomla got its start in 2012. As part of the acquisition, Soomla CEO Yaniv Nizan and his team will join IronSource.
“This adds to our comprehensive business platform,” Kaplan said. “We want to build this infrastructure for business, a platform for game developers. It was a perfect fit.”
Asked if the upcoming Apple change with the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) had any impact on the acquisition, Kaplan said it did not. (Apple is changing how ad companies can target users in the name of improving privacy.)
“We just felt this was a service that is important for game developers,” Kaplan said.
