Everyone’s got their eyes on the growth of mobile – and advertisers are looking to capitalize on the proliferation. Airpush, in just three years, has formulated four products in the mobile ad space and has expanded its reach worldwide. Since its creation in 2010, it hasn’t only rode the trends in mobile – it has helped define them.
“The key point: Everyone advertises on Airpush,” said CEO Asher Delug.
[ibimage==29406==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]The company has grown to more than 200 employees stationed around the globe and has also seen exponential revenue growth, starting with revenues of $10 million in 2011, $50 million in 2012, and they are now closing 2013 at more than $100 million.
And the way they’ve done it is by taking current industry trends, and innovating above them, Delug said.
“We don't like to increment over the status quo,” Delug said. “We like to really step away from the pack and make big strides.” Moving away from the simple banner ad, the Airpush patent-pending interstitial ad is “the best performing interstitial ad in the world.”
“It uses a new technology that decides the best type of interstitial for that user at that time - whether it’s video or print,” and is “format agnostic,” so it chooses whether the best ad is in video or rich media depending on the viewer and the connection available.
Delug has been in the mobile ad industry for eight years, beginning Airpush after he formed a previous company, GoLive Mobile, which works with clients like Disney, Coca-Cola and Kanye West. Delug said the mobile ad industry is constantly racing and shifting: “It’s an incredibly fast-moving market, I think even faster than other areas in tech.”
The bright side to this movement, he said, is that “all boats are rising… for the most part.”
This movement hasn’t stopped the company from shifting along with the latest trends in mobile, including TV real-time bidding as well as data and targeting.
It’s why Airpush in October acquired Hubbl -- a “scrappy, awesome young startup” with two founders in New York and a team in India, very close geographically to Airpush’s India operations. With the huge amount of data Airpush has collected, Hubbl will help Airpush leverage data to better personalize ads for their customers.
Airpush’s newest products aim to capitalize on these trends, but also to transform the standards of advertising in the industry. Delug’s product line exemplifies his philosophy: it’s not about just developing on product well. In fact, the most common product in the market, the banner ad that all his competitors make, is the product he said Airpush spends the least energy on.
“We're going in like half a dozen different directions and not following the ‘do one thing and do it well’ adage,” Delug said. “We're doing the opposite and trying to capitalize on what we see as a flood of opportunities within mobile."
“We launched four products, and all four of those products have become nearly seven-figure-a-month products within four months of launch,” he said.
Airpush currently works with more than 100,000 live apps and more than 5,000 advertisers. The company’s growth in 2014 includes a “dramatic expansion” of the team – including snapping up a high profile chief revenue officer from a competitor and a new LA office.
And with the rapid movement to mobile, Delug’s squad is positioned to find more creative solutions to on this “product roadmap that's extremely ambitious.”
