The debate in Silicon Valley around the future of mobile browsing - the “full” vs. mobile web - takes as a given that user activity on the mobile internet is set to explode. The debate here in India is different, focused on the more basic question of whether it will reach a broad audience at all in the near-term. Media owners are, by and large, skeptical, and in any case assume that all revenue models “mobile” will be tied to the operators unto eternity.

It’s against this context that ecosystem experts invariably raise their eyebrows when they read that AdMob serves over 300 million ads per month to Indian users on non-carrier mobile websites. The numbers are significant because they suggest that India’s off-deck mobile web activity, along with the market for mobile advertising, have already hit a crescendo.

As in South Africa, many of the sites Indian users are visiting today are internationally-based, and that very well may be because local content simply isn’t available: of India’s top 10 internet sites (according to current Alexa rankings), only Rediff, Cricinfo, and MoneyControl have deployed full-fledged mobile versions (the latter two are AdMob publishers). The opportunity presented to media owners and entrepreneurs, then, is clear: invest in creating a strong mobile web presence today and you’ll have the opportunity to build a technology, traffic, and monetization advantage now and into the future.

If you’d like to work with us in India as a publisher or advertiser/agency, drop us a line: india@admob.com.

-Zubair Jandali
Mumbai, India