Twitter to launch mobile advertising product for app-install ads: Report

Twitter Inc plans to release a mobile-advertising product in the next few weeks that will allow app-makers to encourage downloads of their software, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The format will lead users to the advertiser's page in a mobile app store where they can download the software, Bloomberg said.

There had been speculation that Twitter and other Internet firms would try their hand at this sort of marketing, which has proven lucrative for Facebook.

Twitter expects the app-install advertisements to attract advertisers in the e-commerce and gaming industries, according to Bloomberg.

Twitter representatives were not immediately available to comment.

Yahoo earlier this year also started testing app-install ads across its mobile services, a move indicate the importance Yahoo is giving to the growing market for mobile apps, and its own demographic, having already announced in January it expected to have more mobile users than desktop users by the end of 2014.

A Yahoo spokesperson had in March said: "We're testing in-stream ad opportunities with an initial group of advertisers who have mobile apps and want to connect directly with audiences across Yahoo mobile apps and sites. The purpose of these native ads is to help brands drive downloads of their mobile apps. These tests will begin to appear across all of our properties where in-stream ads run on iOS and Android devices."

The market for mobile device advertising doubled in 2013 to $17.9 billion and is on pace for strong gains this year, led by Facebook and Google, a market tracker said Wednesday.

The research firm eMarketer said mobile ad spending increased 105 percent last year and is expected to jump another 75 percent in 2014 to more than $34 billion.

Twitter also saw strong gains but its share was a modest 2.4 percent from 1.5 percent in 2012.

Written with inputs from AFP and Reuters