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Mobile media company, Affle, has launched a new ad technology network, Ripple, its rich media and video advertising network. In line with the growing convergence of smart devices, Ripple will offer advertising solutions across all smart screens including PC, mobile, tablet, smart TVs, consoles and so on.

Supported by HTML 5 and Flash, Ripple claims to differentiate itself from ad-networks like Komli Media, Tyroo, Adchakra, and others by providing an integrated platform across all devices. It claims to use “innovative technologies” like face detection, image search, and voice recognition to deliver contextual advertising. The platform will deliver ads which are in context to the kind of video being consumed, thereby making it relevant to not just the publishers and advertisers but also consumers.

According to Anuj Khanna Sohum, Founder & Chairman, Affle Group, with Ripple, the company enjoys a first mover advantage and is looking to leverage this and gain the largest market share in this space. He adds that creating a platform that can integrate all the smart screens is not an easy transition for the exiting players to adapt to, and Affle is strongly placed in this regard.

While Khanna does not divulge details about the investments incurred for this project, he shares that over $20 million has been invested in R&D over the span of Affle.

Moreover, according to a recent consumer research commissioned by Affle and conducted by IMRB, online advertising is almost three times more likely to get users to search for the product as opposed to regular television advertising and is 2.7 times more effective for enhancing purchase consideration versus television advertising.

While these findings further validate the significant potential of mobile advertising and marketing, on comparing these numbers with spends on mobile, there is a dichotomy. According to the figures shared by Khanna, out of the $ 6.8 billion spent on advertising spends in India, close to 5 per cent is spent on rich media and digital advertising. And of these 5 per cent, a meagre 1 per cent is spent on mobile.

However, according to Khanna, marketers and publishers are slowly embracing this platform and smart screens are set to disrupt not just the conventional digital media like banner ads and search, but also traditional media.

Anuj Kumar, Co-founder and CEO goes on to add, “Over the last one year we have been doing a lot of product level R&D and user research to create the Ripple platform such that advertising delivered through it will reach the most relevant consumer, on the most premium content and at the most relevant context across all smart screens. I am extremely happy that a lot of those efforts have made us build a solid product which has already attracted top partners like Samsung, P&G, Star, Business Standard, Dainik Bhaskar, Beoscope, Bolanews, Sambawa and many more across key Asian markets.”