The Indian online advertising giant Adex is investing $1bn in a new ad agency, creating the world’s biggest agency, a senior official said Wednesday.
The firm, which specialises in video, will be headquartered in Bangalore, the countrys fourth-largest city, AdEx chief executive Arvind Bhattacharya said.
“The global landscape is changing rapidly.
The Internet is reshaping the way advertising is done, and AdEx is part of that,” Bhattacarya said during a visit to Bangalore to announce the new deal.
AdEx’s new India head, Anupama Kulkarni, is part owner of a digital agency called Rediff.
In addition to Rediff, Kulkarna is also a partner at AdEx India.
The new partnership will allow AdEx to focus on more lucrative areas, including the growth of mobile advertising, Bhattarary said.
AdEX’s global footprint has grown from an initial $5.2bn in 2014 to $14.9bn in 2019, according to data compiled by Gartner.
Its advertising revenue has grown by almost a third from $5bn in 2017 to $16.3bn in 2020.
Adex will be responsible for running the new agency, which will be based in Bengaluru.
Bhattachary said AdEx would partner with Rediff and other local ad agencies to build the company’s brand and scale.
“We want to build a global agency to serve the entire global market and not just the digital space,” he said.
Rediff is a Bengaluru-based digital agency which specializes in video and live streaming.
It is also owned by Rediff’s founder, Amit Agarwal.
Rediffs mobile app, Rediff Connect, was launched last month, bringing to India a whole new category of mobile ad.
It allows users to connect to ad agencies and buy ad space on their mobile devices.