InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, today released its April 2011 mobile insights report for Africa providing insights on mobile advertising trends on the continent. Data from the report shows that InMobi now serves a staggering 4.2 billion impressions a month in Africa, up 21% from 3.5 billion in January 2011.

Key highlights of the Kenya data include:
•   Strong growth in Kenya continues, with 45 million mobile ad impressions monthly added in just 90 days
•   Smartphone impressions increased 37%, but remain relatively small with only 7% of the total market share
•   Alcatel and Huawei combined to increase their share by 4.7 points driven partly by a push on affordable Android devices
•   Nokia remains the dominant market player with a 53.8% share, despite the manufacturing giant losing 3.4 share points during the period

While the data indicates  that advanced and smartphones impressions grew at a consistent pace, advanced phones still dominate the market with an 85% share.  While there are early signs of growth among smartphones, they have yet to gain substantial traction.

Comments Isis Nyong'o, Vice President and Managing Director InMobi Africa “The mobile advertising market in Africa continues to grow quickly.  With InMobi reaching over 30 million Africans, mobile is now a must buy media for major brands looking to grow their business on the continent.”

The report confirms that South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt remain the largest mobile markets in Africa.  South Africa maintains the position as the largest with more than 946 million impressions a month; that is a 24% share of the African market.