Taptica lands deal with China app giant Codoon

End-to-end mobile advertising platform Taptica announced on Wednesday that it has been appointed as exclusive mobile advertising partner by Codoon, China's largest sports events and social service platform, to drive qualified user installs of its Runtopia app in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

The AIM-traded firm said it is the first campaign that Codoon has conducted in the US.

It described Runtopia is a sports community app, which consumers can use to track runs as well as share exercises and meet others through its social network.

The app uses GPS and mobile phone sensors to track the route, speed, calorie consumption, mileage, variation of latitude, stride frequency and step length to help users attain their training goals.

It also offers a smart audio reminder to enable runners to adjust their distance, pace and timing.

Since launching seven years ago, Runtopia has achieved 40 million active users in China and has become the country's largest sports platform.

Taptica said it will use its Facebook offering to reach social runners, who are sharing their workouts and looking to build a community with other runners where they can learn from each other and grow, to drive qualified installs.

“On the heels of a successful $50m series C funding round, Codoon sought and found in Taptica a partner that could successfully engage international consumers to generate more interest in Runtopia,” said Codoon vice-president James Si.

“Taptica provides us with the most complete and comprehensive social media marketing platform to support our global campaign.”

Taptica CEO Hagai Tal said the company is “perfectly positioned” to serve as a bridge for businesses like Codoon seeking to reach consumers in the UK, US and beyond.

“We provide a single solution to optimise marketing campaigns and drive impact for advertisers across mobile and social media channels.

“Thanks to our acquisition of AreaOne, we enable bid optimisation and budget optimisation in a cost-effective manner across social media channels, upon which we layer our ever-growing repository of big data generated from mobile campaigns to drive the most impactful campaigns.”