WhatRunsWhere acquires Mobile Ad Spy to reveal your competitors’ web and mobile advertising (exclusive details)

WhatRunsWhere, the innovative service that allows you to track your competitors’ online advertising, has just acquired U.K.-based startup Mobile Ad Spy, which essentially does the same thing for mobile.

Terms were not publicly announced, but VentureBeat has learned from chief operating officer Max Teitelbaum that the deal was worth north of seven figures — a significant exit for a start-up launched just last year which is still in beta.

Interestingly, Mobile Ad Spy was built by a software engineer who lost a large amount of money buying mobile ads and realized he needed better intelligence.

“What we’ve learned from the product is that mobile is a huge black box,” Teitelbaum told me in an email. “There’s not a lot of transparency and a lot of stuff that gets shut down in online display ads for being scammy or not appropriate slips by in mobile.”

Advertisers use WhatRunsWhere to learn where competitors are advertising online: what ads they’re running, and who they’re buying inventory from. With the addition of Mobile Ad Spy technology, clients will now be able to get similar analytics on mobile advertising … seeing which apps, mobile sites, and mobile ad networks companies are employing on smartphones and tablets.

That insider information will result in lower risk and higher advertising ROI, according to WhatRunsWhere.

Competitors include MixRank and AdClarity, neither of which appear to have a mobile solution. The acquisition makes WhatRunsWhere a one-stop-shop for digital advertising intelligence and, as mobile advertising is just really starting to take off, provides a significant competitive advantage.

WhatRunsWhere currently provides data on over 140,000 unique advertisers, Teitelbaum says.

Mobile Ad Spy’s capabilities will be merged into the platform, and all beta user agreements will be honored.

photo credit: shapeshift via photo pin cc