Angry Birds Taking Off in China, with First Partner MadHouse for Mobile Ads

Once again, Angry Birds are overwhelmed by meetings/events/conferences in China. The difference, compared with the April at GMIC, is that at that time only Peter Vesterbacka was the super star, but this week in Shanghai, Angry Birds’ new appointed leader for China/Asia, Henri Holm also showed up together with his China team. They came to our Mobile Monday Shanghai event, went to Shanda event and of course the ChinaJoy. We also know they are checking their office places and starts recruiting more key staffs, the Birds are really taking off in Chinese.

With this ambitious goal of 100 millions downloads by end of this year, and the situation, as Peter said, Angry Birds is already the third-most-pirated brand in China, advertisements on a free version might be the major revenue directly from the apps. So one of the most important partners needed in China to start with is mobile ads solution provider(s). MadHouse, the Shanghai-based China’s leading mobile advertising solution company just becomes the first partner for Rovio to work with in China.

MadHouse is founded 2006 and is reported to offer intelligent targeting technology on a network that reaches 75%+ of all China’s mobile internet users. Read from the press release sent to me by Joshua Maa, the founder and CEO of Madhouse:

As part of this partnership, Madhouse will enable and deliver ads to Rovio properties across China – including placement of in-application banners and rich media ads as well as fully customized marketing solutions tailored to the needs of brand advertisers.

With plenty of lessons from other foreign companies, the Birds obviously understand that they must be a Chinese company. PPW has been appointed as the licensing representative of the Angry Birds franchise; A “Moon Festival” version will be released to entertain Chinese players; a line of Angry Birds shoes will be sold on Letao, China’s largest online shoe company too.

Will Angry Birds will eventually be Happy Birds in China soon?

[picture via VentureBeat]