—InMobi/hi5: Mobile advertising network InMobi has signed an exclusive deal with social media site hi5 to serve ads for its mobile site in Thailand. Hi5 – which bills itself as a “social entertainment” site specialising in games and virtual goods – claims it is the country’s biggest social media property. Overall it has 50 million monthly visitors worldwide. InMobi says it now receives 5 billion ad requests a month from Asia, a growth of 400 percent in the past six months.
—Nexage/CPX Interactive: The mobile ad technology developer Nexage has launched a new solution that lets online ad networks source inventory simultaneously across mobile web sites and mobile apps. The ad network CPX Interactive is Nexage’s first customer for the service, called AdMax.
—O2/Shazam: And another sign of more contextual ads coming to mobile. Mobile operator O2 is sponsoring Shazam’s iPhone app to promote its priority ticket service: customers will be served ads for pre-sale ticket offers for events at O2-sponsored venues, based on music they have tagged through Shazam’s iPhone app. The ads are being delivered by 4th Screen Advertising, as part of a wider deal between itself and Shazam, originally made in October 2009.
—WorldMate/LinkedIn: The travel-planning app that claims to have 5 million customers has integrated with LinkedIn’s APIs, so that users can access their LinkedIn contacts while planning their travels. WorldMate says that this makes it the first BlackBerry app for LinkedIn; it’s also available for iPhones, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) devices and Windows devices.