Location based advertising has legs says mobile advertising network 1020 Placecast

1020 Placecast first caught my attention about six months ago, but since then they have been a bit quiet. I received a press release today with some significant stats.
What are they?
Well. Location based advertising solution Placecast has amassed over 250 web publishers and now reaches 100 million users.

From the press release:
 “Location-sensitive rich media advertising has proven to drive a significantly higher level of engagement with our consumers,” said John Li, Co-founder and President at Menuism. “There’s no doubt that location-based advertising will continue to play a bigger role in our business.”

What we think?
Shriek. 300% growth. This is very good for location based services. I am trying to think hard as to why Placecast is doing well or growing so fast and I can only think of two possibilities.

The first is that perhaps companies that start on the web have an easier time penetrating mobile as they have an existing base of customers to sweeten.

Or the time for location based advertising simply makes sense. I mean, I have realised that location is everything. If you are going to buy something and want it the right advert can only sweeten the sale. I think back to the interview I had with Yahoo’s Chief Scientist Marc Davis and he basically said that if advertising was going to work it had to be sweet (a gift) and this is what location based mobile advertising promises.