Ad Operations Online » CPE Advertising

Firefly Video Launches New Ad Units Where Consumers Actively Choose to Watch an Advertiser’s Video Content

Otilia Otlacan — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:00:13 +0000

Cost-per-engagement model and two new ad units deliver the Active Attention of target audiences to drive engagement and brand lift; Joe Gallagher, former EVP of BBE, leads newly formed division

EMERYVILLE, Calif. - Exponential Interactive, the global provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions, relaunched its brand engagement video advertising solution Firefly Video.

The launch includes two new ad units, Glow and Illuminate, which are designed specifically to drive consumers to actively choose to watch a brand’s video content.

Campaigns using the new Glow unit have delivered an average of almost 1.5 times the average time spent (ATS) of previous units, while campaigns using the full-featured Illuminate format delivered an average of twice the ATS, the company said. Average engagement rates are more than 1%, it added.

Firefly Video is offered on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) model, meaning advertisers pay only when a consumer actively chooses to watch content. Both units require prolonged user rollover on the teaser video to spark expansion of the unit and sound. Combined with CPE pricing, this ensures advertisers are only paying for the Active Attention of their prospective customers.

Firefly Video is powered by Exponential’s e-X Advertising Intelligence Platform, which enables advertisers to target against a taxonomy of 50,000 different user interests and intentions at scale. Exponential’s premium publisher network reaches more than 450 million unique monthly users worldwide. This means brands can combine the power of video advertising with the scale and audience targeting only available in ‘traditional’ online display advertising. An automotive advertiser for example, can choose only to reach people to have indicated an interest in buying a car, or people who have recently visited their site. By leveraging their long-form video or TV ads, they can then engage with their prospective customers with their most impactful advertising format.

Joe Gallagher, former EVP, global sales, at online video network pioneer BBE, has been appointed as general manager of Firefly Video to lead the newly formed division. Gallagher also held management positions at Dow Jones, Tribune Company and Real Media.

He said: “These new units, combined with a cost-per-engagement pricing structure, guarantee advertisers the Active Attention of their intended users. Brands know that the users viewing their content have chosen to do so, and they know they only pay when that happens. With strong video content constantly available to brand advertisers, along with the added features of social sharing, multi-video content and product information, Firefly Video delivers a strategically advanced platform to reach and engage their prospective customers.”

The overall U.S. online video ad market grew 46% to $2.9 billion last year, according to eMarketer’s observations on trends in video advertising.

Gallagher added: “As consumption behavior evolves beyond just the television and toward the internet on their digital devices, it is vital to reach them online, where they are becoming not only more predisposed to watch video, but also to engage with the content they are viewing. Firefly Video’s custom-tailored audience segmentation ensures we capture the active attention of an advertiser’s most relevant consumers.

“Compelling video, delivered to the right eyes and ears, has more power to drive brand interest, consideration and overall awareness. Firefly Video offers opt-in engagement solutions that cater to consumers’ interests, ultimately providing stellar results – at great value using our advertiser-centric pricing system — for brands.”

About Firefly Video

Firefly Video (www.fireflyvideo.com) is a digital video advertising solution that delivers the active attention of advertisers’ target audiences to drive engagement and brand lift. It is a division of Exponential, the global provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions to brand advertisers that also owns in-stream video advertising specialist AdoTube, mobile rich-media provider Appsnack, and global display advertising provider Tribal Fusion. Exponential offers solutions in 26 countries worldwide and reaches more than 450m unique users every month.

Solve Media Uncovers $1.5 Billion in Wasted Ad Spend

Otilia Otlacan — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:31:42 +0000

New Research and Survey Results Show that Bot Traffic is a Growing Problem in the Digital Media Industry, Impacting Publishers and Advertisers

New York – Solve Media (www.SolveMedia.com) today revealed that 10 percent of all online traffic is generated by bots – software applications that run automated processes across the Web. eMarketer predicts online display ad spend will reach $15.3 billion globally in 2012, which means that potentially $1.5 billion in ads will be served to bots. Since 2011, Solve Media has witnessed a 400 percent rise in aberrant traffic across registration, voting, commenting and contact services on the web. The company’s CAPTCHA-based advertising technology provides security authentication solutions for publishers.

Bots harm publishers by stealing content, posting inappropriate comments and creating fake user accounts that can be used to launch other bot attacks. Advertisers are also negatively impacted by bots through wasted time and money spent marketing to entities that will never become customers. Both advertisers and publishers risk their reputations when bots are active on web sites.

“By working with Solve Media, we’ve taken the necessary steps to stop bot traffic that targets Meredith through our contest and sweepstakes entries,” said Andy Wilson, SVP of Digital Marketing at Meredith Corp. “These actions ensure the most positive experience for our users and our advertisers.”

Solve Media reviewed a monthly average of 100 million identity authentications from all of 2011 to August 2012 across 5,000 publishers. Key findings include:

· The majority of bot traffic comes from the U.S. based on total numbers.
· Singapore (56%) and Taiwan (54%) had the highest percentage of bot traffic; in the U.S., bots are 16% of total traffic.
· comScore observed that between 4% and 11% of ad impressions for given U.S. campaignswere delivered against bot traffic; web site security firm Incapsula estimates bot traffic to be 31%.

What Bots Do
Bots are computer programs that automate tasks, such as clicking on web page functionality or ads. When bots crowd web traffic, they cause advertisers to pay for impressions that are not being seen by human beings. Bots undermine the security of the web and cause harm by stealing publisher content, creating spam assets and posting inappropriate content.

“Security is a paramount concern for publishers and advertisers, as they continue to be victimized by bots. Publishers need rock-solid solutions to stop massive, global bot attacks that can happen at any time,” said Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media. “Solve Media engineered its technology from the ground up with security at its core. No other ad technology company has the capabilities, experience and commitment we have to solving this problem.”

Jordan Rohan, Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus and Co. added, “Bots present a much larger threat to display advertising than most advertisers understand. Solve Media addresses this problem head on through human authentication, while also providing an effective advertising platform.”

To protect against bots, advertisers should:

· Seek cost-per-engagement (CPE) media opportunities that demand human cognition.
· Embrace publishers that have proactively implemented an anti-bot solution.
· Demand third-party attitudinal research that confirms effectiveness of ads.
· Require site transparency on all network buys.
· Implement attribution tracking technology on all video buys.

“The existence of non-human traffic is an issue that affects the entire digital ad ecosystem,” said Kirby Winfield, SVP of Corporate Development, comScore. “comScore research has shown that a significant percentage of ad campaigns are delivered against non-human traffic, which represents waste for advertisers that can diminish their confidence in the medium. Any efforts to quantify the magnitude of this problem and validate ad delivery represent a step in the right direction for digital.”

About Solve Media
Solve Media was founded by veteran entrepreneurs and technologists focused on innovative Internet advertising solutions. The Company’s proprietary online advertising platform, the TYPE-IN™, was designed to create new and highly effective opportunities for brands to advertise online. With the platform, Solve Media guarantees brand message delivery, brand lift and return on investment for advertisers. Additionally, the platform creates new revenue opportunities for publishers and saves time for consumers. Backed by First Round Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, AOL Ventures, BullpenCapital and prominent angel investors, Solve Media is based in New York City and Philadelphia. http://www.solvemedia.com

SAY Media Launches New Ad Platform to Deliver Deeper Brand Engagement

Otilia Otlacan — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:00:09 +0000

Global Media Company Continues to Innovate the Ad Experience with Faster, Richer, More Insightful Ads

SAN FRANCISCOv – SAY Media today announced the next evolution of its award-winning ad platform, AdFrames, to deliver better brand experiences to millions of consumers. This completely re-engineered platform gives advertisers a better creative canvas to deliver richer ads that immerse consumers in a full brand experience without ever leaving the webpage.

“We’ve spent the last four years defining what a great ad experience should be and the industry has followed our lead. We were the first to introduce cost per engagement pricing, the first to deliver a full-page immersive ad experience and the first to manage consumer expectations with branded ad experiences,” said Troy Young, president, SAY Media. “This next iteration of the AdFrames platform is another important step forward as we continue our mission to make display advertising premium. It’s a material improvement to how consumers experience advertising.”

New features of the Ad Frames platform include:

Faster Ads: 2x faster load time and takeover delivers the ad experience immediately to the consumer
More Immersive Ads: Larger canvas and higher resolution delivers more elegant ad experiences.
Richer Ads: Limitless features allow brands to immediately integrate all of their social content and create an entire site experience on a single click.
Insightful Ads: Deeper insights and customized reporting to learn more about ad performance, targeting, and message.

The vast feature set delivered through this platform eliminates the need for a microsite and made-for-web brand content. This effortless transition from media environment to advertiser content aligns with the tenets supporting SAY’s recently launched Clean Campaign, an initiative designed to make digital content work better for everyone – the advertiser, publisher and consumer – by eliminating webpage clutter and focusing consumer attention on the content they care about.

The next generation of AdFrames is available now. For more information or to view a demo visit: http://saymedia.com/demo.php

About SAY Media

SAY Media is a global media company that helps passionate, independent content creators publish, build an audience, and earn a living. The company delivers publishing technology and media services to influential creators and passion-based communities across key consumer interest areas such as style, living, food and technology. With expertise in social publishing, distribution and authentic digital marketing, SAY Media enables today’s leading online voices and top consumer brands to engage with more than 400 million people around the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, in the UK and Australia. For more information visit www.saymedia.com.

Exponential Acquires AdoTube, A Leading Provider of In-Stream Video Ad Solutions

Otilia Otlacan — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:04:26 +0000

Emeryville, CA – Exponential Interactive Inc., the owner of global online advertising provider Tribal Fusion and engagement video solution Firefly Video, today announced it has completed the acquisition of AdoTube, a centralized end-to-end digital video solution offering publishers and advertisers easy and efficient access to proprietary in-stream video advertising, including Polite Pre-Roll®, In-Stream Skins, Takeovers, and Interactive Overlays.

This strategic acquisition brings additional scale to the video advertising opportunities available from Exponential®, which already include Firefly Video. With the combined market share of AdoTube and Firefly Video, Exponential is now one of the largest global video providers. While Firefly Video offers a cost-per-engagement model that leverages Tribal Fusion’s global display inventory, consisting of the second largest worldwide global reach of 453 million, AdoTube offers advertisers innovative video solutions that leverage in-stream video inventory.

Exponential will operate AdoTube as an independent entity. AdoTube will leverage Exponential’s global footprint, which consists of 33 locations across 23 countries and will immediately expand its presence globally from just the United States. AdoTube will also apply Tribal Fusion’s advanced audience platform, consisting of data, targeting, optimization, and audience insights to its in-stream video solution, making it the most advanced video offering in the market.

AdoTube, based in New York City, was founded by Leo Grzhonko and Constantine Goltsev in 2007 who partnered with Josh Winograd and Steven Jones to join in leading the executive team. AdoTube offers a variety of innovative in-stream video formats that move beyond simple insertion of TV ads into video content, and allow users to engage, interact and provide feedback within the video ad unit. AdoTube’s Polite Pre-Roll is the least intrusive In-Stream video ad unit, allowing users to skip ads and where advertisers only pay for completed views. Publishers also benefit from the Polite Pre-Roll format, as users are less likely to leave their site due to being forced to watch in-stream ads.

“We are big believers in the potential of online video advertising and this acquisition accelerates our growth in the rapidly growing online video space,” says Dilip DaSilva, Exponential Interactive’s CEO. “In-Stream video ad serving is very much in its infancy, but by combining the advanced data, targeting, optimization, and insights available in the more mature display space with AdoTube’s innovative and interactive video solutions, we feel we can offer advertisers online video solutions that leverage the best of online advertising and engage users in a much deeper way than simply inserting TV ads into online video content.”

“This is a great transaction for all stakeholders as this relationship provides AdoTube with access to Exponential’s extensive global foot-print and advanced audience platform,” says Constantine Goltsev, AdoTube’s CEO. “Impactful advertising is about using creativity to engage users and leave a lasting and effective impression. The AdoTube platform lets advertisers augment their TV ads with interactive elements to create engaging ads. Combining this with an advanced audience platform, lets advertisers engage specifically with their most desirable target audience.”

AdoTube™ (http://adotube.com) is the leading global in-stream advertising technology company. AdoTube’s powerful and flexible technology provides a centralized end-to-end digital video solution offering publishers and advertisers easy and efficient access to in-stream video advertising across all media platforms. An early pioneer, AdoTube spearheaded the Polite Pre-Roll® and has continually spurred innovation in the online video ecosystem. With its sophisticated and comprehensive video ad management platform combined with a full service video ad network, and third party media measurement system, AdoTube is simplifying the complex world of digital video for publishers and marketers, while delivering engaging experiences for consumers.

Exponential Interactive Inc (http://www.exponential.com) the parent company of Tribal Fusion and FireFly Video, is a technology-enabled media company that delivers innovative products and services to meet the demands of today’s digital advertisers. Through a variety of offerings, the Exponential group of businesses enables online advertisers to reach their target audiences from around the globe to across town.

From premium publishers and CPM advertisers to performance marketing and highly engaging video solutions, Exponential delivers results for online advertisers. Each of its businesses – Tribal Fusion®, Firefly Video™, FullTango® LeadGenuity® and EchoTopic® – brings state of the art optimization technology, media services and years of experience in representing publishers and delivering highly successful campaigns for our advertising clients.

Kidzui Launches “KidClicks” Advertising Platform for Family-Friendly Brands at Engage 2011

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:27:01 +0000

Kids Media Industry Veteran Bryan Mullen Joins Company as Chief Revenue Officer

SAN DIEGO – KidZui, the leading developer of the award-winning Internet browser for kids, announced the launch of KidClicks, the Company’s new engagement and advertising platform for family-friendly brands. This new unique and intuitive platform offers a way for family friendly brands to engage kids with their content within the KidZui browser. Once kids connect with content, their parents are notified of those interests through KidZui’s permission-based parent newsletter. These promotions to parents are directly related to a child’s interests and can take the form of special offers, coupons or promotional messages.

As part of launching KidClicks, industry veteran Bryan Mullen joins KidZui as Chief Revenue Officer, to help expand and grow the platform. Most recently, Mr. Mullen was V.P. Sales & Marketing at The Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, where he successfully developed advertising and integrated marketing partnerships with clients such as Hasbro, Subway, Skechers, Warner Bros., Dannon and Johnson & Johnson.

Through KidClicks’ unique advertising solution, companies become KidZui sponsors and are able to share their unique content, engaging kids within the KidZui browser. Content for KidClicks is age and gender filtered for appropriateness, and must meet KidZui’s editorial standards, including following best practices for COPPA and CARU. To keep advertising non-invasive, KidClicks limits sponsored placement to a maximum of two items per page. For kids’ active engagement, sponsored content can lead to videos or websites, and kids can click on an “I LIKE THIS” button which is presented at the bottom of the content.

For parents, KidClicks offers insight into their kids’ interests and provides relevant promotions, directly tied to those interests. When Kids “LIKE” content, KidClicks sends an informative email message to the parent, which is placed within the weekly parental email reports provided free from KidZui. These KidClicks messages can include coupons, special offers, or links to additional product information, or direct e-commerce links, providing a valuable association for kids marketers. KidClicks does not charge for impressions, requires customers to only pay for engagement when kids click through sponsored content and uses standard IAB ad units.

“Family-friendly brands, like all marketers, are dealing with a shifting media landscape and searching for the best new ways to reach their audiences in an effective and non-invasive manner, and KidClicks allows these advertisers to gently but effectively engage kids with appropriate content while also giving them the ability to advertise to parents based on their children’s interests,” said Cliff Boro, Co-Founder and CEO of KidZui. “We are thrilled to have Bryan Mullen take the lead on the KidClicks platform, bringing his wealth of knowledge that makes him a thoughtful partner for our clients in the kids advertising space.”

As Chief Revenue Officer at KidZui, Mullen will spearhead and oversee the market development of KidClicks. Mullen has a proven track record of creating top performing partnerships by understanding client needs, engaging all stakeholders and executing solutions that are mutually beneficial. In addition he has been instrumental in the successful launching digital cable networks and websites into the ad sales arena. Mullen’s past experience includes sales and sales management positions at Cartoon Network, Disney Kids and Nickelodeon.

“I am very excited to join Cliff and the rest of the KidZui team in the quest to help make the internet more fun and safe for kids and providing advertisers the best environment to reach kids and their families,” said Bryan Mullen, Chief Revenue Officer at KidZui.

KidClicks began in May 2010 with charter pilot clients including DreamWorks, Disney, Universal Theatrical, Warner Brothers, LeapFrog, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, “Toys”R”Us, Foopets, National Geographic, and Herotopia. Successful KidClicks programs include Disney “Tangled” movie trailers sponsored within KidZui, Dreamworks “Kung Fu Panda World” virtual world promoted to children 7 and above in KidZui, and Electronic Arts sponsored demo videos of new games.

KidZui will be showcasing KidClicks at Engage 2011, booth # G1. In addition, KidZui Co-Founder and CEO Cliff Boro will be speaking on a panel “KidZui Introduces KidClicks: New Engagement Platform for Family Friendly Brands” during the Digital Kids track on Tuesday at 1:30 – 2:00pm EST in Room 2.

About KidZui

KidZui is the leading developer of the award-winning Internet browser for kids. Founded in 2006, KidZui is pre-loaded with millions of kid-friendly websites, YouTube videos, online games, and pictures. To date, KidZui has over one million child and parent users, and offers an entirely free version, KidZui K2. The company recently launched KidClicks, the innovative advertising and engagement platform for family-friendly brands. KidZui has been awarded the Editor’s Choice Children’s Technology Review, the Parents Choice Award, and the Wired Safety Best of the Web Award. KidZui is privately-held, backed by Mission Ventures, Emergence Capital Partners, First Round Capital, Maveron, and the Scholastic Corporation.

The company is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, visit http://www.kidzui.com

VideoEgg Reaches Profitability

Otilia Otlacan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:08 +0000

Cost-Per-Engagement Pioneer Achieves 100 Percent YoY Global Sales Growth Fueled by Comprehensive Brand Advertising Offering

SAN FRANCISCO – VideoEgg, the engagement ad network, announced that it reached profitability in June 2009 with 100 percent year-over-year global sales growth and 2009 global revenues exceeding $25 million. 2009 represented a year of business maturation for VideoEgg as the company solidified operations across nine markets and four countries, expanded product offerings to more holistically meet the needs of brand advertisers and grew its network to reach more than 100 million consumers monthly. Today, VideoEgg works with more than 90 percent of the biggest digital advertisers in North America 1.

VideoEgg’s revenue growth is directly linked to its ability to anticipate and address the challenges faced by brands in today’s shifting media landscape. Historically, online advertising delivered brand messages with short, static images and success was measured by clicks and page views. As the industry evolved, time- and audience-based models emerged as a more effective way to reach consumers and bring value to non-traditional media environments. As a result, advertisers have moved beyond solely buying impressions and now demand customized ad solutions that deliver attention.

“We’ve always focused on solving the challenges brand advertisers face—whether it be helping them reach their audiences despite media fragmentation or simplifying their media buy,” said Matt Sanchez, CEO of VideoEgg. “VideoEgg’s growth is indicative of the company’s ability to consistently deliver the right mix of creative services, ad products and research to meet advertisers’ needs. As we move into 2010, we believe our distinctive solution set will continue to drive company growth and profitability.”

VideoEgg’s 2009 growth milestones include:

Seven consecutive months of profitability
100 percent year-over-year global sales growth
Global revenues exceeding $25 million
Successful operations in nine markets, include three international offices
Reaching 100 million global uniques across its network
Delivering one billion impressions per month
Attracting many of the nation’s largest brands including Unilever, Nissan and Microsoft

Brand Performance and Services Offering Fills Industry Void

Designed from the ground up to deliver engagement, VideoEgg is the only company that provides brands with an integrated network, services and technology solution that goes far beyond traditional ad network models and picks up where agencies leave off. By productizing an approach that was once incredibly labor intensive into something more manageable, VideoEgg is giving brand advertisers more of what they need – creative, custom media solutions, research and insight and brand safety – to make the digital medium more scalable and sustainable.

More than just an ad network, VideoEgg’s engagement network includes:

VE Solutions: Makes the technology work harder

Strategic solutions: Media and creative specialists develop powerful, custom brand solutions.
Creative studio: Designers and technologists develop data-driven ad experiences.
Research: Analytics experts provide insight into brand metrics and creative optimization.
“100% Happy”: Customer service promise guarantees advertisers’ satisfaction.

VE PeopleNetworks: Custom audience networks tuned to specific marketing objectives

Data-driven audience targeting: VideoEgg partners with data providers like Quantcast, Targus and Excelate to increase the efficiency of campaigns across its broad network.
Engagement and time are valued above impressions: Optimized with AttentionRank, the entire network is structured around a time-based performance model.
Designed for advertisers: With more than 400 quality online partners, VideoEgg creates highly customized and data-rich brand networks to meet advertisers’ precise needs. In addition, a strong combination of people and technology ensures environments are safe for brands.

VE Brand Platform: Immersive ad experiences that scale

Opt-in and opt-out: Unique and complementary advertising products—engagement, mobile and interstitial—run across any display ad space or within a mobile environment.
VideoEgg ToGo: Allows advertising creative on the VideoEgg network to run on any site within a broader media buy at no additional cost.
Designed for engagement: Pricing is triggered only when brands know they have users’ attention.
“VideoEgg has managed to stay one step ahead in a fiercely competitive market by delivering what brands demand today—a unique brand performance offering and superior services that make campaign execution easy, fast and effective,” said Heidi Browning, Global Digital Officer, Universal McCann. “With its ability to bridge services, technology and media, VideoEgg has simplified a complex process to make digital more manageable and scalable for brands.”

View some of VideoEgg’s work with brand advertisers at www.videoegg.com.

About VideoEgg, Inc.

VideoEgg, an engagement network that helps brands get the most out of digital advertising, is the only company that provides brands an integrated network, services and technology solution that takes the complexity out of online brand advertising. Designed for engagement, the company gives brand advertisers more of what they need – industry-leading research and insight, innovative ad products, advanced targeting data, sales and packaging, and guaranteed brand safety – to make the digital medium more accountable, scalable and sustainable. With successful operations in nine markets, including three international offices, VideoEgg’s engagement network reaches 100 million global uniques across quality online and mobile environments, delivering one billion impressions per month for many of the world’s largest brands.

Founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with offices across North America, in the UK and Australia, the company is privately held and backed by August Capital, First Round Capital, Maveron, WPP and Focus Ventures. For more information on VideoEgg, please visit http://www.videoegg.com.

Follow VideoEgg on Twitter: http://twitter.com/videoegg.

AdFrames and VideoEgg are trademarks, servicemarks or registered trademarks in the United States and other countries. All other brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

1 “Global Marketers 2009.” Advertising Age. Crain Communications, 30 Nov. 2009.

eZanga to Offer Contextual Advertising

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:30:08 +0000

Company expands core SEM and PPC services with new offering

MIDDLETOWN, Del. – eZanga Inc. (www.eZanga.com), a search engine and online advertising company, has added contextual advertising to its suite of offerings, expanding beyond its current search engine marketing services.

eZanga’s contextual advertising technology uses geographic and demographic targeting, allowing advertisers to specify their target audiences based on their marketing goals. Using the system, advertisers are able to target text, graphics, rich media, pop under or interstitial ads with keywords, locations, time/day targets and channels of interest. Ad design and creation services are also available to advertisers. eZanga offers pay-per-click, pay-per-view and pay-per-visit models for eZanga Contextual customers.

Advertisers who sign up to use eZanga Contextual for their online advertising needs can track their campaign results through eZanga’s ROI tracking and detailed reporting system. The technology also allows eZanga clients to outbid for the most converted keywords, sites and channels while removing those that are ineffective to the campaign. Publishers can also sign up to be incorporated into the eZanga Contextual system.

“Successful marketing campaigns are never isolated,” said Richard K. Kahn, CEO of eZanga. “Instead, they are made up of efforts that work in unison with one another. Through eZanga Contextual, we are allowing our current and future clients to run more integrated online marketing campaigns that will be more impactful for their bottom line. In the future, we look to expand our service offerings further to build on our capabilities.”

About eZanga, Inc.:

Delaware-based eZanga (www.eZanga.com) provides online advertisers with local, regional and national advertising focused on generating high return on investment. eZanga offers SEM, PPC and contextual advertising solutions. eZanga also operates a search engine, which is powered by proprietary technologies that take advantage of Meta search by retrieving search results from multiple search engines and re-ranking and displaying the most relevant results without duplication. eZanga is an Inc 500 company and was deemed Delaware’s fastest growing company by Inc Magazine in 2008.

Meebo Launches Ads on its Fast-Growing Partner Network

Otilia Otlacan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:45:10 +0000

Guarantees a Minimum of 30 Seconds Per Ad Engagement for Brand Campaigns; Toyota and AT&T Sign Up as Charter Advertisers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Meebo, the company that enables real-time social interactions, announced that Toyota is the first marketer to advertise on Meebo’s partner network on behalf of the third-generation Prius. Meebo’s partner network is comprised of 85 leading publishers that have signed up to integrate Meebo across their site. Te announcement means that marketers can now run advertising on a much larger scale with Meebo, but with the same results as the high-performing social ads on Meebo.com. AT&T has also signed up, and will be among the next major marketers to advertise on the network.

Meebo continues to make significant strides toward achieving its goal of bringing real-time social interactions to every user on the Web. With 40 of the 85 signed partners already live with Meebo, the company has an overall monthly reach of 50 million people. Once fully deployed to all 85 partners, Meebo will enable real-time social interactions for over 100 million people per month.

In addition to increased scale now offered by Meebo, brand advertisers can continue to expect Meebo ads to outperform the market in terms of click rates, time spent, and user engagement. To demonstrate the value Meebo can deliver to brands, Meebo guarantees that when users engage an ad inside the Meebo experience, users will spend a minimum of 30 seconds with the creative, or Meebo will make up the time spent with complimentary media (as needed).

Toyota is partnering with Meebo to make it easier for Prius customers to communicate with their friends, as part of the 2010 third-generation Prius marketing campaign called “Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine,” which began in May. Toyota will feature a highly interactive ad for the third-generation Prius on dozens of sites across Meebo’s partner network. The “drawing nature” banner ad – highlighting the vehicle’s 50 MPG – will appear within the persistent Meebo Bar that lets users interact in real-time across their social networks. Users can share the experience with their network of friends.

“Meebo’s ad strategy since day one has been to deliver engaging social ads with industry-leading metrics that consistently exceed the expectations of our clients,” said Martin Green, COO, Meebo. “Today is a big day for Meebo. We now have a solution that performs for the world’s leading brands across a growing network of tens of millions of their prospective customers.”

Meebo’s approach to advertising gives users a targeted invitation to experience a brand’s content. If the user chooses to engage the ad on the Meebo Bar, then the ad expands to a rich overlay that can be as large as 900×400 pixels, the same size as the expanded state on Meebo.com. Brands will be able to target to select groups of individuals across Meebo’s network of partners, choosing the right age, gender, and interest categories for their products. Creative from the marketer can feature video content and/or rich social applications such as games, quizzes, widgets, product showcases, or interactive mini-sites. Users can also easily share the brand experience with their friends through a variety of methods (share ads via IM, email, or posts on social services like Twitter or Facebook). Key ad metrics for Meebo include:

10X higher click rates than typical ads on social media sites
More than a minute average time spent with the ad content

In conjunction with the release, Meebo is announcing that in addition to buying on a traditional cost per thousand impressions (CPM) model, marketers can choose to purchase across Meebo’s network on a cost per engagement (CPE) basis, only paying for those users who accept the invitation and choose to experience the brand’s content.

Partners are leveraging Meebo’s functionality to provide a safe, private, and brand-friendly approach to real-time social interaction. Partners signed up to run Meebo ads include Aeria Games, Bleacher Report, CafeMom, CrispyGamer, Current TV, DailyStrength.org, dotblu, eBaum’s World, FanPop, Flixster, GGL Global Gaming, IGN.com, Internet Brands, myYearbook, OutSpark, Paste Magazine, Piczo, Sonico, SparkPeople, StarPulse, Sugar Publishing, Webs.com, WhateverLife, and dozens more. Meebo will be sharing ad revenue with the partners.

For more information about ways to work with Meebo, please contact ads@meebo.com.

About Meebo, Inc.

With 50 million people sharing over 5 billion messages and 75 million links every month, Meebo is one of the Web’s fastest growing social media companies. Founded in September 2005, Meebo enables real-time social interactions with instant messaging and group chat at meebo.com and on partner sites across the Web. Meebo is headquartered in Mountain View, CA. Visit meebo.com to connect with friends live on the Web.

Metacafe Gets to Monetize Content from 12 New Video Content Providers

Otilia Otlacan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:19:03 +0000

Metacafe has announced earlier today 12 new deals with video content providers – a move that will significantly enlarge their already impressive video inventory.

Metacafe specializes in short videos, precisely what works best for online consumers who don’t have the time or the patience to look into long form video content. Having said this, it becomes pretty obvious that the overall monetization opportunities for Metacafe have just diversified further, putting the company in a very enviable position.

Short videos are the easiest to monetize, and the most efficient given the higher CPM or CPE rates for:

- pre-rolls, mid-rolls and post-rolls;
- overlay ads;
- interactive video ads;
- companion ads.

They can usually hold more advertising time and calls to action per minute of content (by comparison with long form video content) and studies show that the user interaction levels are higher.

Metacafe’s most recent deals* will likely please agencies and advertisers looking for quality and legitimate video content to advertise against, as most video platforms are simply un-monetizable due to copyright issues (YouTube, for example).

What’s next for Metacafe? Perhaps renouncing their independent status and graciously accepting an offer from one of the suitors – that’ll be one sweet deal!

*
60 Frames, which finances and syndicates professionally produced short-form digital entertainment and creates unique, highly effective online advertising opportunities for national brands
Aniboom, a leading animation virtual production studio that teams up with creators around the world to produce a wide range of original animated content.
CelebTV.com, which delivers up-to-the-minute entertainment news 24/7, offering the sophistication and credibility of a television news network, while providing the on-demand, real-time benefits of a premium online destination
Collegiate Images, the centralized licensing and rights clearance agency that manages the distribution of copyrighted intellectual property content, focusing exclusively on college sports
Comedy.com, a comedy entertainment site that combines user-generated content and original, professionally produced content from some of the funniest peeps in the business
Comedy Time, the global market leader in original comedy content created for wireless handsets and broadband
Diagonal View, an aggregator of original viral video entertainment
GamePro Media, publishers of GamePro.com and GamePro Magazine, and a division of IDG
Howcast, which shows consumers the web’s most engaging, useful how-to videos wherever, whenever they need to learn how…
SXM, the production company behind “Easy to Assemble,” a scripted Web series written and created by and starring Illeana Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Craig Bierko, Kevin Pollack, Justine Bateman and Ed Begley Jr., and sponsored by IKEA
Wannahaves, an aggregator of videos on the latest gadgets, games and gear
YoungHollywood.com, one of the largest producers of original celebrity programming in Hollywood.

VideoEgg Ad Network Delivers Enhanced Ad Capabilities for Deeper Engagement

Otilia Otlacan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:10:14 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, July 9, 2008 – VideoEgg, the rich media ad network that guarantees brand engagement, today introduced new features to give advertisers more effective engagement with users inside social environments at a guaranteed engagement price. The new features offer the following benefits to marketers:

* LIVE: Use real-time RSS feeds to continually update the ad experience
* LOCAL: Deliver zip code-specific messaging
* RICH: Easily deploy and track a rich multi-video ad experience to increase user interactivity
* SHOP: Bring the browser to the user, merchandising multiple items in a single real-time ad experience
* SHARE: Viral capabilities help spread the message through virtually any communication or social channel

The new features also enable marketers to better target vertical sectors, beginning with the automotive, entertainment, retail and wireless industries. VideoEgg’s automotive solution, for example, allows an ad unit to display nearby dealerships in interactive maps, while the entertainment industry can target local consumers by adding nearby movie listings to theatrical previews.

Leading brands such as Sprint and Puma are using VideoEgg’s network to connect users with brand content and encourage sharing across many social environments, such as Facebook, MySpace and Digg.

“VideoEgg provides an extremely rich ad experience with viral tools that let consumers accelerate and perpetuate our media buys,” said Edward McLoughlin, Media Director at Mindshare Interaction. “The VideoEgg pricing model also provides accountability as it guarantees engagement with our target audiences.”

VideoEgg offers brands an unprecedented approach to advertising, with a pricing model based on cost per engagement (CPE) that delivers accountability and unmatched insight into ad effectiveness. Ads are served for free, and advertisers pay only when a user engages with their brand content, providing a risk-free method to distributing highly targeted rich media content. In just four months since launching its CPE engagement model , over 50 leading brands including Hershey’s, Fox, Adidas, Nike, Comcast, Disney, GM, Mazda and Microsoft have advertised across the VideoEgg network for guaranteed engagement.

“The ad experience is ripe for innovation,” said Troy Young, chief marketing officer, VideoEgg. “We need to replace the banner with portable media experiences that leverage the power of video, feeds, maps and localization. We can get consumers to engage—we just have to make online advertising more interesting.”

To see how VideoEgg is changing brand marketing online, check out the demos at http://www.videoegg.com/adlabs

About VideoEgg, Inc.
VideoEgg is a new kind of rich media advertising network that guarantees brand engagement. The network is composed of over 50 million uniques across more than 200 leading video, gaming and social network sites as well as social applications, bringing outstanding consumer reach and engagement to its advertising partners. An advertising innovator, VideoEgg was the first to commercialize interactive advertising overlays onto video, an approach that is being widely adopted by the industry. Founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with offices across North America, in the UK and Australia, the company is privately held and backed by August Capital, First Round Capital, Maveron, WPP and Focus Ventures. For more information on VideoEgg, please visit www.videoegg.com.

Ad Operations Online » CPE Advertising

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