It seems the industry has battled for years over 4th party ad calls.  Publishers don’t like them because it’s extra load time.  Agencies and advertisers love them because they are usually there to verify, provide additional data, or serve a very useful function.  The real problem is that with many publishers not wanting or allowing 4th party ad calls, ad tags could very easily integrate 5th, 6th, and 7th party ad calls at this point – there are that many great services that deliver value.  How will the industry tackle this?

First, let’s quickly identify where they’re coming from.  Having an audience measurement pixel, like one from Quantcast, in each ad would sure be nice.  Then we can see the general makeup of the audience who is viewing the ad and whether or not it fits the target we wanted to hit.  Having verification is a must, like a pixel from Adometry or DoubleVerify.  Certainly there are times where two ad servers are used, such as a rich media ad server but then also a standard ad server so all data can be in one place.  We’re up to six (user, publisher, and standard ad server are the first three.)  And more valuable metrics and verification services keep coming up.  How can we integrate this value without hanging up the user’s experience to such that no publisher will accept all this?

One solution is a universal tag container that cookie matches with each of these companies and outright transfers the pixel firing to its own servers.  TagMan is a container solution but it still requires pixels to be fired while the user is on the page.  It delays them do it doesn’t delay load, but if the user navigates away too quickly, the calls aren’t made.  The other solution would be for ad serving companies to buy these other companies and integrate them into their own ad call.  If you’re an ad serving company looking to make a real challenge to DoubleClick, installing all of this functionality within a 3rd party ad server would be enough reason for a whole lots of advertisers to make the switch.

“The news that Google acquired mobile advertising player AdMob for $750 million confirms the legitimacy of the mobile advertising industry, and overcomes any skepticism of whether small screens can offer big opportunities to reach mobile consumers,” says Dave Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva Inc., which operates a mobile ad serving platform and mobile ad network.

“The fact that Google has placed a premium on owning a mobile ad network is very notable. The market has definitely matured to the point where it makes sense for online behemoths to try to combine networks, analytics and delivery technologies in the hopes of capturing a share of this growing market.”

Gwozdz, one of the nation’s most qualified mobile ad experts, has tremendous insight into the mobile advertising industry and can speak directly to the Google/AdMob deal. Gwozdz was a founding member of the DoubleClick team, the largest acquisition ever made by Google.

NEW YORK – MediaMath, the leading digital media buying platform, announced a separation of its business into Managed Service and Platform divisions. In response to an unmet need in the advertising industry, MediaMath is now offering agency clients software-as-a-service access to its best-in-class technology so they can execute their own trading strategies, as well as an independent managed services option for agencies that prefer a full-service approach.

“We’ve had the advantage of being the first media buying platform, the largest algorithmic buyer of real-time biddable inventory, and a leader in the integration of both supply and data,” said Joe Zawadzki, CEO of MediaMath. “However, as our agency clients have evolved, they have demanded direct access to our platform as well as advanced strategic support and training for more complex campaigns. Tempered by two years of development, millions in monthly spend, and billions of daily impressions passing through our system, we are ready to support this need with two distinct sales, technical service, and development organizations.”

To lead MediaMath’s Platform unit and continue to provide agency clients with the most scaled media buying platform in the industry, the company also announces that it has hired industry veteran Anthony Katsur as General Manager, Platform.

Katsur is a long-time leader in New York’s technology community. Before joining MediaMath, he was Chief Technology Officer at Travel Ad Network where he managed all development and operations of the ad serving infrastructure, including a re-architecture of the technology platform. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer to both Heavy Inc. and Panther Express Corp. Katsur’s extensive technology and engineering experience is rooted in seven years at DoubleClick, where he managed all levels of the engineering division, created and managed its real-time ad serving infrastructure, and directed the software development process for enterprise software applications. He brings a depth of domain expertise, relationships and senior technical and operational leadership to the MediaMath Platform unit.

“Having lived this migration twice before, I’m excited to do it again,” says Tony Katsur, “MediaMath has had the most advanced engineering and quant resources pointed at the platform problem for over two years. They’ve started solving real-life business problems for agency clients with technology underpinning their service offering, but now is the right time to dedicate separate resources to each side of the business so that clients can choose the solution that is the best fit for them, with a great degree of control and influence over platform development. I’m looking forward to leading the Platform team, continuing the build out of a world-class organization, and furthering our commitment to provide the best platform in the industry.”

The MediaMath buying platform provides advertising agencies with the self-serve technology and back office assistance to trade effectively across leading display advertising sources. The platform offers real-time optimization and heavily scaled data supply, which is innovating the digital media industry. It also includes a common interface and workflow, data management layer that integrates marketer and third-party data, PhD-designed algorithms and bid optimization, and deep relationships with over a dozen major sources of quality supply, including Yahoo! RightMedia, Google’s DoubleClick Advertising Exchange, Microsoft AdECN, Facebook and others.

ABOUT MEDIAMATH

MediaMath’s automated buying platform provides advertising agencies with access to tens of billions of impressions daily, and a simple workflow that manages the powerful analytics and rich data necessary to make best use of them. Headquartered in New York, the company was founded in 2007 by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs, marketers, technologists, and quants. For more information, visit www.mediamath.com.

Google announced that it is opening the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time marketplace for display advertising space.

By establishing an open marketplace where prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ad space to be allocated much more efficiently and easily across the web.

“Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved,” said Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management at Google. “We’re focused on growing the display advertising pie for everyone. The DoubleClick Ad Exchange is a major part of that goal.”

The new DoubleClick Ad Exchange has been rebuilt using Google’s technology and infrastructure. It contains a wide variety of key features that will help improve returns for advertisers and enable publishers to get the most value out of their online content.

On the “sell side”, participation in the new Ad Exchange is designed for major online publishers. It already includes a wide variety of large premium publishers including newspapers, large portals, entertainment and branded sites. In addition, ad space on Google’s third party AdSense publisher sites, representing over 76% of U.S. online audiences and 73% of global online audiences1, is being made available through the new Ad Exchange. This will increase the volume of quality display advertisers available to Google’s AdSense publishers.

On the “buy side”, the new Ad Exchange is designed for ad networks and agency networks – companies that connect web sites with advertisers. It already includes over 40 ad networks across North America and Europe, including most of the 25 largest ad networks in the US2, with more now to be added. Additionally, AdWords advertisers will be able to run ads on sites in the Ad Exchange, using their existing AdWords interface.

Features of the new Ad Exchange include a completely new interface; a “real-time bidding” feature to allow ad networks to use their own technology to bid on an impression-by-impression basis; a “dynamic allocation” system, which automatically generates online publishers the highest return for every impression by allocating ads to the highest-paying sales channel, based on real time data; more granular publisher and advertiser controls; payments and clearing managed by Google; and a new API to allow ad networks to extend the functionality of the Ad Exchange.

Key benefits for sellers include:

* Real-time dynamic allocation to maximize yield. Publishers can automatically generate the highest return for every impression, using real-time data and bids to allocate ad space to the sales channel that pays the most at that second.
* Access to many more advertisers. The Ad Exchange offers publishers access to new buyers, including AdWords advertisers, bringing higher quality ads and more competition for ad space on their sites.
* Hassle-free payments managed by Google. We manage the billing and payments from networks so publishers get one monthly payment and minimize having to manage multiple relationships.
* Greater controls. Publishers can decide what advertisers, networks, ad formats, and bid types to allow.
* New easy to use interface with enhanced reporting. We use the simplicity of Google’s user design principles to help publishers easily find out how their sites are performing, to help them make the right decisions about their ad space.

Key benefits for buyers include:

* Access to more publishers and more ad space. Hundreds of thousands of AdSense publisher sites are now available on the Ad Exchange to Google-certified ad networks. And as more publishers join the Ad Exchange to take advantage of its yield management capabilities, more high quality inventory is being added all the time.
* Real-time bidder. The Ad Exchange has a new real-time bidder feature that allows buyers to use their own data, optimization and ad serving technologies to bid on their desired inventory on an impression-by-impression basis, choosing only the sites, audiences, or particular type of ad space they want to reach.
* New easy to use interface with enhanced buyer reporting capabilities. Redesigned reports are simple to use and understand, so buyers can easily see how their campaigns are performing to help them make the right decisions.
* More control and precision. Buyers control where their ads appear and don’t appear. They can use frequency capping, pacing and other features to precisely control ad delivery.
* Centralized clearing system. Google makes all payments to publishers, reducing complexity with a single billing and payment point. Buyers benefit from managing one business relationship instead of many.
* A new API – Ad networks and agency networks will have access to an API which enables them to integrate their own functionality and systems when working with the Ad Exchange.

AdMob is among a handful of emerging players in the advertising network space that can chase and surpass established players such as Third Screen Media and Doubleclick.

This report provides a concise and highly impactful analysis of AdMob’s business prospects, competitive analysis, SWOT analysis and proprietary analysis of the Mobile Advertising Network Vendor Landscape. This must read report will help anyone involved in mobile advertising better understand business strategies, competition and the direction of product offerings and solutions.

Key Findings:

This report finds that AdMob is among a handful of emerging players in the advertising network space that can chase and surpass established players like Third Screen Media and Doubleclick.

What differentiates AdMob from other networks is its unique marketing analytics and dashboarding capabilities that provide advertisers with real-time access to campaign metrics. AdMob could do more in the mobile marketplace to promote this capability that empowers advertisers with cost-cutting, game-changing mobile Web analytics.

In only three years, AdMob has amassed a network of thousands of mobile sites and developed substantial backbone server technology, advanced algorithms, and data analytics capabilities that enables it to produce a robust set of solutions for clients to reach today’s mobile network user.

AdMob is at a critical juncture in its short life due to the increasing maturity of the mobile marketing and advertising space that is resulting in big payoffs for brand managers, particularly those selling to a local consumer market.

Target Audience

Media Buyers at Marketing and Advertising Agencies, and Corporate Marketing Departments: Chief Marketing and Advertising Executives are determining how best to allocate their budgets for 2010 and mobile is certainly on their radar.

Mobile advertising networks: The suppliers enable different types of mobile ads to be broadcast over mobile networks, in videos, and in other mobile premium content.

Mobile search and content aggregators: Many are chasing Google but the smaller vendors offer localized search capabilities.

Cellular phone providers. They carry the millions of text messages, some of them sponsored, and are looking at ways to leverage mobile marketing campaign data for their own use.

Mobile platform developers: These suppliers create videos, games, downloadable applications for mobile that they in turn use to recruit sponsorship opportunities.

Traditional media outlets: Broadcast television stations and Internet properties are leveraging mobile to stream newscasts and other premium content

Smartphone and PDA manufacturers. They provide the hardware that enable next-generation mobile content possible

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Company Overview

Products and Services

Company News

Competitive Analysis

DoubleClick

Millennial Media

Greystripe

Third Screen Media

AOL’s Platform A

Mobile Advertising Network Vendor Landscape

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis

Admob Strengths

Admob Weaknesses

Admob Opportunities

Admob Threats

Summary and Recommendations

Demand Customization

Create Realistic Measurement Plans

Optimize Direct Response and Local Search

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e3f5d0/admob_company_anal

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), the pioneer of ad revenue optimization technology for premium online publishers, announced that it has added two senior members to its management team: Andrew Rutledge, formerly of Google/DoubleClick and Josh Wetzel, formerly of eBay/Shopping.com. Both vice presidents will play a key role in driving PubMatic’s sales and dedicated team service among the premier publisher community, while expanding the company’s international presence.

Andrew Rutledge joins the PubMatic team as Vice President of Publisher Sales and head of its expanding New York office. Andrew is a nine year interactive media veteran in the U.S. and Europe, coming from Google where he was Director of DoubleClick’s agency and advertisers sales, responsible for 300+ agency and marketer clients and $75 million in technology revenue. Over Andrew’s tenure at DoubleClick, he held several management roles including, Vice President, National Marketer Sales and Regional Director of UK and Northern Europe overseeing all agency and publisher relationships. As PubMatic’s Vice President of Publisher Sales, Andrew will oversee all global sales initiatives with large-scale, premium publishers.

Josh Wetzel has been appointed to Vice President of Publisher Services. Josh has over twelve years of experience building distributed content and commerce businesses in the online arena. In his previous role at eBay, Josh was responsible for building the distributed commerce business for Shopping.com into its primary revenue stream with strategic partners including Amazon, AOL, CNET, IAC, and MSN. At PubMatic, Josh will be responsible for scaling the services team that supports the needs of the world’s largest online publishers.

“Andrew is one of the most respected veterans in online display advertising and he will be a great asset to PubMatic and the premier publishers we work with,” said Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder and CEO of PubMatic. “Josh will continue to make working with PubMatic a great experience for publishers that need to increase revenue, protect their brands, and simplify ad network management in this volatile economic environment. These two key executives truly take PubMatic to the next level.”

About PubMatic

PubMatic is a global Ad Revenue Optimization company that provides premier online publishers with a full service solution to manage and monetize non-guaranteed ad inventory. PubMatic’s real-time Ad Price Prediction technology ensures that premium publishers get the most money from their advertising space by deciding in real-time which ad network or exchange can best monetize each impression.

“We are very excited to bring Branden on board,” says Dave Gwozdz, Mojiva’s CEO, and one of the founding members of DoubleClick. “His experience and success in the mobile industry will bring tremendous value to the Mojiva team. In addition, we’re looking forward to increasing our presence on the West coast as we continue to strategically expand our footprint.”

Claisse comes to Mojiva with more than 10 years of experience in the mobile and advertising industries. Most recently, he served as the Head of Publisher Acquisition and Advertising Solutions for Nokia, where he was responsible for building Nokia’s global media network and providing advertisers with mobile advertising solutions. Prior to Nokia, Claisse spent time as Director of Sales at Crisp Wireless and Director of Business Development at Proteus Inc., now known as 2ergo.

“I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and I really believe that Mojiva’s platform solves many of the challenges both publishers and advertisers currently have with mobile marketing,” says Claisse. ”Offering publishers, advertisers and agencies the choice to work with either their Premium Network or their simple, self-serve platform, positions Mojiva as a valuable solution provider for a wide variety of companies and needs. I’ve seen a lot of excitement about this platform so far, and I’m excited to help build the network on the West Coast.”

About Mojiva

Mojiva’s powerful advertising platform makes it simple for marketers to reach customers via the growing mobile web. Based in New York City, the capital of the global advertising industry, Mojiva gives brand marketers, publishers, and businesses of any size everything they need to efficiently run and profit from mobile advertising campaigns. Mojiva has neatly packaged a rich array of easy-to-use tools, techniques, and analytics in a self-service mobile advertising platform that makes it easy for advertisers to reach buyers, and publishers to monetize their content. Founded in May 2008, Mojiva is backed by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. The company can be found on the Web at www.Mojiva.com.

NEW YORK – To commemorate its first anniversary, and to thank the industry for helping it achieve a banner inaugural year, Mojiva is sponsoring the first International Mobile Advertising Week.

To mark both this milestone for the company and International Mobile Advertising Week, Mojiva will offer a special “dollar-for-dollar” promotion to all mobile advertisers. For every mobile advertisement placed on the Mojiva network between May 5 and May 12, 2009, the company will provide one free mobile ad. This lets marketers double their exposure while experiencing Mojiva’s easy-to-use tools and international reach to any mobile platform or device.

Using International Mobile Advertising Week to reflect on the changes and growth across the entire industry, the company will also host a moderated discussion on its blog. The blog is open to all members of the mobile marketing industry—ad networks, agencies, marketers, publishers, and more—who are encouraged to drop in and reflect on what’s happened over the past year to foster growth; opine on how to solve industry challenges; and share ideas with their peers on what the industry needs to do to accelerate mainstream adoption. The conversation will debut on the Mojiva blog, and will move to a threaded discussion board if needed.

“Mojiva’s first year in operation has been extremely interesting and exciting on so many levels,” says David Gwozdz, Mojiva’s CEO, and one of the founding members of DoubleClick. “Since launching last year, we have seen some exceptional milestones, as have our competitors. The industry is expanding quickly in terms of mobile web and app usage, and there is plenty of room for both improvement and financial growth. While the industry has really grown up a lot in this past year, there is much work to be done in order to make the mobile medium simple for advertisers. We are looking forward to doing our part to find solutions to that end.”

Bena Roberts, Editor and Founder of GoMo News, agrees, and says: “There is no magic in the mobile advertising industry. Brands have been told they need mobile advertising, but they haven’t been told why they need it and which results can be achieved. Avoiding illusion at this early stage of mobile advertising is vital, and advertising networks must focus on niche services, such as geo-location, a killer user interface, and easy to understand payment or billing methods.”

Mobile marketers can get more information about Mojiva’s dollar-for-dollar anniversary celebration online, and members of the mobile marketing industry can find the discussion on International Mobile Advertising Week on Mojiva’s blog.

About Mojiva

Mojiva’s powerful advertising platform makes it simple for marketers to reach customers via the growing mobile web. Based in New York City, the capital of the global advertising industry, Mojiva gives brand marketers, publishers, and businesses of any size everything they need to efficiently run and profit from mobile advertising campaigns. Mojiva has neatly packaged a rich array of easy-to-use tools, techniques, and analytics in a self-service mobile advertising platform that makes it easy for advertisers to reach buyers, and publishers to monetize their content. Mojiva’s mobile marketing network includes: NBC News, iSports, PoliticalWire, Mashable, HopStop, Mocospace, Harvard Business Review, Zannel, SnapMyLife, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter and many other premium publishers. Founded in May 2008, Mojiva is backed by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. The company can be found on the Web at www.Mojiva.com and its blog at http://blog.mojiva.com.

PRESS RESOURCES

Press contact: Jessica Hirsch, Jessica@GregoryFCA.com

International Mobile Advertising Week: http://blog.mojiva.com/2009/05/uniting-mobile-advertising-industry-for.html

Dollar-for-Dollar promotion: http://blog.mojiva.com/2009/05/dollar-for-dollar-match-on-any-ads.html

Mojiva Web site: http://www.mojiva.com

Mojiva Blog: http://blog.mojiva.com/

Mojiva for Advertisers: http://www.mojiva.com/solutions/advertiser/

Mojiva for Publishers: http://www.mojiva.com/solutions/publisher/

Mojiva White Label Solution for Publishers: http://www.mojiva.com/solutions/whitelabel

Mr. Davison, 39, brings to AdMeld over 15 years experience in finance and strategy with an emphasis on B2B online technology companies. Most recently, he served as financial consultant and Interim CFO for two technology-based startups. Prior to that, Davison served as CFO of Critical Mention, where he led both finance and technology teams through a period of dynamic growth and helped raise several rounds of venture capital financing. Before Critical Mention, Davison was SVP Corporate Strategy for Screamingmedia, where he helped raise over $100 million in financing, led preparations for the company’s IPO, and played a lead role in the company’s acquisition of Stockpoint. Screamingmedia was ultimately acquired by MarketWatch, now a subsidiary of Dow Jones. Davison began his career as a strategy consultant with Trinity Associates, where he led a variety of engagements in the specialty chemicals and building materials industries. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Cornell University.

Mr. Pedro, 40, is an ad operations veteran with extensive knowledge of the industry. Most recently, he served as Director of Ad Operations at Peer 39, where he monitored and optimized ad network performance and coordinated with their engineering team on ad server enhancements. Prior to that, Mr. Pedro was Director of Ad Operations at TACODA, where he managed 10 ad operations employees, worked with publishers on tracking tag implementations, and fielded sales-related issues related to ad campaigns. His past work experience also includes positions at CBS, IAC Advertising and DoubleClick. He holds a BS in Business Management from St. John’s University and an MS in Information Systems from Pace University.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Alan Davison and Joe Pedro to our team,” said Michael Barrett, CEO of AdMeld. “As a member of the AdMeld executive team, Alan will play an extremely valuable role in moving this company even further into a position of leadership in the industry. And, Joe’s extensive background in ad operations fits perfectly with our mission to provide the highest level of service to our customers.”

About AdMeld

AdMeld (www.admeld.com) enables premium online publishers to maximize their revenue from ad networks and minimize the risks and complexities of working with them. AdMeld’s optimization technology is designed to generate the highest possible yield from each impression, and its suite of management and reporting tools deliver publishers a high level of transparency and control. Founded in 2007 by Benjamin Barokas and Brian Adams, AdMeld is led by Michael Barrett, an experienced leader of premium new media companies. Major investors include Spark Capital and The Foundry Group.

WALTHAM, Mass. – Quattro Wireless (www.quattrowireless.com), mobile’s largest premium publisher ad network, announced the appointment of Lynn Tornabene as Chief Marketing Officer, effective immediately. Tornabene will lead Quattro Wireless’ global corporate and product marketing initiatives as it continues its exponential growth. She is based in the company’s New York office and reports to CEO Andrew Miller.

Earlier this year, Quattro Wireless announced its international plans and most recently, Series C Funding for these expansion efforts.

“This appointment further validates that mobile’s growing importance to the media and marketing industries means that we can attract leading talent from premier companies,” said Mr. Miller. “We are very excited to have Lynn join the executive team, and are confident that her talent and experience in the high-tech and new media worlds will prove invaluable as we continue to create innovative mobile solutions for advertisers and publishers worldwide.”

Prior to joining Quattro Wireless, Tornabene served as the Head of DoubleClick Communications for Google Inc., coming to the company through its acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. As the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for DoubleClick, she was an integral part in the company’s accelerated growth leading to the acquisition by Google in 2008. Previously, Tornabene held positions at Stockback, Wunderman/Y&R, IBM and PIA Radio Network. She holds an M.S. in Integrated Marketing from Northwestern University and a B.A. in English and Telecommunications from Indiana University.

Additionally, demonstrating Quattro’s momentum in mobile advertising and technology, the company also announced today the hiring of Dan Grigorivici as VP Data Strategy, Targeting and Analytics and Mike Owen as East Coast Director of Ad Sales. Grigorivici heralds from Rapp (formerly Rapp Collins, an Omnicom company) where he pioneered MicroSocial Segmentation and network analysis-based segmentation schemes; he previously served as Vice President of Data Strategy and Analytics at TACODA, leading audience segmentation and algorithmic-based predictive targeting projects. His background also includes positions at Digitas and Carat Fusion. Grigorivici’s expertise in audience segmentation and behavioral targeting will augment Quattro’s leading predictive targeting methodology and technology. Owen brings to the Quattro sales team national sales experience at Menshealth.com, where he grew revenue by 125%; previously, he consulted to Napster’s ad-supported music service and directed East Coast sales at EW.com.

About Quattro Wireless

Quattro Wireless, mobile’s trusted ad network, leverages sophisticated technology and exclusive premier partnerships to create unrivaled reach, consumer engagement and efficiency for today’s marketers and advertisers. Quattro is dedicated to delivering service excellence and turnkey solutions to optimize digital performance across all channels (mobile web, SMS, applications, video) and platforms (iPhone, Blackberry and Android). Fortune 500 brands and direct marketing leaders seek Quattro’s global reach, dynamic targeting, advertising innovation and transparent practice. Category-leading publishers leverage Quattro’s proprietary platform to realize the economic power of the mobile web. Quattro Wireless was founded in 2006 by proven mobile pioneers and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information, please visit www.quattrowireless.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – Adgregate Markets, the leading provider of transactional advertising technology, announced the support of syndicated e-commerce advertising with rich media ads created by DoubleClick, a division of Google, Inc. ShopAds™ enable DoubleClick, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, and their clients to integrate e-commerce into any banner ad campaign to allow consumers to browse, interact, and purchase directly within an ad unit. Adgregate Markets’ ShopAds technology, the first certified transactional e-commerce ad solution to work with DoubleClick Rich Media, will now be widely available to all of DoubleClick’s advertisers. ShopAds™ allow brands to build a network of syndicated e-commerce partners through paid media and social networks.

Adgregate Markets’ ShopAds™ will become an innovative addition to DoubleClick’s service offering. Poised to revolutionize the landscape of online display advertising, ShopAds™ transform traditional banner ads into fully transactional e-commerce ad units. Customers can securely purchase any product from within ShopAds™, without ever needing to click away to another website. By teaming with Adgregate Markets, DoubleClick will have access to a comprehensive platform that allows their advertisers to expand their e-commerce strategy beyond the reaches of existing online retail channels.

“Adgregate Markets’ ShopAds are a great solution for direct response and brand response advertisers, and we are excited to work with them to bring this cutting edge technology to our clients,” said Ari Paparo, Google’s Group Product Manager.

“Teaming up with Google and DoubleClick makes a lot of sense for us. As an industry leader, DoubleClick understands the needs of agencies and marketers who will no doubt embrace our ShopAds technology,” stated Adgregate Markets’ CEO Henry Wong. “We know our technology is game changing and that DoubleClick is positioned to help us deliver this innovation to their customers.”

For more information about Adgregate Markets, visit http://www.adgregate.com.

About Adgregate Markets

Adgregate Markets is pioneering the world’s first fully transactional performance ad network, one that brings a frictionless shopping experience to consumers. ShopAds™ guide prospective customers from the point of discovery to the point of purchase entirely within the innovative ad widget. ShopAds™ are easily distributed through ad networks, blogs, and social networking communities simply by copying and pasting the widget code into any web environment. Adgregate Markets enables distributed commerce by helping advertisers easily turn banner ads into ShopAds™. Publishers can leverage Adgregate to enhance their advertising offering or become an affiliate by simply grabbing transactional ShopAds™ to publish on their sites. Adgregate Markets is a privately held San Francisco-based company and is venture-backed by leading investors. For additional information, please visit www.adgregate.com.

“There is growing excitement around the increasing inventory in mobile, and people are using mobile more and more to interact with the music and entertainment scene,” says Dave Gwozdz, Mojiva’s CEO and one of the founding members of DoubleClick. “Nielsen Business Media has high value content in this arena, which they have an opportunity to monetize. And we’re in a position to help them maximize revenues from these great mobile properties.”

Earlier this month, Mojiva launched its Premium Mobile Marketing Network, which lets premium brands advertise on premium publishers such as NBC local, Star Tribune, iSports, HopStop, and other top mobile sites.

Mojiva also announced that it has delivered 2 billion ads to mobile consumers in its first ten months of operation. This milestone comes just eight weeks after Mojiva topped the 1 billion ads served mark, solidifying Mojiva’s position as one of the fastest growing mobile advertising platforms in industry history.

ABOUT MOJIVA

Mojiva’s powerful advertising platform makes it simple for marketers to reach customers via the growing mobile web. Based in New York City, the capital of the global advertising industry, Mojiva gives brand marketers, publishers, and businesses of any size everything they need to efficiently run and profit from mobile advertising campaigns. Mojiva has neatly packaged a rich array of easy-to-use tools, techniques, and analytics in a self-service mobile advertising platform that makes it easy for advertisers to reach buyers, and publishers to monetize their content. Founded in May 2008, Mojiva is backed by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. The company can be found on the Web at www.Mojiva.com.

ABOUT NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA

Nielsen Business Media, a part of The Nielsen Company, is a leading market-focused provider of integrated information and sales and marketing solutions, helping businesses go to market more effectively and efficiently.

Serving more than 30 industries spanning entertainment, media and marketing, retail, travel and performance, and design, Nielsen Business Media provides business-to-business products and services in print, online and face-to-face.

With more than 30 publications, over 135 trade shows and conferences, and 200+ digital products and services, Nielsen Business Media offers insight, analysis and face-to-face contacts to help professionals better understand their markets, serve their customers and grow their businesses.

ADTECH Head Dirk Freytag Promoted to Platform-A Senior Vice President

NEW YORK – AOL’s Platform-A, the leading advertising platform in the U.S. with a 91% reach across the Internet*, announced that it will now offer advertisers the full-service benefits of ADTECH’s ad serving system for delivering brand messages to their customers. The company previously utilized DoubleClick and has now replaced those systems with ADTECH’s technology, which lets Platform-A deliver ad campaigns across AOL’s MediaGlow properties.

“The ad serving switch from DoubleClick to ADTECH is a major milestone for Platform-A and our advertising partners. Acquiring ADTECH was a smart, strategic move that saves the company millions of dollars each year and allows us to more effectively serve display, video, and mobile campaigns across the MediaGlow properties and our third-party networks,” said Greg Coleman, President of Platform-A. “In January, Platform-A reached more than 174 million unique visitors*, and now that we’ve switched our ad serving to ADTECH, we’re in a stronger position to help advertisers reach those consumers more efficiently and build brands that perform online.”

“Bringing our ad serving technology in-house was one of the most complex technological challenges we’ve undertaken, and now that our project is complete, our systems can deliver ad campaigns faster than our former DoubleClick solution,” said Freytag. “Even in a turbulent economy, ADTECH’s business continues to grow, which is a testament to the brand value that ADTECH brings to online advertisers. ADTECH is committed to being a business partner for our customers. We don’t deliver a technology – we deliver solutions that ultimately help drive revenue for digital advertisers.”

In conjunction with today’s announcement, Platform-A also announced that Freytag has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Platform-A, in addition to his role as CEO of ADTECH. Since taking the position of CEO in 2005, Freytag has overseen the growth of ADTECH’s business in Europe and the United States. He joined ADTECH in 2000 as VP of Corporate Communications and in two years rose to become Chief Operating Officer. AOL acquired ADTECH in May 2007 with the strategic goal of leveraging its flagship product, the Helios IQ ad serving platform, to enable web publishers to manage, serve, and evaluate virtually any kind of digital advertising campaign.

Platform A was established by integrating AOL’s advertising business, Advertising.com, ADTECH, Quigo, TACODA and others to provide marketers with an efficient, effective means to leverage display, video, mobile, contextual, affiliate and search marketing solutions at scale. The mission of Platform-A is to enable marketers to reach their targeted audiences at scale through delivery of highly engaging and effective advertising for maximum value and results.

* January 2009 comScore Media Metrix

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, reaching 91%* of the U.S. Internet audience, is the industry’s largest digital advertising platform. Platform-A offers the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions, powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. Platform-A includes AOL’s leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution. Platform-A currently has operations in the United States, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.com.

NEW YORK – Mojiva unveiled the Mojiva Premium Network, which now makes it easy for mobile marketers to deliver targeted ads that reach audiences on some of the mobile Web’s most popular destinations, including local NBC sites, the Star Tribune, iSports and HotStop. Mojiva’s Premium Network is comprised of mobile publishers in several content categories such as news, sports, entertainment, weather, technology, finance and auto. In addition, the same industry leading targeting, measurement and reporting tools that advertisers are currently using on Mojiva’s existing self-serve network are also available through the Premium Network.

“While the top advertisers and agencies have told us they think Mojiva’s platform is excellent in its advanced targeting, reporting and simplicity, some were looking for the comfort that comes in seeing their advertising appear within well-known publisher content. Ironically, this same simplicity has been a real benefit to some of the premium publishers, as they try to leverage their content via increased ad sales,” says Dave Gwozdz, Mojiva’s CEO, and one of the founding members of DoubleClick. “With today’s launch of our Premium Network, Mojiva expands from a successful self-service mobile ad platform, which has been great for the long tail, to now include more detailed site-specific knowledge, and will increase the efficiency on both the buyer and seller sides of the mobile ad market.”

Mojiva’s Premium Network makes exploiting the power of mobile easy, with:

Exceptional Targeting that lets premier advertisers reach the highest quality audiences through total network transparency and targeting of location, carrier, device type, time of day, type of content, keywords, and more.

Flexible Creative Tools that let advertisers efficiently build world-class mobile landing pages, text ads or banner ads in a variety of sizes and formats.

Real-Time Statistics that give marketers up-to-the-minute data on every conceivable aspect of campaign performance. Clicks, impressions, cost, and daily averages are analyzed and documented through easy-to-understand, fully customizable reports.

ABOUT MOJIVA

Mojiva’s powerful advertising platform makes it simple for marketers to reach customers via the growing mobile web. Based in New York City, the capital of the global advertising industry, Mojiva gives brand marketers, publishers, and businesses of any size everything they need to efficiently run and profit from mobile advertising campaigns. Mojiva has neatly packaged a rich array of easy-to-use tools, techniques, and analytics in a self-service mobile advertising platform that makes it easy for advertisers to reach buyers, and publishers to monetize their content. Founded in May 2008, Mojiva is backed by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. The company can be found on the Web at www.Mojiva.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – VideoEgg, the rich media ad network for guaranteed engagement, announced it expanded its global sales team and opened a new sales office in Atlanta. The new executives bring a diverse range of experience to VideoEgg and further strengthen the company’s presence across North America, the UK and Australia. Coupled with the Atlanta office opening, the talent additions will help drive VideoEgg’s aggressive growth plans for 2009 and beyond.

In 2008, the company achieved domestic revenue growth of 171 percent in North America. This increase is reflected in the expanding reach of VideoEgg’s network, which recently hit the milestone of 100 million uniques, up from 85 million in November 2008. VideoEgg has now delivered more than 1,200 campaigns for more than 300 leading brands.

“As media buyers and advertisers face increased pressure to deliver ROI, they’re re-examining every dollar in their digital spend and becoming laser focused on value,” said Matt Sanchez, CEO for VideoEgg. “As a result, we’re seeing a drastic shift to performance-based advertising to drive demand and awareness. Our remarkable growth in a flat market reflects the clear need for accountability and value in today’s media buy. VideoEgg is uniquely positioned to deliver an innovative approach that lets advertisers engage with consumers in a valuable and measurable way.”

The opening of VideoEgg’s seventh North American office in Atlanta reinforces the company’s sales footprint and provides a more comprehensive connection between its rich media ad solutions and VideoEgg’s client base. The expansion also builds off VideoEgg’s recently announced European headquarters and lays the groundwork for continued global sales team growth.

As part of its current expansion, VideoEgg adds executives Sean Cauley in Chicago, Katie Barrett in New York and Daryl Faulkner in Montreal. Increasing its Southeast presence, the company also introduces Shelley Gosney to lead the new Atlanta office.

Shelley Gosney joins VideoEgg as the Southeast sales manager and the flagship member of VideoEgg’s new Atlanta office. Gosney has over 12 years experience in interactive media sales, previously as the strategic sales director for Endemic Media, the online advertising sales firm for American Express Publishing. Gosney was also the strategic sales manager for DoubleClick’s Online Media Sales Division where she opened and managed the company’s regional sales office in Texas.

“VideoEgg is incredibly excited to increase our presence not only internationally but also with Shelley Gosney in the Southeast, as her vast experience while working for Endemic Media and Double Click perfectly fits our goal of delivering high-value rich media solutions to brand marketers,” added Hess. “All our new executives have incredibly relevant experience in the online media sales arena and extensive contacts with leading global brands. We are well poised for continued growth.”

VideoEgg is a unique advertising network enabling marketers to create rich media experiences that guarantee and deepen engagement across top social, video and gaming environments. The company’s model is changing the way brands deliver advertising and provides the industry’s most feature rich advertising experience. VideoEgg was recently recognized with an ASPY award for its innovative cost-per-engagement (CPE) pricing approach and accountable brand advertising platform. Puma, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Mercedes Benz have all used VideoEgg to increase the amount of time users spend with their brand content.

About VideoEgg, Inc.

VideoEgg is a new kind of rich media advertising network that guarantees brand engagement. The network is composed of over 100 million uniques across more than 400 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 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.

The program includes a certification (along the lines with the GAP certification, Google Advertising Professional) as well as the possibility to be featured in the very Ad Manager’s help centre as a certified ad serving consultant.

Here’s what an earlier message sent out to Ad Manager users says:

“[...] It’s important to invest your ad serving and ad operations budget where you’ll get the greatest return.

That’s why we’re excited to announce Google Ad Manager’s partnership with companies who can provide advanced ad serving support and professional services.

Whether you have an established in-house sales and IT team, or are just getting started, our certified partners are here to help you take full advantage of their experience using Google Ad Manager. This will allow you to spend more time focusing on what you do best, producing great content, while our partners can help you manage the rest.

Google Ad Serving Certified Consultants can assist you with services such as:

Ad Trafficking: Day-to-day ad operations services.

Consultation: Inventory recommendations, campaign management and optimization.

Training: On-site, classroom, and web based training are all available.

Advanced Support: Dedicated technical support and troubleshooting [...]”

Surely, Google had all the interest in eliminating the workload on their own support teams for Ad Manager, particularly since, well, true ad serving experts aren’t that easily found and they usually work for premium, paid ad serving platforms (DoubleClick included).

However, there’s one question to be answered: who and how will decide which of the “certified partners” will be featured, and in what order? For now, only four are listed – Acceleration, Epik One, Outsourced Ad Ops, Vanguardistas – but one can imagine how fast the list would grow. How’s this program going to be managed, who will make the list and who will not?

NEW YORK – Publishers now have a faster, easier, and more effective way to monetize their mobile content. Mojiva’s Publisher White Label Solution, launched today, represents an enhanced advertising platform that lets publishers of all sizes manage mobile ad campaigns, completely under their own brand. Mobile publishers looking to tap into the mobile advertising market projected to hit $15 billion by 2011 can now use Mojiva’s Publisher White Label Solution, which provides all the tools required to take maximum advantage of mobile ad revenue opportunities.

“Demand for mobile web content and apps is already soaring, and it’s still just the early days. It’s clear that the primary revenue for all of this great mobile content will come in the form of advertising,” says Dave Gwozdz, Mojiva’s CEO, and one of the founding members of DoubleClick. “Today, selling advertising on the mobile Web is extremely difficult, but this solution gives publishers the interface they need to organize and sell their inventory with precision and targeting, and to provide advanced reporting for their advertisers. It even makes the yield management of multiple ad sales parties, like ad networks, more effective.”

Built on Mojiva’s industry-leading mobile advertising platform, serving more than 800 publishers, the Mojiva Publisher White Label Solution lets publishers book and traffic advertising sold by their internal sales team, all with the simplicity that Mojiva is known for. Publishers have total control over custom ad formats, keyword targeting, whitelisting/blacklisting, performance tracking, yield management, and real-time reporting.

“Mojiva has really raised the bar here by unbundling the same powerful ad platform that has driven our ad network success,” Gwozdz says. “We have heard the cries of mobile publishers who saw how powerful the technology is that drives our ad network, and wanted their own similar tools. Now they can have those same tools for their dedicated ad sales teams. I think it bodes well for the entire industry, and will help advertisers find more publishers prepared to handle their campaign needs.”

For more information on Mojiva’s White Label Solution, please contact JPreis@Mojiva.com.

ABOUT MOJIVA

Mojiva is the simple yet sophisticated mobile advertising platform for advertisers and publishers who want to tap the smartphone user market. Based in New York City, the capital of the global advertising industry, Mojiva gives brand marketers, publishers, and businesses of any size everything they need to efficiently run and profit from mobile advertising campaigns. Mojiva has neatly packaged a rich array of easy-to-use tools, techniques, and analytics in a self-service mobile advertisement platform that makes it easy for advertisers to reach buyers, and publishers to reach advertisers. Founded in May 2008, Mojiva has grown faster than any other advertising platform, having served over 1 billion ads in its first eight months. The company can be found on the Web at www.Mojiva.com.

Press & bloggers: Review accounts available.

PRESS RESOURCES

Press contact: Jessica Hirsch, Jessica@GregoryFCA.com

Mojiva Web site: http://www.mojiva.com

Mojiva Blog: http://blog.mojiva.com/

BARCELONA, Spain & NEW YORK – Mojiva has added “single-click” purchasing power to advertisements on its powerful mobile ad network, thanks to a new partnership with Billing Revolution, a mobile payments and billing solutions company. Now consumers and merchants can instantly buy what they see in a mobile ad, and advertisers are just one click away from closing the sale.

“This is about moving beyond the application store model, and making every mobile ad a purchasing opportunity for consumers and advertisers. Not just for applications, but for any product, anytime, anywhere,” says Dave Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva and previously one of the founding team members of DoubleClick. “And by working with Billing Revolution to help advertisers take advantage of impulse buys and eliminate unnecessary steps in the check out process, we’re making it simpler, easier, and more profitable for marketers to leverage the growing mobile Web. This partnership proves that the infrastructure is in place to make mobile commerce a reality. We just needed to bring together market leading technologies to deliver it to advertisers and their customers.”

Mojiva’s secure, single-click, mCommerce-enabled advertisements makes it possible for advertisers’ mobile device customers to make purchases quickly and easily, even if the advertiser doesn’t have its own mobile commerce site. Through Mojiva’s self-service dashboard, advertisers already have the ability to create a simple mobile landing page dedicated to their product or service. Now, under this partnership, Billing Revolution will also give them the opportunity to create a custom, secure check out page that can be linked to any mobile advertisement. And to make purchases simple and easy for consumers, Billing Revolution only requires buyers to input their billing information once. This lets customers instantly make secure, single-click credit card transactions from any Web-enabled mobile phone, without a user name or pin code requirement.

For publishers, Mojiva’s new partnership with Billing Revolution also presents multiple revenue opportunities, including the ability to opt-in and receive compensation for each commerce-enabled ad that runs on the publisher’s mobile Web site. Publishers and advertisers can also gain access to Mojiva and Billing Revolution’s unique conversion reporting capabilities in order to measure the effectiveness of their mobile campaigns.

“Our partnership with Mojiva showcases each company’s focus on bringing exceptional value to the mobile advertising industry, and represents a truly innovative offering,” said Andy Kleitsch, CEO of Billing Revolution. “Mojiva’s focus on delivering enhanced ROI and measurability to advertisers, publishers, and end users is a positive step towards the maturation of the mobile medium.”

Both Mojiva and Billing Revolution are attending Mobile World Congress this week, and will be available to discuss their partnership. To speak with representatives from Mojiva, visit them at Booth #7A70, or contact Kate Berg at 914-399-5016. To speak with Billing Revolution on site at the show, please contact Michael Dulong, senior vice president of business development, at 207-671-6692, or e-mail at mike@billingrevolution.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Gigya, Inc., the leading widget and content sharing platform for the social web, today announced that Jake Winebaum has joined Gigya’s board of directors. Winebaum was until recently the chief executive officer and founder of Business.com. He is currently working on a new start-up. As a board member, Mr. Winebaum will provide strategic oversight to Gigya’s direction and progress.

“I am thrilled that Jake has agreed to share his time and expertise with Gigya,” said CEO Dave Yovanno. “The opportunity to add an internet media and publishing leader of Jake’s caliber to our board is extraordinary. With his track record of success in new media, and as a driving force behind bringing Disney into the Digital Age, Jake understands the intersection of digital and traditional media and will be a significant contributor to Gigya’s success.”

A media industry veteran, Mr. Winebaum co-founded eCompanies and prior to that served as chairman of Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG), encompassing Disney.com, ESPN.com, ABCNews.com, ABC.com, and Family.com, and also as president of Disney Online, where he led the team that extended the Disney brand onto the Internet. Jake took on the role of president of Disney Publishing after The Walt Disney Company acquired FamilyFun magazine, a publication which he founded and for which he served as president, editor and publisher.

“Gigya is one of the most innovative companies helping to shape the next generation of the Internet, and it’s an honor to join their board,” said Winebaum.” The company is playing a critical role in how content is shared across a distributed and social web, and I’m looking forward to helping the team as they continue to grow and evolve.”

In addition to Yovanno, Winebaum joins current board members Michael Eisenberg of Benchmark Israel and Navin Chaddha of Mayfield Fund, as well as Eyal Magen, CSO and Eran Kutner, CTO, two of Gigya’s three co-founders.

About Gigya

Gigya’s technologies give people the power to socialize and share content across the web, providing publishers and marketers with powerful tools for increasing audience reach and engagement online. Reaching more than 174 million people each month, Gigya’s technology platform includes world-class sharing, analytics and monetization features. The company’s products simplify access to more than 50 unique web platforms, distributing content across the social web and bringing users’ social graphs to any site. Each day, millions of people use Gigya to engage with their friends and with content from Gigya’s publisher and advertiser clients such as CNET, DoubleClick, Electronic Arts, Levis, MTV, RockYou!, Toyota, Unilever and Walmart.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Teracent Corporation, the leading Dynamic Ad Platform, announced Chip Hall as its Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Mr. Hall had previously been with Yahoo! Inc. in various executive roles, including managing the company’s Global Strategic Partnerships team. His experience includes co-founding Release Software, the first Internet software distribution company, in 1995 after successfully promoting early Internet companies such as Yahoo! and Verisign as a public relations executive. Mr. Hall also sold dynamic e-commerce systems to the Fortune 500 while at Organic Online and later ran Fluid Inc. as Chief Executive Officer.

“Chip was a thought leader for the Yahoo! sales organization, especially in his early vision of marrying dynamic marketing messages to specific audiences,” said Wenda Harris Millard, Co-CEO of Martha Stewart OmniMedia Inc. and former Chief Sales Officer at Yahoo!. “His experience helping Fortune 500 companies understand the idea of dynamically managing their marketing programs is hard to match in the industry. Chip is a great hire for Teracent because he is an expert in the emerging area of dynamic ads and takes the kind of customer-centric approach that creates success.”

Mr. Hall Joins a veteran Teracent team whose backgrounds include Inktomi, Yahoo!, Advertising.com, Efficient Frontier, Oracle, and Novell.

“I am very excited to have Chip join the team because of his deep domain knowledge from years of experience evangelizing the concepts behind dynamic ad optimization,” said Vikas Jha, Teracent founder & CEO. “As one of the early employees at Inktomi, I can appreciate how important the right hires are for a young company, and Chip’s unique mix of entrepreneurial skills are a perfect fit for Teracent’s next phase of growth.”

Mr. Hall has brought on media veteran Christine Neubert as the company’s sales account director. Ms. Neubert has 10 years of digital media experience, including positions at DoubleClick, Viacom, CMP and TheDeal.com.

About Teracent Corporation

Based in San Mateo, CA and founded in 2006, Teracent defines the new standard of display advertising by offering leading marketers the ability to dynamically manage their brand and product/service offers to any customer on a personalized basis. Teracent is funded by New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

- Acumium Acquires Search-Friendly GravityMarket Ecommerce Platform
Dan Costello, founder of Acumium, Madison-based internet technology firm, announced the acquisition of the GravityMarket ecommerce platform from Netconcepts, natural search marketing agency.
“We are happy to add GravityMarket to our suite of ecommerce and content management solutions,” said Costello. “GravityMarket complements our own expertise in online retail best practice and search marketing.”
First developed by Netconcepts in 2001, then re-architected and again released in 2007, the GravityMarket platform includes search engine friendly features like text-based, optimized URLs, unique title tags and keyword-rich content. According to Netconcepts, most clients moved to GravityMarket because their previous websites were virtually invisible to the search engines, making it an expensive proposition to drive online traffic.

Palo Alto, CA — November 3, 2008 — Gigya, Inc., the largest widget and content sharing platform for the social web, today announced that it has created a widget for the Interactive Advertising Bureau The IAB widget was designed to provides easy access to the latest IAB news, upcoming events, standards and guidelines, and a feed of the IABlog, a recognized industry news blog featuring commentary from IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg

“As a member of the IAB, we were delighted to work together to create a widget that fosters engagement with the valuable content and services the IAB provides,” stated Liza Hausman, VP of Marketing at Gigya. “We work with hundreds of brand advertisers, web publishers, and media and entertainment companies to help them engage their audiences through widgets, and we see this IAB widget as a clear reflection of the IAB’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of online media and advertising.”

“The IAB widget will allow us to deliver our latest, most in-demand content to our key stakeholders in the interactive community and extend our reach on behalf of the interactive industry,” said David Doty, senior vice president, Thought Leadership & Marketing of the IAB.

The IAB widget can be grabbed and shared from the IAB website www.iab.net/widget and the IAB Facebook page and is also accessible through the Facebook application directory under the name IAB-Interactive Advertising Bureau Daily News+. Incorporating Gigya’s Wildfire technology, the IAB widget can be installed with ease to over 50 online destinations including blogs, start pages, desktops and social networks including Facebook and MySpace.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

About Gigya:
Gigya gives people the power to socialize and share content across the web, providing publishers and marketers with powerful tools for increasing audience reach and engagement online. Reaching more than 174 million people each month, Gigya’s technology platform includes world-class sharing, analytics and monetization features. The company’s products simplify access to more than 50 unique web platforms, distributing content across the social web and bringing users’ social graphs to any site. Each day, millions of people use Gigya to engage with their friends and with content from Gigya’s publisher and advertiser clients such as CNET, DoubleClick, Electronic Arts, Levis, MTV, RockYou!, Toyota, Unilever and Walmart.

NEW YORK – Forbes.com (www.forbes.com), home page for the world’s business leaders, is the first business or financial Web site to complete the auditing process and receive ad measurement accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC), it was announced today.

This accreditation certifies that Forbes.com has adhered to the MRC’s Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research and the Measurement Guidelines of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), in counting online advertising impressions and traffic measurements. The accreditation also certifies that Forbes.com provides full and complete information to the MRC regarding all details of its operation, conducts its processing and reporting substantially in accordance with representations to its clients and the MRC, and submits to annual audits of its procedures by CPA firms engaged by the MRC.

To date, more than ten companies have been accredited by MRC, among them Yahoo (U.S. sites), AOL, MSN, Disney Interactive, CNET Networks and Doubleclick.

“We are excited and proud that the MRC accreditation has verified the validity of our ad serving delivery and reporting process, as we experience continued traffic growth,” said Jim Spanfeller, President and CEO, Forbes.com. “We are in strong support of the interactive industry utilizing one universal measurement system, and this accreditation is a giant step in that direction.”

George Ivie, Executive Director of the Media Rating Council, said “I congratulate Forbes.com on this significant achievement and thank them for their commitment to the MRC process. MRC accreditation provides the Industry with assurance that Forbes.com is measuring and reporting online ad impressions in accordance with MRC Standards and IAB guidelines.”

The ad impression measurement guidelines were developed by the IAB in conjunction with its members and representatives from the major online publishers and ad serving organizations around the world. Published in November 2004, the guidelines address long-standing marketer and agency concerns about the need for a standardized method of measuring interactive advertising impressions. More information on the guidelines is available at http://www.iab.net/standards/measurement.asp.

About Forbes.com

Forbes.com (www.forbes.com), home page for the world’s business leaders and the No. 1 business news source in the world, is among the most trusted resources for senior business executives, providing them the real-time reporting, uncompromising commentary, concise analysis, relevant tools and community they need to succeed at work, profit from investing and have fun with the rewards of winning. Throughout the business day Forbes.com publishes more than 4,000 articles, delivering the best of Forbes journalism and that of its selected partners with all the immediacy, depth and interactivity that the Web allows. Forbes.com is part of Forbes Digital, a division of Forbes Media LLC. Forbes.com and affiliated properties – ForbesAutos.com, ForbesTraveler.com, Investopedia.com, RealClearPolitics.com, Clipmarks.com and the Forbes.com Business and Finance Blog Network – together reach nearly 40 million business decision makers each month.

About MRC

The Media Rating Council (MRC) is a nonprofit industry association whose members represent television and radio broadcasters, cablecasters, print organizations, advertisers, Internet organizations, advertising agencies and industry trade associations. The MRC charter is to maintain audience research confidence and credibility with the goal of securing for the industry audience measurement that is valid, reliable and effective. The MRC was formed in 1964 at the urging of the United States Congress. Audience measurement services seeking MRC Accreditation are required to disclose to the MRC membership (and all customers) all methodological aspects of their service; meet MRC Minimum Standards For Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC designed audits to authenticate and illuminate procedures. The membership evaluates the audits conducted by independent CPA’s on MRC’s behalf and the MRC Board grants Accreditation if deemed warranted. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of Research in the marketplace. Further information about MRC’s accreditation and auditing procedures can be obtained from: www.mediaratingcouncil.org or Executive Director, Media Rating Council, Inc., 370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 902, New York, NY 10017.

About IAB

Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) represents leading interactive companies that are actively engaged in, and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB boasts over 250 members that are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research and educates the advertising industry regarding the use of interactive advertising. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

LOS ANGELES – The Rubicon Project, an advertising technology company focused on global ad network optimization, unveils the latest edition of the 2008 Online Advertising Market Report, the Q2: Ad Network Landscape, Trends and Outlook, detailing the state of the market in the second quarter of 2008 and beyond. Drawing on its unique third-party position between ad networks and website publishers, the Rubicon Project provides an insider perspective of the changing Internet advertising landscape based on a wealth of market data to provide a deeper understanding of the current industry climate and future trends. This market intelligence is based on analysis of 15 billion impressions served during Q2 alone across more than 130 ad networks.

“2008 has been a challenging year for the U.S. and worldwide economy. Fortunately, the online advertising market has been somewhat cushioned from the majority of economic blows,” said Frank Addante, CEO and founder. “The Rubicon Project is committed to helping navigate the tumultuous yet continuous growth and development of this market, in part, through education. Through this report, we are sharing billions of pieces of market intelligence we have combined with informed analysis of current and future trends.”

State of a Dysfunctional Industry

With nearly $370 million invested in ad networks in Q2, the market remained a good buy for private firms and holding companies. This indicates investors’ confidence in networks ability to innovate and increase monetization.

However, not all news was rosy. Big-name publishers such as ESPN, Forbes.com and CBS Sports discontinued their use of third-party networks in the second quarter, generating a slew of bad publicity for the ad network industry.

Sample Findings:

* Despite criticism, ad networks grew during the economic storm in Q2 – eCPMs increased by an average of 7 percent across all networks.
* Publishers and networks dysfunctional relationships are hindering growth – they need each other but don’t trust one other on issues such as inventory pricing, fee payment and collection or the quality of the ads and the sites they run on.
* Big publishers are both entering and navigating the broader network space – with several heavy-hitters becoming ad networks themselves.
* International traffic remains an untapped growth opportunity – some major U.S. Web sites draw more than half their traffic from outside the country but only a small fraction of ad revenue is able being monetized from that traffic.

Sample of Emerging Trends

* The Ad network role in the online advertising ecosystem will continue to grow – both publishers and media buyers need and want third-party support.
* Networks face obstacles to expansion – publishers need to diversify across many ad network channel opportunities to continue growth.
* Online advertising will continue to grow – overall ad spend may decrease but a natural reconciliation will occur to even out the discrepancy between Internet usage (33 percent) and percentage of ad budgets dedicated to online spend (8 percent).
* In a recession, efficient models prevail – online advertising is more efficient than other forms of advertising such as broadcast and print.

The complete 2008 Q2 Online Advertising Market Report is available as a free download at: http://www.rubiconproject.com.

About the Rubicon Project

The Rubicon Project is a group of industry-experienced, aggressive and passionate renegades dedicated to bringing a new level of efficiency to the fragmented Internet advertising space. The founders of the Rubicon Project shook up the online advertising industry in 1998 when they created L90/adMonitor, one of the most successful Internet advertising platforms that served over 3,000 of the web’s most recognized sites, reaching 65 percent of the Internet population before DoubleClick acquired it. $27 billion was spent advertising online in 2007, yet it’s still too hard for Web sites to sell their ad space online. The Rubicon Project’s web-based, self-serve solution gives any size Web site the most complete access to the total available advertising market and its smart matching technology does all the work to perfectly match each ad impression with the optimal money-making opportunity. The Rubicon Project is the new online advertising standard that makes it effortless for Web sites to generate the mad cash they’ve always dreamed of. And, it’s free to join. Web sites looking to make more money while doing less work should visit: http://www.rubiconproject.com.

Read Frank’s blog at: http://www.FounderBlog.com/

LOS ANGELES – the Rubicon Project, an advertising technology company focused on global Ad Network Optimization, offers solutions for publishers concerned about channel conflict between ad sales conducted by in-house sales teams and those sales made by third-party ad networks. The recent IAB/Bain research report on digital pricing re-enforces the opinion that channel conflict is one of the largest concerns facing large publishers.

“One of our concerns in working with ad networks is channel conflict,” says Greg Liberman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Spark Networks (AMEX:LOV), a leading provider of online personals services in the United States and internationally. “If ad networks are directly pitching our site for lower rates than our direct sales team is, it could hurt our pricing leverage. Working with the team and technology of the Rubicon Project, we are able to reap the benefits of monetizing unsold ad space across ad networks without constantly worrying about the channel conflict risk.”

Ad networks sometimes use a website’s specific name to entice advertisers. A dangerous practice is when a sales representative at an ad network lures the advertiser to buy through them rather than directly from the site by offering it at a lower price. While many ad networks have programs in place to reduce channel conflict, the problem continues to cause publishers pain. Over recent months several notable big-brand publishers have completely severed their ad network relationships, in part, due to concerns around channel conflict driving down CPM’s and the impact on direct sales efforts.

the Rubicon Project pioneered an intensive Ad Space Certification Program to provide independent verification of publisher inventory that ensures safety and accuracy for advertisers buying through ad networks. A key feature of this program, in addition to bringing more ad dollars online, is guarding publishers against channel conflict.

How the Rubicon Project tackles channel conflict:

* Certified Blind Sites: the Rubicon Project rates and classifies sites by quality, prominence and popularity so that a site’s value can be leveraged without specifying a name (e.g. top-tier news site)
* Certified Content Segments: e.g. Entertainment Channel, a selection of more than 300 entertainment sites, rather than a specific one
* Certified Audience & Geographic Channels: ad networks can safely re-sell high quality ad inventory by demographic information such as age, gender or ethnicity without having access to data on specific sites
* Restricted Information: since the publisher’s primary relationship is with the Rubicon Project, ad networks do not need to employ “Chinese walls” with information because they do not directly interact with the publisher

“Channel conflict is a real problem for big publishers,” said Frank Addante, CEO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “As a result, many publishers have disabled their ad networks from effectively selling their ad inventory by preventing them from using information such as their site name and other critical data such as demography and context. Our job is to help websites become effective ad network channel managers. With this program, we are re-enabling this important channel to generate the highest possible rates for publishers while protecting their direct sales efforts.”

Because the Rubicon Project is addressing channel conflict head on, there’s hope these issues will soon be a thing of the past. Until then, publishers can’t afford to ignore the opportunities ad networks provide – anywhere from 40 to 80 percent of the average publisher’s inventory goes unsold by a publisher’s direct sales team – and ad networks obviously need publishers to place their ads. With the help of the Rubicon Project, both parties can move beyond fear and distrust toward their common goal: making money.

To learn more about channel conflict and other issues affecting online advertising, visit www.rubiconproject.com

About the Rubicon Project

the Rubicon Project is a group of industry-experienced, aggressive and passionate renegades dedicated to bringing a new level of efficiency to the fragmented Internet advertising space. The founders of the Rubicon Project shook up the online advertising industry in 1998 when they created L90/adMonitor, one of the most successful Internet advertising platforms that served over 3,000 of the web’s most recognized sites, reaching 65% of the Internet population before DoubleClick acquired it.

$27 Billion was spent advertising online in 2007, yet it’s still too hard for websites to sell their ad space online. the Rubicon Project’s web-based, self-serve solution gives any size website the most complete access to the total available advertising market and its smart matching technology does all the work to perfectly match each ad impression with the optimal money-making opportunity. the Rubicon Project is the new online advertising standard that makes it effortless for websites to generate the mad cash they’ve always dreamed of. And, it’s free to join. Websites looking to make more money while doing less work should visit: http://www.rubiconproject.com.

Read Frank’s blog at: http://www.FounderBlog.com/

PALO ALTO, CA – Gigya, the leading social technologies company, announced its Levis® widget campaign, co-created with Avenue A|Razorfish, has been named by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as a finalist for the 2008 MIXX Awards in the category “Widget Marketing Campaign.” Avenue A| Razorfish and Gigya partnered to conceptualize, design, and execute this widget advertising campaign for Levi Strauss & Co®. The final Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced at the MIXX Awards Gala on the evening of September 23, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Times Square Hotel in New York City.

“We are excited that our Levis campaign created with Avenue A|Razorfish has been recognized by the IAB,” said Ben Pashman, VP of Sales & Business Development at Gigya. “This is a great validation of Avenue A’s vision, of widgets as effective ad vehicles and of the vital role Gigya is playing in this emerging industry.”

The coveted MIXX Awards is judged by an independent panel of highly recognized representatives of the entire interactive advertising network – brand marketers with direct control over many of the largest advertising budgets in the country, major media company executives and advertising agency experts who create campaigns for the world’s most powerful brands. The intense scrutiny of the judging process ensures that the finalist and winning campaigns truly reflect the industry’s best work. With two intensive phases of judging by some of the most demanding marketing executives, winning a MIXX Award is the highest recognition in Interactive Advertising.

Levis® 23/501 Campaign Specifics
Levi Strauss & Co.’s ® advertising agency Avenue A|Razorfish used Gigya’s full-service solution for design, production and distribution. Gigya collaborated with Avenue A|Razorfish to design and develop an innovative, high-impact widget, featuring one-click scrolling through a gallery of 23/501 product shots. An anticipation-building countdown timer ticked off the hours, minutes and seconds to product availability, and store location information was put at the users’ fingertips. The widget also incorporated a soundtrack of fresh hip-hop tracks from Sony’s Jive Records, chosen specifically to appeal to the 23/501 target demographic and add to the widget’s perceived value. The campaign focused exclusively on driving widget installs to the social network profile pages of the target. Gigya incorporated its Wildfire platform, enabling the widget to be easily grabbed and shared, and distributed the widget on its network, focusing exclusively on sites frequented by young urban males.

“We are honored that our Levi’s® 23/501 campaign is a finalist and will be showcased at the 2008 MIXX Awards,” said Rob Toledo, Senior Account Director at Avenue A | Razorfish. “Gigya helped make this campaign a success with their comprehensive widget solution which encompassed concept design, distribution and tracking. This campaign effectively engaged our target audience and generated buzz around the Levi’s® 23/501 Limited Edition Collection, which ultimately sold out in less than 50 seconds.”

About Gigya
Gigya gives people the power to socialize and share content across the web, providing content companies with powerful tools for increasing audience reach and engagement. Reaching more than 150 million people each month, Gigya’s technology platform includes world-class sharing, analytics and monetization features. The company’s APIs simplify access to more than 50 unique web platforms, distributing content across the social web and bringing users’ social graphs to any site. Millions of people each day use Gigya to engage with their friends and with content from publisher and advertiser clients like CNET, DoubleClick, Electronic Arts, Levis, MTV, RockYou, Toyota, Unilever and Walmart.

With more then fifteen years of experience, Len has evangelized and sold new technology to key decision makers including online publishers, agencies and clients, in addition to maintaining responsibility for over $40 million in online ad revenue. He has also been recognized by peers and management, winning both quantitative sales awards as well as receiving acknowledgement from colleagues.

Being among the first online sales persons in the digital industry, Len has been written about in BusinessWeek regarding the online advertising marketplace. Additionally, he has consulted with companies including Olive Garden, America Online, Jet Blue, Sony and more. Known for his ability to quickly identify sales opportunities, Len takes great pride in understanding client’s marketing and business goals. He thrives on presenting dynamic products and services that leverage bottom line results. Adopting innovative approaches and concepts, Len demonstrates a solid grasp on revolutionary marketing solutions, delivering groundbreaking ideas that impact heavily on the digital arena.

Prior to joining SpotXchange, Len was national sales director at Knocknock, formerly known as Avant Interactive, where he maintained responsibility for revenue generation and implementation of pioneering digital marketing solutions. His clients included Lifetime, ABC, CBS, NBC, AT& T, Scripps Networks, Honda and Ford, to name a few. Len strongly believes that the key to his success is founded on his ability to build solid relationships with both clients and agencies. In addition to Avant, his career includes time with Scripps Networks, Mobliss, Inc., Claria Corporation and DoubleClick. At DoubleClick he served as senior strategic sales person selling advertising on DoubleClick’s network of over 1100 highly rated web sites.

Based in Colorado and launched in November 2006, SpotXchange is an online video advertising network that provides sophisticated targeting, a hands-on client services team, reporting, and a transparent marketplace that meets publisher and advertisers online video advertising needs.

About SpotXchange
The SpotXchange patent-pending online video advertising platform received the 2007 Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award for BEST VIDEO AD PLATFORM. The company was spun off from Colorado-based digital marketing and technology company, Booyah Networks in March 2007. Booyah Networks ranked 23rd on the 2006 Inc. 500. Clients and partners include Voxant, Blinkx, Adap.tv, LiveVideo.com, NeoEdge, United Press International and others.

The new feature doesn’t seem to have propagated in all DFP accounts yet, and the knowledge base doesn’t seem to include any new entries about streaming Silverlight. I’ll let you enjoy the feature announcement in full, below.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (August 05, 2008) –Today, DoubleClick, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, announced the new capability to serve video ads into Microsoft Silverlight 2 video environments. The move is part of DoubleClick’s ongoing effort to help clients maximize the yield on their advertising inventory as they deliver content into emergent online, video and mobile channels.

With this new feature of DoubleClick In-Stream, DoubleClick clients such as NBC Universal Digital Media are able to monetize video content played within the Silverlight 2 player. NBCOlympics.com, a division of NBC Universal, will be one of the first sites to open Silverlight 2 content up to advertisers with DoubleClick In-Stream. The solution carves out new video inventory across 2,500 hours of video content running as part of NBC’s Olympics coverage.

“Microsoft has always had a strong commitment to working closely with partners and the industry to enable them to leverage our tools and platform to deliver great user experiences. With Silverlight, we’ve extended that commitment to the advertising space,” said Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President, .NET Developer Division. “We’re pleased to see the investment DoubleClick has made to enable customers such as NBCOlympics.com to take advantage of Silverlight to offer compelling packages to their advertisers.”

DoubleClick In-Stream is a video ad serving solution used by online publishers to deliver exciting new advertising experiences into Flash, Real Media, Windows Media and now Silverlight 2 video players. As part of the DoubleClick Revenue Center, the product is completely integrated into DoubleClick’s core ad serving platform, DART for Publishers. The combined DoubleClick solution enables trafficking, targeting forecasting and reporting for video advertising. By working with DoubleClick to serve ads into Silverlight 2, NBCOlympics.com is able to leverage their existing ad operations workflow and staff to package video ads with other opportunities, such as online display and mobile ads. One platform for online display, video and mobile has made it possible for NBC to create compelling cross-channel packages for advertisers who want to reach the Olympics-viewing audience.

“With hundreds of advertisers, multiple platforms and large site traffic spikes, we needed to work with a partner that could provide an integrated, scalable, robust solution,” said Steven Gold, Vice President, Sales Planning and Operations, NBC Universal Digital Media. “Thanks to DoubleClick In-Stream’s new support for Silverlight 2, we are able to monetize our groundbreaking online video coverage on the same platform we already use for display and mobile advertising. This lets our sales and operations teams work together really efficiently.”

“DoubleClick’s vision is to help publishers grow their revenues by creating great user experiences and providing compelling value to advertisers,” said Google Group Product Manager Ari Paparo. “By expanding the capabilities of DoubleClick In-Stream to work with Silverlight 2, we can make it possible for clients to create unique entertainment and advertising experiences without increasing their workload or creating new complex processes.”

For more information on DoubleClick In-Stream, please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/instream

To learn more about the entire DoubleClick Revenue Center, please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/revenuecenter

About DoubleClick
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. DoubleClick is a division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.

ad:tech Chicago, the leading conference for the global marketing community taking place August 5 and 6, 2008 at the Chicago Navy Pier, is the industry event of the season. Celebrating its fourth consecutive year in Chicago, the 2008 ad:tech show will answer the burning questions on the minds of advertisers and marketers today while providing a roadmap for conquering the industry’s next frontier.

The Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA) and William Blair and Company recently surveyed 150 Chicago-area interactive marketing companies to gauge the health of the industry. According to two-thirds of the respondents, the economic turbulence is affecting spending and most predict that online advertising will grow at a rate of only about 16 percent this year compared to a forecast of 19 percent during previous years, which they attribute to the state of the economy.2 As advertising is becoming less efficient, key opinion leaders are turning to their peers to better understand the market and the fast-paced environment in which it is evolving.

“ad:tech Chicago offers an inside look at the industry by professionals experiencing the same hurdles in reaching both broad and niche audiences,” said ad:tech Chairman, Programming & Senior Global Analyst Drew Ianni. “The challenge exists not in knowing who your target is but where and how to engage that person, and understanding the various tools and mediums that help you get there.”

Consistent branding and effective messaging are the key ingredients to a successful brand experience, and one that resonates with consumers and creates advocates out of users. Brad Jakeman, Former Executive VP, Marketing, Federated Department Stores, will expand on this topic further during the second day of the conference through his keynote address titled “The Big Idea Strikes Back”. Jakeman will discuss the importance of creating a big idea and executing it consistently across all the channels available today to marketers.

“Few marketers have a big idea behind their brands that can be expressed across the full gamut of consumer touch-points—advertising (online and offline), in-store environment, employee training, product design etc.,” said Jakeman. “The best brand ideas I’ve seen have been grounded in a deep consumer insight or human truth, are compelling enough to engage and excite consumers, and seize some white space in the category in which the brand operates. They represent a ‘North Star’ toward which all aspects of the consumer experience are relentlessly and obsessively directed.”

ad:tech Chicago will offer attendees access to more than 120 speakers and 23 breakout sessions with the industry’s biggest names, including Amtrak, ConAgra Foods, Dell, Inc., FTD Floral, FOX News, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and many more. In addition to these brands, the event highlights the local talents of more than 30 Chicago and Midwest-based speakers representing the biggest agencies, publishers and analysts, including the Sun-Times News Group, Carlson Marketing Worldwide, Starcom USA, Cars.com, Leo Burnett North America, HSBC, CBS Digital Media, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune Interactive and many more.

The exhibit hall will showcase key exhibitors from companies such as Casale Media, DoubleClick, Google, Moniker and Yahoo! to name a few. The Navy Pier will also house multiple meeting and business presentation rooms for domestic and international organizations along with ample room for networking. For a list of current exhibitors, please visit www.ad-tech.com/chicago/adtech_chicago_exhibitors.aspx.

Gold Sponsor: AdShuffle Silver Sponsors include: Avenue A | Razorfish; Casale Media Bronze Sponsors include: AdECN; Google; iContact; Leapfrog Online; Singer Direct Premiere Media Partners include: Advertising Age; Fast Company; Forbes.com; iMedia Connection; Revenue Magazine Media Partners include: BtoB; DIRECT; Digital Moses Confidential; DM News; eMarketer; MarketingSherpa; Mobile Marketer; Personal Life Media; PRWeb; Search Marketing Standard; SmartBrief; Target Marketing; Webmaster Radio; Website Magazine Association Partners include: AIMA; CIMA; MMA; OPA; WOMMA

For public information, please visit www.ad-tech.com.

About ad:tech: ad:tech expositions, LLC is the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide. ad:tech produces the world’s largest interactive marketing events held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Sydney. ad:tech is produced by dmg world media; based out of the company’s headquarters in Larkspur, California. For listings of exhibitors, speakers, events and upcoming conference offerings, visit www.ad-tech.com.

About dmg world media: An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 250 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg world media employs 900 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 40 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. dmg world media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the United Kingdom. Additional information on dmg world media can be found at www.dmgworldmedia.com.

1 Interactive Advertising Bureau, August 2007
2 AdWeek July 8, 2008

DoubleClick’s new proposal exchange platform is built upon application agnostic standards, which will ultimately allow for broader integration with other advertising technology solutions. The company has worked closely with the IAB in their efforts to establish a consistent standard for electronic order exchange across the online advertising industry. Establishing a common proposal exchange standard will also allow for better automation of discrepancy reconciliation – another key challenge for buyers and sellers of digital media.

In a 2007 survey of its ad agency clients, DoubleClick confirmed that the majority of the media RFP and contract process is still handled manually—via the exchange of emails, spreadsheets and faxes. Respondents also named lack of internal coordination at publishers and inaccurate proposal responses as top concerns. More than 70% of agencies responding said that a publisher’s use of an automated proposal tool would positively influence their decision to send that publisher an RFP. By digitizing and standardizing the RFP process, publishers are also expected to benefit from increased operational efficiency and accuracy, while advertisers will enjoy faster response times and more accurate proposals.

With DoubleClick’s new electronic order exchange feature, agencies can select DSM-enabled publishers directly from the MediaVisor planning tool. Selected publishers receive an electronic request for proposal directly within the DSM interface and can check inventory, build a proposal, and respond electronically. Once approved, the proposed media package can be trafficked by the publisher directly into DART for Publishers. Previously, publishers had to manually enter their proposals within MediaVisor for each advertiser in addition to their own system, often a time consuming and error-prone process. Currently, more than 20 publishers are testing the new order exchange platform including BabyCenter.com and Mansueto Ventures.

Also announced today was the release of a Salesforce.com adapter that allows DART Sales Manager to exchange data with this leading customer relationship management solution to deliver increased transparency throughout the ad sales cycle. The new adapter synchronizes opportunities and proposal information as well as sales data between the two systems, creating a more seamless end-to-end media sales solution.

“DoubleClick’s vision is to help digital advertising scale by developing platforms that bring advertisers and publishers together,” said Group Product Manager Jonathan Bellack. “Our new proposal exchange platform reduces operational friction by eliminating error-prone manual data entry. In addition, our tight integration with Salesforce.com continues to develop DART Sales Manager’s mission to enable an integrated quote to cash solution for publisher sales teams.”

About DART Sales Manager (DSM)
DART Sales Manager (DSM) is an end-to-end workflow and financial management solution for publishers.With over a dozen timesaving features for sales teams and six financial reports, DSM is a best-of-breed tool for media sellers with sales teams of all sizes. DSM is part of DoubleClick’s Revenue Center, a comprehensive suite of solutions for media sellers designed to maximize revenue and minimize operational friction throughout the digital ad sales process.

DART Sales Manager reduces the burden of manual data entry and improves the accuracy and transparency of the entire sales and service process. The result is increased visibility, including enhanced real-time inventory access for sales and additional pipeline and revenue forecasting capabilities for sales management.

For more information about DART Sales Manager please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/dartsalesmanager
To learn more about the entire DoubleClick Revenue Center please visit: http://www.doubleclick.com/revenuecenter

About DoubleClick
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. DoubleClick is a division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Learn more at www.doubleclick.com

Partnering with AdJug helps the Rubicon Project answer the increasing global demands to improve ad performance and placement. As part of the agreement, AdJug is able to monetize the UK inventory of hundreds of the Rubicon Project’s Certified U.S. publishers, offering high fill rates on ad impressions. This easy and efficient solution for advertisers and high profile publishers also allows AdJug to build deeper channels and provide enhanced performance for advertisers.

The Rubicon Project recently launched its Certified Ad Space program , that gives ad networks, and their advertisers, quality and safety assurance for content, placement, targeting and reporting. the Rubicon Project’s smart-matching technology deciphers ad inventory from thousands of sites, breaking it into micro-segments based on geographic, demographic and contextual information. the Rubicon Project’s Ad Network Optimization solution then matches certified inventory to the strengths of a specific ad network, bringing that ad network top-performing, “smarter” ad impressions.

“Partnering with AdJug in the international advertising market allows us to engage quality advertisers from the UK, while increasing revenue for our publishers,” said Frank Addante, CEO and founder of the Rubicon Project. “International monetization is a rapidly growing opportunity and, therefore, a key focus for us. Working with AdJug offers us a scalable solution to bring more sites with international traffic online, adding to our growing customer base of 1,000+ websites.” “Our partnership with the Rubicon Project marks a giant leap forward for AdJug by offering immediate access to a new breadth of quality ad inventory,” said Michael Stephanblome, CEO and founder of AdJug. “This instantly helps us to bring additional liquidity into our marketplace and creates new and exciting inventory opportunities for our advertisers.

About AdJug
AdJug is an online advertising marketplace where advertisers and publishers buy and sell ads directly. It eliminates the need to use an advertising network, giving advertisers and publishers greater choice, transparency & control on how ads are bought and sold. AdJug’s mission is to become Europe’s leading online advertising marketplace. The company is headquartered in London.

About the Rubicon Project
The Rubicon Project is an advertising technology company run by a group of industry-experienced, aggressive and passionate renegades on a mission to automate the large, yet highly inefficient Internet advertising industry. While online advertising is expected to reach $27 billion in 2008, up to 80% of a websites’ ad space goes unsold (directly). Unsold ad space is sent to ad networks. Today, advertisers spread money across 300+ ad networks causing fragmentation and complexity for websites trying to monetize their unsold ad space. In 2007, the Rubicon Project pioneered the Ad Network Optimization category with the launch of its first product.

The Rubicon Project’s Ad Network Optimizer uses smart matching technology to match each ad impression to the optimal money-making opportunities. Within the first 6 months of launch, the company optimized more than 25 billion ads for more than 1,000 websites and 150 of the top ad networks while reaching more than 150 million unique Internet users.Other innovations include a free-hosted Ad Network Ad Server for websites and a Certified Ad Space program to ensure safety, accuracy and trust for ad networks (and their advertisers) when placing ads on websites. The founders of the Rubicon Project created one of the first, and most successful, ad servers in 1998 (L90/adMonitor) that was later acquired by DoubleClick. Websites looking to make more money while doing less work should visit: http://www.rubiconproject.com/

During the 2-day conference, ad:tech Chicago will explore new and emerging technologies on the social media, video and mobile fronts while sharing best practices for audience acquisition, engagement and retention in an age of earned media. The Chicago conference brings together top brands, award-winning agencies and leaders in metrics, publishing and search, offering attendees a great networking opportunity and a chance to explore the trends shaping today’s market.

“ad:tech Chicago provides a multi-faceted platform to learn, listen and understand the opportunities and challenges in the ever evolving branding landscape,” said Drew Ianni, Chairman, Programming & Senior Global Analyst for ad:tech. “The digital space is an uncontrolled environment that requires marketers to interact with consumers rather than just deliver static messaging.”

The conference will kick off with a keynote address by Kevin Kells, CPG Industry Director for Google, titled “Welcome to the Age of Performance Branding,” discussing a new branding technique that encourages open dialogue with consumers to position brands positively and achieve desired results. Day one will close with a keynote address delivered by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, titled “Here Comes Every Customer: The Former Audience is Talking Around You,” touching on how the former audience, the customer, is now driving user generated content (UGC) on the Internet. And, it’s the advertiser who better be listening.

Social networking and UGC sites have experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. As numbers on these sites have risen, so has user engagement, with 83 million users creating and sharing content on the Internet.1 UGC has changed the rules of the game as the existing lines between advertisement and consumer are often blurred. In 2006, UGC sites attracted 69 million users in the United States alone, and in 2007, UGC generated $1 billion in advertising revenue. By 2011, UGC sites are projected to attract 101 million users nationwide and earn $4.3 billion in ad revenue.2

“Today’s business climate requires more precision in our marketing and advertising than ever before. Leading marketers must be creative and obsessive. Creative in developing consumer experiences that enable connections with our brands and obsessive about choosing the place and time when consumers are most receptive for delivery of experiences,” said Kevin Doohan, Director of Interactive Marketing at ConAgra Foods and speaker at ad:tech Chicago in the Power Panel: Master Class CPG Roundtable — Growing Online Brand Advertising Dollars.

ad:tech Chicago will offer attendees unbridled access to more than 120 speakers and 23 breakout sessions with the industry’s biggest names including Amtrak, ConAgra Foods, Dell, Inc., FTD Floral, FOX News, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and many more.

The exhibit hall will showcase key exhibitors from companies such as Casale Media, DoubleClick, Google, Hitwise, Moniker and Yahoo! to name a few. The Navy Pier will also house multiple meeting and business presentation rooms for domestic and international organizations along with ample room for networking. For a list of current exhibitors, please visit www.ad-tech.com/chicago/adtech_chicago_exhibitors.aspx.

Gold Sponsor includes: AdShuffle Silver Sponsors include: Avenue A | Razorfish; Casale Media Bronze Sponsors include: AdECN; Google; iContact; Leapfrog Online; Singer Direct Premiere Media Partners include: Advertising Age; Fast Company; Forbes.com; iMedia Connection; Revenue Magazine Media Partners include: BtoB; DIRECT; Digital Moses Confidential; DM News; eMarketer; MarketingSherpa; Mobile Marketer; Personal Life Media; PRWeb; Search Marketing Standard; SmartBrief; Target Marketing; Webmaster Radio; Website Magazine Association Partners include: AIMA; CIMA; MMA; OPA; WOMMA

For public information, please visit www.ad-tech.com.

About ad:tech: ad:tech expositions, LLC is the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide. ad:tech produces the world’s largest interactive marketing events held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Sydney. ad:tech is produced by dmg world media; based out of the company’s headquarters in Larkspur, California. For listings of exhibitors, speakers, events and upcoming conference offerings, visit www.ad-tech.com.

About dmg world media: An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 250 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg world media employs 900 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 40 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. dmg world media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the United Kingdom. Additional information on dmg world media can be found at www.dmgworldmedia.com.

1 eMarketer, April 2008.
2 eMarketer, “User Generated Content: Will Web 2.0 Pay its Way?” June 2007.

The release comes with a bundle of new features and improvements, of which the integration with Salesforce.com seems to be the most important: more granular pipelines, data synchronization and team member support.

There are changes announced in the following areas: Proposal, Finance, Enhancement & Maintenance. Here are the highlights.

PROPOSAL MODULE
- Delivery Buffer %
- MediaVisor Pacakge Support
- Link MediaVisor Opportunity to Proposal
- DSM-DFP Synchronization Phase I
- Sponsorship Products
- Bypass Approvals
- Weight-Based Bulk Product
- Proposal Version Comparison
- Sales Planner support
- SalesForce.com Product support
- SalesForce.com team member support

FINANCE MODULE
- New Billing Sources
- Pre-defined Future date ranges in General Query
- Contracted and Scheduled impression goals
- Traffickers as Fields / Filters for Billing report

ENHANCEMENTS & MAINTENANCE
- Relax Salesperson Split validation
- Credit Card Billing
- Separate Third Party Provider field

The move is the most recent in a series of digital acquisitions and deals from Aegis Group, and will provide Aegis Media with the means to manage, optimise and measure all forms of online advertising, particularly rich media advertising (Bluestreak’s specialty). The plans are to integrate the newly-acquired ad serving technology into Isobar – Aegis’ digital network, which includes Carat Fusion.

There’s no doubt that the data collected through Bluestreak’s ad serving platform will have a further use in developing future product offerings, probably focusing on demographic and behavioral targeting.

Aegis pais $12.5 million for Bluestreak, which some analysts interpret as a very good deal – Bluestreak has extensive expertise in developing rich media solutions, a very sought-after commodity. Google purchased DoubleClick for an impressive $3.1 billion, while Microsoft shed no less than $6 billion for aQuantive. Agencies groups have also entered the ad serving game, the most notable one being WPP Group’s acquisition of 24/7 Real Media for $64 million.
“Ad serving is in the spotlight right now,” Aegis CEO Robert Lerwill said in a statement. “We believe the combination of media and ad serving is the most interesting of all. While we will continue to work with other industry ad servers, owning our own technology in-house will give us a step change in product development across both search and display.”

No word yet as to Aegis entering the video ads world but, giving the current speed of developments, such a move can’t be too far down the road.

San Francisco, CA – April 16, 2008 – ad:tech expositions, LLC, the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide, hosted the 11th Annual ad:tech Awards Ceremony on April 15th at Mezzanine, a nightspot in San Francisco. More than 35 award winners were recognized and honored for their creative contributions and 3 marketing veterans were presented with the Industry Achievement Award. Bay Area DJ, E-Rock, played music throughout the night while performing artist, Nick Myerhoff (designer and owner of GIRLRIDER) created a unique graffiti mural.

Award winners will be featured for one year on a dedicated micro site http://www.ad-tech.com/awards/winners/ distributed to media channels, as well as highlighted on the ad:tech Awards web site http://www.ad-tech.com/awards/overview.asp.

The 2008 Industry Achievers:
Pete Blackshaw (Executive VP, Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online) has been an industry leader since co-leading p&g’s interactive marketing efforts. He founded PlanetFeedback.com, coined the term “consumer-generated media,” and co-founded the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). He also has a forthcoming book, “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000″.

Kate Thorp (CEO of Real Girls Media) was named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Advertising Age (1998) and a Media All Star by OMMA (2005). She was also inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement for executives under 40 (2000).

Rich LeFurgy (General Partner of Archer) was recognized by USA Today as “the Johnny Appleseed of Online Advertising” (1998), was inducted into Advertising Age’s Interactive Hall of Fame (2000), and received the IAB’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2004). Rich is the Founding Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and remains active in the trade association since it’s founding in 1996.

The 2008 Limelight Award Winners:

* Best Banner Ad: WaMu Friendly Banner, Avenue A | Razorfish
* Best Interactive Broadcast Ad: Nissan Rogue Campaign, TBWAChiatDayTequila
* Best Large Format or Overlay Ad: Assassin’s Creed Roadblock, AKQA
* Best Next Generation Ad: HEMA Rube Goldberg Viral, CCCP
* Best Use of Rich Media: HP Gwen Stefani Yahoo Paper Dolls, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
* Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign: Moosejaw – Growth and Profit, Schaaf Consulting
* Best Branding Campaign: eBay – Renew & Rethink, Agency.com
* Best Business-to-Business Campaign: EyeWonder Client Testimonials, EyeWonder
* Best Consumer Campaign: Nokia Jealous Computers, These Days
* Best Direct Response Campaign: Soccer Club Sells Seats with DRC, eStara
* Best Email Marketing Campaign: Sun APAC Re-engagement, Acxiom Digital
* Best Integrated Campaign: Heinz Top This TV Challenge Website, Smith Brothers Agency
* Best Mobile Campaign: Motorola “Say Goodbye”, The Hyperfactory & Ogilvy
* Best Multi-Cultural Campaign: Vivemejor, Media 8 Digital Marketing
* Best Social Media Marketing Campaign: Bamboo on Facebook, Guerilla PR
* Best Word of Mouth Campaign: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy
* Best Campaign Optimization: Lincoln Educational Services, iCrossing

The 2008 Limelight Award Winners (continued):

* Best Search Engine Optimization Strategy/Campaign: Millennium & Copthorne SEO Campaign, eMarketingEye (Pvt) Ltd
* Best Search Marketing Strategy/Campaign: HGTV Design Star Marketing Loop, Scripps Networks
* Best Business-to-Business Marketing Web Site: Mullen.com, Mullen
* Best Business-to-Business Transaction Web Site: FurnishedQuarters.com, The Buddy Group
* Best Business-to-Consumer Marketing Web Site: HP Serena Williams Site, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
* Best Business-to-Consumer Transaction Web Site: Virgin America, ROKKAN
* Best Micro Site: Every journey needs a Journal, T3
* Best User Defined Experience: DesignMyRoom Website, andCulture
* Best of Show: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy

The 2008 People’s Choice Award Winners:

* Best Banner Ad: Blue Shield of California Headbanger Banner, TAXI, Inc.
* Best Interactive Broadcast Ad: Ubisoft Rayman Video Inventory Ad, AdMission Corporation
* Best Large Format or Overlay Ad: Flight of the Conchords, Deep Focus
* Best Next Generation Ad: Motorola Rockstarizer, Draftfcb
* Best Use of Rich Media: Taco Fu, Blockdot and Draftfcb
* Best Business-to-Consumer Marketing Web Site: Breville Concept to Kitchen, Avenue A | Razorfish
* Best Business-to-Consumer Transaction Web Site: Virgin America, ROKKAN
* Best Business-to-Business Marketing Web Site: Business Breakthrough, Visa
* Best Business-to-Business Transaction Web Site: ADSDAQ Selling Desk, ADSDAQ by ContextWeb
* Best Micro Site: Funship Island, Avenue A | Razorfish
* Best User Defined Experience: Elf Yourself, EVB & Toy

“The ad:tech Awards play an important role in recognizing excellent work in the industry,” states Sarah Fay, CEO of Carat; CEO of Isobar US and member of the ad:tech Awards Judges Panel. “We can see where digital marketing is headed, through the work of our most vibrant agencies and marketers. As a judge, I was able to get a broad perspective of the work our industry is turning out. It was a great opportunity to see where the bar is set – and it is encouraging to see how high that bar is!”

The 2008 ad:tech Awards program broke previous records, receiving more than 490 submissions. The Awards Panel of Judges were responsible for reviewing and scoring all of the entries submitted to the program. This Panel included 110 of the top industry players from companies such as Tribal DDB, ARF, Yahoo!, Organic, DoubleClick, Real Branding, Jetset Studios, Nike, Facebook and CNET Networks Inc., to name a few.

“I was thrilled to be a part of the judging process,” states Russell Scott, CEO, Creative Director, Jetset Studios. “After reviewing all of the entries, I truly believe that we work in the most creative, dynamic and innovative industry on the planet. To be able to give someone a smile with a few well-placed pixels and a couple of sound files is nothing short of miraculous.”

About ad:tech: ad:tech expositions, LLC is the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide. ad:tech produces the world’s largest interactive marketing events held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. ad:tech is produced by dmg world media; based out of the company’s headquarters in Larkspur, California. For listings of exhibitors, speakers, events and upcoming conference offerings, visit www.ad-tech.com.

About dmg world media: An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 300 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg world media employs 700 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 30 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. dmg world media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the United Kingdom. Additional information on dmg world media can be found at www.dmgworldmedia.com.

“Websites told us that ad network management was their #1 pain point. So we created and defined the Ad Network Optimization category,” says Frank Addante, CEO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “Since our launch, websites have told us existing ad servers aren’t built to effectively manage ad networks. So today we deliver our new, free, Ad Network Ad Server. These advancements underscore our commitment to optimizing the relationship and revenue between websites and ad networks.”

The original concept of the ad server was designed ten years ago when all ad sales were handled by websites directly, but the marketplace has changed. Research has revealed that as little as 20% of inventory is sold directly by websites, while up to 80% remains unsold. That unsold ad space is typically sent to ad networks to monetize. Some websites rely entirely on ad networks for their advertising revenue. Existing ad servers, whether free or fee-based, still only answer direct sales needs. They are not designed to manage multiple ad networks and exchanges, which is now a primary requirement for most website publishers. the Rubicon Project is committed to solving this problem.

Free Ad Network Ad Server: Ad servers should be free. The Rubicon Project’s hosted, self-service Ad Network Ad Server helps publishers easily manage multiple ad networks and provides consolidated, insightful reports in one place. No more shuffling multiple browser windows and spreadsheets while logging into five, ten or twenty different ad networks’ reporting systems. Benefits of the free Ad Network Ad Server include:

* Freedom: Only using one ad network today? Don’t have an ad server? Now you have one. Using multiple ad networks makes you more money.
* Free! Save Money: Save on expensive ad serving costs.
* No More Excel: Single ad network management and reporting dashboard.

Ad Network Optimizer: For websites seeking an “automatic” product that lets them make more money while doing less work, the Rubicon Project’s new Ad Network Optimizer is the answer. The Ad Network Optimizer leverages the strengths of all the world’s most popular ad networks. Utilizing a combination of algorithm-driven technology, 11+ billion pieces of market data from previously optimized ads, and a robust supply of more than 60 ad networks, it automatically matches each impression to the best ad network and optimal money-making opportunities. That means the Rubicon Project does the work so websites don’t have to! Additional features include:

* Smarter Optimization Algorithms: Maximize fill rate, kill defaults, target more precisely
* CPM Boosting: Optimize CPM’s and fill rates by geography, audience and content
* Ad Quality Screening: Filter out unwanted ads
* Meet New Ad Networks: expose your inventory to a wider audience of ad networks
* Certified Ad Space: automatic review for the Rubicon Certified Ad Space program
* Guaranteed On-time Payments: One simple check every month – get paid on time, even if networks pay late

Want to Make Mad Cash, better manage ad networks or check out our Certified Ad Space program? Visit: www.rubiconproject.com

Want to learn more about ad network optimization? Check out our Golden Eggs video: http://www.rubiconproject.com/goldeneggs

About the Rubicon Project
the Rubicon Project is an advertising technology company run by a group of industry-experienced, aggressive and passionate renegades on a mission to automate the large, yet highly inefficient Internet advertising industry. While online advertising is expected to reach $27 billion in 2008, up to 80% of a websites’ ad space goes unsold (directly). Unsold ad space is sent to ad networks. Today, advertisers spread money across 300+ ad networks. In 2007, the Rubicon Project pioneered the Ad Network Optimization category with the launch of its first product. the Rubicon Project’s Ad Network Optimizer, a self-serve solution for any size website, uses smart matching technology to match each ad impression to the optimal money-making opportunities. Within the first 6 months of launch, the company optimized more than 11 billion ads and 5000 websites signed up for the service. Other innovations include a free-hosted Ad Network Ad Server for websites and a Certified Ad Space program to ensure safety, accuracy and trust for ad networks (and their advertisers) when placing ads on websites. The founders of the Rubicon Project created one of the first, and most successful, ad servers in 1998 (L90/adMonitor) that was later acquired by DoubleClick. Websites looking to make more money while doing less work should visit: www.rubiconproject.com

In recent months, three year-old Adconion, which has existing operations throughout Europe and Australia, has assembled its North American management team from a roster of industry veterans responsible for creating and managing some of the world’s most-recognized Internet advertising companies including DoubleClick, MSN, Yahoo, IAC and Avenue A (now Avenue A/Razorfish). Adconion CEO and Founder, Tyler Moebius was himself a Series A investor and early employee of Avenue A. An undisclosed minority percentage of the total capital raised during this $80M round will fund Adconion’s continued global expansion throughout North America and Asia. The strategic decision by Index Ventures, which counts Skype, MySQL, Last.fm, Netvibes, Joost and Spot Runner among its portfolio of successful technology companies, to invest in Adconion was informed by the company’s unique value proposition to marketers seeking not only domestic, but global ad distribution through a single, independent network that reaches nearly 200 million unique Internet users worldwide (ComScore January 2008).

“At the risk of sounding cliché, the modern business landscape is irrefutably global in scale and that is due primarily to the opportunities created by the Internet,” said Moebius. “Agencies choose to partner with Adconion because their clients are likely in a position where doing business internationally is either business as usual or a strategic opportunity for growth. This generous investment from Index and Wellington will position Adconion alongside the portals on marketer’s short-lists for global distribution partners.” “Adconion has the relationships, the industry expertise and the best-in-class technology becoming of a future market leader in technology’s hottest growth sector,” said Dom Vidal, Partner, Index Ventures. “Our experience as investors in the advertising space enables us to support Adconion in continuing its rapid expansion throughout North America and to further build its global presence.”

“Tyler and his team have done an outstanding job building a truly global online advertising network,” said Frank Boehnke, Wellington Partners. “We are very excited to continue to work with Tyler and Adconion on one of the most exciting growth stories in the global marketplace.”

About Adconion
Adconion Media Group is an international, independent Advertising Network. Since its founding in 2005 the company has focused on the realization of performance-driven branding campaigns that deliver massive global reach. Adconion’s clients consist of advertising agencies and direct advertisers as well as its partner base of premium websites from a wide range of sectors. Adconion combines its in-house technology and high touch client service with quality media to exceed its partners campaign objectives. Adconion has offices around the world in London, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Toronto and Santa Monica. Adconion is member of the International Advertising Bureau (IAB) and a founding member of IASH Europe. Visit Adconion at www.adconion.com.

About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses on investments from seed through growth stage companies. Recent exits include Skype (the pioneering communications company acquired by eBay); MySQL (the world’s most popular open source database recently acquired by Sun), Last.fm (the world’s largest social music platform, recently acquired by CBS) and BioXell (BIOX, floated on the SWX in 2007). For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com.

About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners ranks among the most successful pan-European venture capital firms. With € 800 million under management and offices in London, Munich and Zurich, the firm invests into opportunities throughout Europe that have the potential to become global leaders, mainly in the areas of Information Technology, Media Convergence and Life Science. Wellington Partners has invested in more than 100 companies in Europe and Israel, including now publicly traded Actelion, SAF and XING, successful privately held companies like Alando (acquired by eBay) and ImmobilienScout24 (acquired by Deutsche Telekom) as well as current portfolio companies like Adconion Astaro, Questico and Truphone. For more information, please visit www.wellingtonpartners.com.