Ad Nets Hungry For Premium Video Inventory
One of the main accusations levied at display ad networks — namely, that they served to commoditize display ad inventory, driving prices down to destructively low levels — is not an issue with second-generation networks dealing in video ad inventory, according to executives in the Video Ad Networks panel convened by MediaPost at the OMMA Ad Networks conference on Monday afternoon.
But this raises problems in itself, especially when it comes to persuading publishers to make premium inventory available through networks — and persuading advertisers to buy it there.
Video ad networks have succeeded in a couple of key areas — especially in terms of scale, optimization and targeting — but the effect on video inventory pricing has been much less dramatic than display nets. According to Amy Richards, chief marketing officer at TubeMogul, that’s a good thing: “If we treat them all like exchanges and drive down the prices, it’s pointless, because no publisher will participate in that.”
Read More: MediaPost
Gamer Creates Business To Tap $13 Billion Virtual Goods Market
Live Gamer will launch Live Gamer Media to complement its ecommerce unit to support advertising for brands and publishers. The new business unit combines two companies that LiveGamer recently acquired: video game ad network GamerDNA and engagement advertising platform BrandPort.
Brandport, rebranded Ad Elements, creates a 15-second video spot, engaging the gamer in questions about the advertisement before rewarding him with an in-game virtual item, explains Andrew Schneider, Live Gamer president and co-founder.
“We see about 30% of non-paying users participate in this program,” Schneider said. “For each of these users, we serve up 10 ads per day. More than 90% of these participants view all the ads.”
Through the Ad Elements video ad unit, Live Gamer — which supports about “90 million users making transactions” — can generate up to $1 per month on average for “viewing users” by combining commerce and advertising, Schneider said. The combination of Ad Elements’ video ads from and GamerDNA’s custom rich media and IAB-standard banner ads creates the business unit Live Gamer Media.
Read More: MediaPost
Zynga Files For $1 Billion IPO
Social-gaming juggernaut Zynga filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission for an IPO to raise up to $1 billion. The company behind hit games such as “FarmVille,” “CityVille” and “Mafia Wars” earned a profit of $90.6 million on revenue of $597.5 million in 2010, according to its S-1 filing.
For the first quarter of 2011, it reported net income of $11.8 million on sales of $235 million. As of March 31, Zynga had a whopping $995 million in cash and cash equivalents. That’s after spending $114 million on sales and marketing efforts last year, and $40 million in the first quarter.
The widely anticipated filing had been expected as early as June 29. Zynga is likely to benefit from the revived market for Internet IPOs this year, especially for social media-related start-ups. Professional networking site LinkedIn raised $238 million for an IPO last month that saw its $45 opening price soar above $100 on the first day of trading. Internet radio service Pandora took in $235 million in an IPO earlier this month. And Groupon this month filed to raise $750 million through its own debut offering.
Read More: MediaPost
Google+ – An Advertiser’s Perspective
Search marketing is unprecedented in its efficiency. It makes it very easy for advertisers to build campaigns and delivers excellent return on investment. And among the Search platforms, Google is King. While one can argue the various reasons why Google is the leader, the biggest reason is most people (80% as per our data) use Google for their searches. While features and tools might draw advertisers to a platform, it’s access to large audiences that is the biggest draw for advertisers when it comes to the adoption of a marketing platform.
So the big question on Google+ is: do consumers need a better social media mousetrap?
For the most part, people seem to be content using Facebook for their social networking, and consumers have invested significant time building their networks on the platform. Users are also quite accustomed to the interface and features by now. Google+ will have to be significantly superior and provide consumers with a hard-to-replicate set of networking tools to make it worth their time to switch platforms. Yes, Google+ has video chatting with “Hangouts,” “Huddle” and “Instant Upload” – interesting, but is it interesting enough to incentivize consumers to switch? More importantly, can and will Facebook replicate these features in a few months on their platform?
Read More: Efficient Frontier
Digital Media Executive Jed Savage Joins Collective
Former ScanScout CRO Will Lead Collective’s US Media Sales Organization At a Time of Rapid Growth
NEW YORK–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Collective, a full service provider of media and technology solutions for display and video advertising, today announced that it has named former ScanScout CRO, Jed Savage, as the company’s new Executive Vice President, Media Sales and Strategy. In this capacity, Savage will oversee US sales and account management for Collective’s brand-centric advertising products, driving the company’s efforts to connect brand advertisers with online consumers across all screens.
“Jed‘s extensive background in digital media sales and account management, and his deep knowledge of video, is the perfect fit for Collective at this phase of the company’s growth,” said Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective. “We are committed to building innovative solutions that enable brand advertisers to connect and engage with target audiences across display, video, mobile and social media, and Jed’s leadership will be critical to the ongoing success of these initiatives.”
Read More: EON
Niche Media Planning: Ad-Supported Mobile Games
Last year, Nielsen found that when it comes to mobile use, games – both free and paid – represent the most popular app downloads (65 percent). According to a survey released this week from mobile ad network Mojiva, over 60 percent of mobile users click on ads at least once a week, with graphic ads as the most effective creative on mobile devices. The survey also found that when seeing a mobile ad, half of users indicated that they would play a game, download an application, or visit a website. And a report from PopCap Games and ISG earlier this year found that daily mobile game play has close to tripled since 2009, primarily driven by the availability of more free games. Given all of these stats, ad-supported mobile games makes for a good topic to explore deeper.
Who Are Mobile Gamers?
While the total audience is large and growing (eMarketer estimates that 72.8 million people, or 23.2 percent of the U.S. population, will play games on their mobile devices this year), there doesn’t seem to be hard data – just theories – about breakdown of the mobile gamer audience. Assumptions include that social games tend towards a slightly more female-skewed audience, whereas casual games are a bit broader in their appeal and the age demographic ranges from teens to forty-somethings and beyond. By and large, the type of individual game determines the user it most attracts.
Read More: ClickZ
