The IAB, which surveys a wide range of web sites and online services, reports that advertising revenue is growing rapidly as marketers tap into new forms of digital engagement. Read more at paidContent »
Game developers are getting new tools from startup PaeDae that allow them to monetize through real-world branded rewards and distribute their apps through a promotion product. The service is trying to make its mark with very smart targeting of rewards. Read more »
Tapjoy has replaced its CEO Mihir Shah with Disney digital veteran Steve Wadsworth. The company helps developers monetize their apps through ads and offers and it also launched its own consumer portal for people to find and download apps. Read more »
Crowd-sourced navigation app Waze is launching its own ad platform, allowing advertisers to insert ads that users can see on their maps and search results when they navigate to their destination. Waze believes these “location-guided” ads can succeed because they incorporate where a user is headed. Read more »
Are you lost for words when dealing with the inner workings of common household appliances? Then you might want to check out FixYa’s new iPhone app, which gives users the option to record their problems in video, so they don’t have to write about “that thing.” Read more »
Facebook is testing out the ability for advertisers to buy mobile ads through Facebook on mobile apps and websites. It could be part of a larger play to build an offsite ad network. Read more »
To help advertisers figure out when consumers actually intend to purchase a product and when they’re just making a wish list of fantasy items, mobile ad network Jumptap’s new ad targeting approach links mobile behavior, web behavior and offline data. Read more »
Gartner said that 89 percent of app downloads in 2012 are expected to be free and that number will only go up. But in-app purchase is rising as a monetization tool and will be present in 30 percent of apps by 2016. Read more »
Developers are getting the ability to sell physical items through Amazon’s mobile in-app purchase system. The first app to get this ability is Activision’s Skylanders Cloud Patrol. This could be a big help for developers looking to monetize their apps through commerce. Read more »
A study by mobile app marketing platform Trademob found that 40 percent of mobile clicks on ads are essentially useless, the result of accidental presses or fraud. That’s one of the challenges facing mobile advertising, which is still lagging online advertising. Read more »
Location-based advertising holds a lot of potential to boost mobile monetization by offering more relevant and contextual ads. JiWire is trying boost location-based ads with Location Graph, which combines place data with the travel patterns of consumers. Read more »
Pontiflex, a New York start-up with a mobile sign-up ad platform that allows consumers to pick what kind of ads and offers they want to see, is releasing an international SDK that allows developers to place country-specific ads in local languages. Read more »
Location, location, location: It’s not just for real estate. Mobile advertisers are increasingly prizing location-based ads, according to real-time bidding exchange Nexage, which said that mobile publishers and developers are getting 3.8 times more for ad impressions that include location data in the last three months. Read more »
Tapjoy, which ran afoul of Apple’s ban on incentivized install campaigns, is getting back into the business of helping drive downloads of iOS apps with a new web app called Tapjoy Games that allows it reach out directly to consumers. Read more »
Mobile ad server MoPub is now poised to offer what it calls a one-stop monetization shop with the launch of a real-time bidding exchange for mobile apps and web sites that will allow it to fill out its ad-serving platform. Read more »
PlayHaven, a San Francisco start-up is looking to bring the real-time web to mobile marketing with a new platform that brings the dynamism of the web to mobile ads. The new platform gives mobile game developers the ability to react quickly to their shifting needs. Read more »
Start-up DoubleRecall is turning paywalls into branding opportunities that give consumers access to premium content on websites and mobile apps if they type out a few words from a sponsor message. The model boosts brand recognition, drives higher revenue for publishers and gives users free content. Read more »
IAC introduced its mobile incubator program Hatch Labs in March, calling it a technology sandbox where innovative mobile ideas can be prototyped. The first graduate, Blu Trumpet, is now launching and is taking on the problem of app monetization for publishers and app distribution for advertisers. Read more »
