Posts Tagged ‘iAds’
How lucrative are iPhone ads? MobilityWare made $300K in June
There has been some debate about whether developers can make serious cash from the advertising in their iPhone applications. In fact, that Apple created its iAd program as a way to address the lack of lucrative, high-quality ad programs.
However, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad developer said it’s doing just fine with startup ’s mobile ad network. Specifically, the company said that in June, it made $298,308 across its 17 applications, including Word Warp, Solitaire, and Blackjack.
I’m guessing that’s on the high side for both companies, especially Greystripe (why highlight it otherwise?), but it’s still a sign that with enough hits, advertising can bring in real revenue. If MobilityWare can make that much every month, it would make around $3.6 million this year. That’s comparable, for example, to in 2009.
Speaking of iAds, Greystripe recently piggybacked on reports that by for rich media ads, compared to the eight to 10 weeks reported with Apple.
Greystripe has raised $17.6 million in four rounds of funding, most recently $2 million from Peacock Equity. It currently serves ads in more than 2,500 applications.
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Week in review: The fallout over Facebook Places
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the five most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
— Angel investor and entrepreneur Jason Cohen has a simple message for entrepreneurs: If you can’t find ten people who say they’ll buy your product, your company is bullshit.
— In another Entrepreneur Corner column, Grotech Ventures’ Don Rainey offers advice like “Items that do succeed tend to do so quickly” and “People will let you down.”
— Verizon Wireless is gearing up for yet another wave of Android devices this fall — including the Motorola Droid Pro, and perhaps even a tablet or two — according to mobile gadget site Boy Genius Report.
— Microsoft is reviving a couple of its most popular video game franchises, but with a twist.
— With Facebook’s announcement of a check-in feature dubbed Facebook Places, we’re all wondering how it will affect location-based services like Foursquare. So we went ahead and asked founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley.
And here are five more articles we think are important, thought-provoking, or fun:
— Google’s timing can be peculiar — but rarely coincidental. A day after Facebook launched its first location feature, the search giant revealed in a blog post Thursday that more than 100 million users check Google Maps on mobile devices.
— When Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley disclosed that his service had a record number of signups on Thursday, a lot of people rushed to declare Facebook the cause. VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas argues why that’s wrong.
— Intel’s purchase of security software firm McAfee on Thursday for $7.68 billion in cash raises the question: what the heck is Intel buying a software company for?
— Only a few days after the BlackBerry Torch’s August 12 launch, Amazon has slashed the phone’s price in half from $199.99 with a two-year contract, down to $99.99.
— Back when Apple announced its iAds platform for creating and placing high-quality ads in iPhone apps, we wondered whether smaller ad networks might get crushed. But early signs suggest that Apple hasn’t mastered this ad thing yet.
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Apple closes down Quattro advertising network
Updated with comment from other ad networks
Quattro Wireless, earlier this year, announced today that it’s winding down its existence as an independent network to focus on Apple’s iAd program.
Apple chief executive he doesn’t see advertising as a big moneymaker for Apple on its own, but rather as a way to support the iPhone and iPad:
We want to help our developers make some money so that they can keep providing free or really low-cost apps to customers. That’s why we’re doing it. We’re not going to make much money in the ad business.
So from that perspective, the move isn’t too surprising. Quattro’s value to Apple is as an enabler for iAds, not as a standalone network.
after receiving a copy of a letter that Quattro sent to network participants. The company has posted a similar note . It says, in part:
We believe iAd is the best mobile ad network in the world, and starting next month we’re going to focus all of our resources on the iAd advertising platform. We are no longer accepting new campaigns for the Quattro Wireless Network, and we will soon begin winding down existing campaigns. As of September 30, we will support ads exclusively for the iAd Network.
Meanwhile, the iAd program is underway, but . In fact, a competing ad network, Greystripe, is trying to capitalize on the delays by for rich media ads, compared to a rumored eight to 10 weeks for iAds.
And it looks like other phone makers want to follow Apple’s lead into advertising. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is shopping for a network, and has held talks with Millenial Media, . (Google also purchased mobile ad network AdMob. But the model is different for Google since revenue comes from ads, not from the sale of devices using its Android operating system.)
Update: I spoke to Paran Johar, chief marketing officer at ad network , about the news. Johar said the move has likely been in the works for a while, and that Quattro’s wind-down has contributed to a growth in advertising on Jumptap. The Apple iAd focus on premium advertising was always going to conflict with Quattro’s lower-end network.
“You can’t have a go-to-market strategy with … a $1 million minimum [in campaign spending] and also be selling ads out of the back of your van,” Johar said.
Greystripe chief executive Michael Chang sent the following statement:
Quattro’s decision to drop support for major audience segments on non-Apple platforms is ultimately bad for their advertisers and developers. Advertisers care about audiences, reach and user engagement, not specific platforms. As the Android audience catches up to iPhone and Blackberry continues to improve the potential for user engagement, these smartphone platforms will become increasingly important for advertisers. Greystripe, as an independent mobile ad network, is committed to the needs of advertisers, enabling them to engage their target audience on all major mobile platforms.
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Are Apple’s iAds stumbling?
Back when for creating and placing high-quality ads in iPhone apps, . But early signs suggest that Apple hasn’t mastered this ad thing yet, according to .
The article quotes a number of advertisers and developers, some of them anonymously, who mostly say that working with Apple has been a much slower process than expected. This might seem to contradict last week, which said the iAds program is on its way to being a big hit.
The two stories agree on a basic point — that the ads look great, as seen in in June. The problem, apparently, is that Apple hasn’t distributed any kind of developer kit to advertisers, and it wants to be closely involved in the creation of these initial ads. That dramatically slows the process down, with the ad creation process taking eight to 10 weeks.
“I think it’s the best-looking ad format and will perform long term, but the start has been disappointingly slow,” chief executive Sam Altman told the Journal.
Given Apple’s emphasis on ad quality, it’s not surprising that the company would want to make sure the early ads live up to the hype. There’s a lot of interest on the developer side, with a reported 10,000 signing up for the program.
With Apple acting as a bottleneck for brand advertisers, it appears that most of the current iAd advertising is for iPhone applications, . Those ads probably won’t bring in the revenue that Apple and its developers are looking for. Truong compares the situation to in the 1990s: Yahoo then and Apple now are trying to be media companies, even though their strengths are in technology.
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