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SECTION 4: LOCAL NETWORKS
Local mobile ad networks in a nutshell:
• Local mobile ad networks focus on those publishers where users are known to be looking for local information e.g. somewhere to eat, the nearest shoe store, the weather downtown etc. Publishers on these networks will include directory services, mapping/navigation and other sites/apps where users enter their location e.g. weather sites.
• Some ad networks are able to offer mobile search advertising as well as display advertising.
• As local advertising is more targeted, adverting will cost more, but will deliver better results than normal mobile ads. xAd claims that local ads perform two to four times better than normal mobile ads.
• Publishers should also earn more from local ads, but fill rates will typically be lower (around 60 percent), as only the most relevant ads are shown to visitors.
• Networks usually offer performance advertising i.e. paid for by cost per click (CPC); cost per action (CPA) e.g. pay per download, call or store visit; and brand advertising paid for by cost per thousand impressions (CPM). CPC is most common.
• Some networks allow advertisers to advertise on specific mobile sites/apps e.g. xAd’s go2media or AT&T’s YP.com, but a large amount of advertising is blind (i.e. without the advertiser knowing on which sites the ads will appear.
• Advertising may be purchased self-service through an online exchange or via a direct sales team. Payment models vary, perhaps advertisers will ‘bid’ to purchase CPC ad inventory in an online auction (the common method with blind ad networks) or paying for advertising services on a subscription model (as used by AT&T’s YP network).
Mobile advertising network: xAd
Type of network: Local mobile ad network.
Established: 2009.
Main offices: xAd – Corporate Headquarters
HQ: San Francisco (CA), Sunnyvale (CA), New York (NY), Charlotte (NC), USA; Gurgaon, Haryana, India (Development Center).
Employees: 100.
Major shareholders: Emergence Capital Partners, SoftBank Capital, Palisades Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.
Acquisitions: March 2011 xAd acquired go2 Media.
Web: xAd.com. Mobile Web: xAdinc.mobi.
Contact details: getlocal (at) xAd.com
Recent news:
• December 2011: xAd Secures $9 Million in Funding.
• September 2011: xAd Opens New U.S. Research and Development Center in Sunnyvale, California.
• More news: here.
Profile submitted by: Monica Ho, vice president of marketing, xAd.
Last updated: April 2012.
Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: Band C (US $10-20 million).
Q2. Is the business profitable? N/A
Q3. Publishers on network:
• Over 100 top mobile sites and applications from premier US providers of mobile directory, local search, mapping and navigation services. Publishers include: Pandora, MSNBC, Forbes, WhitePages, MapQuest, Yellow Pages Directory (Avantar), Poynt and MetroPCS.
• In addition to the network of third-party publishers, xAd offers exclusive traffic from its owned and operated sites, such as go2 Media, which on average represents between 5-10 percent of xAd’s monthly traffic.
Q4. Advertisers on network: Over one million local advertisers. xAd’s direct sales channel is focused exclusively on growing local business presence in heavy trafficked mobile categories, working with SMB advertisers, as well as with large brands looking to advertise locally through xAd’s agency clients (e.g. Rite Aid, 1-800-DENTIST, ADT, Dunkin Donuts and Dish Network).
Q5. Mobile ads served or page impressions monthly: Close to a billion mobile search and display ads each month.
Q6. Unique mobile users that see ads: Network reaches 50 million unique mobile users each month
Q7. Geographical coverage: USA: 100 percent.
Proportion of advertising that is…
Q8. Blind v premium advertising: 80:20.
Q9. Mobile Web v mobile applications: 10:90.
Q10. CPC (performance) v CPM (brand): 90:10.
Q11. Specialism by publisher or demographic: xAd focuses on hyper-local mobile traffic for both search and display. As a result, all publishers have a degree of location-based relevance (local directory, mapping and navigation, etc.).
Q12. Options for targeting adverts: xAd is the only mobile ad network that has the ability to use past mobile search behavior to better target and optimize the placement of local display ads. This search data allows xAd to create and leverage location profiles that provide insight into the exact locations, time of day and days of week when consumers are more apt to respond to certain types of offers, products and services.
• xAd is able to target ads (both search and display) down to the most granular location-level (i.e. latitude and longitude, zip code, radius, city, state, country etc), ensuring pin-point accuracy, which ultimately results in higher performance for advertisers and partners.
• In addition to location, advertisers can target by keywords and time of day for search-based ads; and by device type, OS, demographics and mobile carrier for display ads.
Q13. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: All advertisers are provided with access to the xAd Central online performance dashboard, which provides details on impressions, clicks, calls and other tracked secondary actions.
Q14. Cost range for advertiser: xAd does not set a campaign minimum. xAd offers performance-based mobile advertising and local branding campaigns. With performance campaigns, clients set their budgets in advance and are not charged until the desired action has occurred. These pre-defined actions might be a click, a call or a drive (i.e. access to the map and driving directions). For local branding campaigns, the CPM cost ranges according to targeting type, geography and available inventory.
Q15. Estimated ROI for advertiser: Advertisers should expect xAd’s local advertising to perform two to four times better than general mobile advertising.
Q16. Remuneration for publishers: Revenue share is competitive with industry rates.
Q17. Fill rate: Average fill rate for search is 80 percent, while local display is 60 percent or better. xAd constantly maximizes fill rates to deliver strong monetization for publishers.
Q18. Protection for publishers: xAd’s data-driven approach to science and technology ensures proper publisher yield at any point in time. In addition, publishers have the ability to filter ads to block certain categories or specific advertisers/brands. xAd also adheres to the Mobile Marketing Association’s guidelines.
Q19. Tools for publishers: xAd publishers have access to a comprehensive online dashboard allowing them to track the key details of their current inventories and campaigns. The custom reporting includes ad activities, fill and action rates, all of which help publishers to get the highest return for their mobile traffic. In 2012, xAd will release an enhanced publisher-management platform that will provide more tools for tracking real-time performance and for maintaining inventories.
Q20. Special relationships with agencies, telcos, portals etc: xAd partners with wireless-network operators with its white-label strategy of powering native local-search apps and a deep portfolio of local content (through the go2 Media acquisition). xAd maintains relationships with MetroPCS, Cricket Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, U.S. Cellular and others.
Q21. Agencies or other intermediary clients? Local-mobile search is a long-tail phenomenon; thus xAd employs a full complement of directly sold advertisers, as well as resellers and agencies on a local, regional and national basis.
Q22. Main competitors: As the only mobile ad network to offer local search, our main competition is Google Mobile. Outside of search xAd competes with other premium mobile ad networks on targeted local display such as AT&T, Navteq and Where. However, xAd is only one of a few select networks that can target location as granularly as latitude/longitude, zip code, radius etc.
Q23. Membership of industry associations, industry accreditations or awards: xAd is a proud member of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA); Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Better Business Bureau (BBB). xAd is A+ Certified by the BBB.
Q24. Key differentiation: xAd is the only mobile ad network that provides an integrated local search and display ad buy for both national and local businesses. xAd also has exclusive access to mobile traffic through our owned and operated applications. As a result of the search network backbone, xAd is the only network with the ability to utilize past mobile search behavior to better target and optimize the placement of local display ads. This search data allows xAd to create and leverage location profiles that provide insight into the exact locations, time of day and days of week when consumers are more apt to respond to certain types of offers, products and services.
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Mobile advertising network: YP (Yellow Pages) Local Ad Network (AT&T Interactive)
Type of network: Local mobile ad network.
Established: Online network: 1998; mobile network: 2006.
Main offices: Glendale (HQ), San Francisco and Sunnyvale (CA), USA.
Employees: Over 900.
Major shareholders: YP Local Ad Network is managed by AT&T Interactive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T, Inc.
Acquisitions: N/A.
Web: for advertisers; for publishers. Mobile Web: N/A.
Contact details: jharvey (at) attinteractive.com.
Recent news:
• December 2011: YP Local Ad Network serves over 1 billion mobile local ads monthly.
Profile submitted by: Jason Harvey, executive director, industry marketing, AT&T Interactive.
Last updated: April 2012.
Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: Band F (over US $100 million).
Q2. Is the business profitable? N/A.
Q3. Publishers on network: Over 300, plus ads are distributed across other networks and aggregators. The YP.com mobile site and YPmobile apps are AT&T flagship owned and operated properties. YP Local Ad Network also serves ads to 3rd party mobile publishers such as Pandora, Accuweather, and Pinger Textfree, as well as through mobile ad aggregators/exchanges, such as AdMarvel and Mobclix, and other mobile ad networks, such as xAd Where and CityGrid Media.
Q4. Advertisers on network: Hundreds of thousands of local businesses advertise on YP.com and run ads across the YP Local Ad Network. The majority of these advertisers are small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Bigger national-local chains include Home Depot, State Farm and Pizza Hut.
Q5. Case studies: TweetCaster (Handmark); Skout; Textfree (Pinger).
Q6. Mobile ads served or page impressions monthly: 1 billion mobile local ads served monthly (December 2011).
Q7. Unique mobile users that see ads: N/A.
Q8. Geographical coverage: USA 100 percent.
Proportion of advertising that is…
Q9. Blind v premium advertising: N/A.
Q10. Mobile Web v mobile applications: N/A.
Q11. CPC (performance) v CPM (brand):
• Local advertisers typically pay a monthly subscription fee for their entire integrated advertising solution.
• Publishers are typically paid on a CPC basis
Q12. Specialism by publisher or demographic: YP focuses on publishers with audiences in a local mindset. Given that mobile and local are inherently tied together, mobile publishers across a variety of apps and sites have seen success with YP ads, including navigation, productivity, entertainment, music, social networking, news, weather, etc.
Q13. Options for targeting ads: Location, business category.
Q14. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: Most YP advertisers are local SMBs that benefit from having a live sales rep who works with them to set up and manage their ads.
Q15. Cost range for advertiser: Subscription packages can run anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per month, depending on the specific ad package purchased.
Q16. Estimated ROI for advertiser: It varies widely depending on the goals of the advertiser and specific ad package purchased.
Q17. Remuneration for publishers: N/A, due to unique nature of how AT&T Interactive generates revenue (i.e. subscription) versus paying publishers (i.e. performance).
Q18. Fill rate: Results may vary.
Q19. Protection for publishers: All ads conform to quality standards that minimize the risk of inappropriate advertisers and ad content.
Q20. Tools for publishers:
• Direct contact with an AT&T Interactive representative to answer any questions.
• Easy integration via SDKs and APIs, or access to YP ads through various mediators.
• Online reporting dashboard.
Q21. Special relationships with agencies, telcos, portals etc: The YP network is owned by AT&T.
Q22. Agencies or other intermediary clients? N/A.
Q23. Main competitors: xAd, Navteq.
Q24. Membership of industry associations, industry accreditations or awards: Mobile Marketing Association (MMA); Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Q25. Key differentiation: Access to the largest sales force in the industry gives YP’s mobile ad network an unmatched ability to reach local advertisers across the nation, across over 4,600 business categories. For publishers this results in the best mix of high eCPMs and high fill rates, and maximizes revenue potential.
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