June 30th, 2008
AOL to offer "guaranteed" ad rates for Bebo and Facebook application developers
In an attempt to attract developers to its own ad platform, AOL announced today that it will “guarantee CPM revenues to developers on Facebook and Bebo’s platforms if they opt to use its Platform-A ad technology”, reports CNET’s Caroline McCarthy.
If the offer sounds to good to be true, it probably is. The guaranteed rates - which are undisclosed - only apply to the first three unique ad impressions and U.S.-only ones at that. Having said that, monetizing social networking applications (or social networking sites in general) is notoriously difficult — just ask Google. So any helping hand, however limited, will be welcome.
“Advertiser interest in social networks is rising at a steady rate, and Platform-A is making an unprecedented flat-fee commitment to help application developers generate revenue and guarantee monetization of their applications,” Dave Jacobs, Platform-A’s senior vice president of publisher services, is quoted in the press release.
“Platform-A views social networking applications as an area where we can add significant value by letting developers focus on expanding their install base, without worrying about monetization of applications.”
Steve O'Hear is a London-based consultant, educator, and journalist, focussing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
