SECTION 3: PREMIUM NETWORKS

• Microsoft Mobile Advertising
• YOC Group
• Hands (Brazil)
• Advertising.com/AOL
• Nokia Interactive Advertising
• Pudding Media
• GUIDE HOME
• BLIND NETWORKS
• PREMIUM BLIND NETWORKS

Premium networks in a nutshell:

Premium networks focus on a limited number of prestige publishers – mobile operators and big-brand, big-traffic sites, perhaps newspapers or broadcasters – for which they are akin to an extension of their direct-sales team. With Microsoft, Nokia and AOL, much of the inventory they sell is on their own mobile sites.

The vast majority of campaigns are brand advertising, so the predominant (maybe only) pricing model is cost per thousand impressions (CPM) model – i.e. you pay X for every 1,000 devices that visit/download the page. This is for marketers who want exposure, perhaps to create awareness of a new product. Costs vary considerably, ranging from US$5-US$75.

Some may also offer performance advertising for marketers who want an active response to their ads paid for by cost per click (CPC); but expect to pay considerably more than on a blind network as CPC can range from US$0.05-US$0.50.

Cost per action/acquisition (CPA), where the advertiser only pays if the customer clicks through and then buys, signs up etc, may also be available.

Premium networks attract big brand advertisers who are prepared to pay premium prices to secure the prime locations on top-tier mobile destinations.

Advertisers should expect more direct sales and support, than self-service and a wealth of targeting options.

Publishers should expect to receive a majority share of advertising revenue, perhaps 50–70 percent. Deals are usually negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

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Mobile advertising network: Microsoft Mobile Advertising
Mobile site: msftads.mobi
Type of network: Premium
Established: US and Canadian operations were launched in 2007. The acquisition of ScreenTonic in 2007 extended the network into EMEA.
HQ: Redmond, USA; European HQ: Paris, France.
Other offices: New York, USA; London, UK; Madrid, Spain.
Employees: N/A
Thanks to: Jamie Wells, director of global trade marketing, Microsoft Mobile Advertising.
Last updated: December 2009

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: Key partners include carriers such as Verizon Wireless (US), Bouygues Telecom (France) and independent publishers such as MSNBC, CNBC and Fox Sports. Microsoft mobile sites include: MSN, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail and the Bing search engine.
Q3. Advertisers on network: N/A
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: Nearly 2 billion monthly page impressions and growing.
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: Over 32 million monthly unique mobile users for both mobile search and display.
Q6. Geographical coverage: US (largest market), Canada, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Norway.
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: Advertisers can purchase mobile media on a guaranteed or bided basis across premium branded sites including Microsoft properties, Verizon Wireless, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox Sports. A select portion of Microsoft’s partner inventory is available for semi-blind/channel advertising.
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Targeting capabilities include device, demographic (gender, age, household income), geographic and behavior.
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: For mobile display, Microsoft offers day parting, day of the week, frequency capping, third-party impression and click tracking, as well as content, level and ad placement level optimization tools. For mobile search, Microsoft offers targeting by day parting, day of the week, as well as leverage keyword/match-type/bid suggestion tools to enhance the ROI of campaigns.
Q10. Pricing models: Advertisers can purchase mobile media either on a CPM or CPC basis depending on their campaign needs and objective. Microsoft also selectively offers advertisers the option to purchase mobile media on a CPA basis.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: N/A
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: N/A
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: N/A
Q14. Protection for publishers: N/A
Q15. Key differentiation: Microsoft Mobile Advertising is uniquely positioned to help advertisers reach millions of consumers across mobile display and search. In the US Microsoft can connect brands to nearly half the mobile Web audience with an integrated experience across mobile, PC and gaming. Combining mobile MSN and Bing with partners such as Verizon Wireless, Microsoft helps drive extraordinary results for advertisers by leveraging uniquely actionable audience insights harnessed across multiple screens.
Q16. Contact details: US contact form; UK contact form.

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Mobile advertising network: YOC Group
Mobile site: YOC.mobi
Type of network: Premium
Established: The YOC network was established in Germany in 2005. In 2009 YOC acquired mobile ad networks Mobile Interactive Advertising Media (Spanish) and Bluestar Mobile (British).
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Overseas offices: UK, Spain, France, Austria and Belgium
Employees: 180 people
Thanks to: Christian Louca, UK managing director and head of publishers, YOC
Last updated: December 2009
PS: January 2010, YOC launched a blind ad network: ubiyoo

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: Over 196 publishers. UK publishers include: Telegraph Media Group, The Guardian, PC Advisor, 3 UK, MacWorld and Flirtomatic. French publishers include Le Monde and Météo 123. Spanish publishers include El Mundo and El Pais. German publishers include Handelsblatt and Zeit. Italian publishers include Gazetta dello Sport.
Q3. Advertisers on network: Advertisers include SAP, Vodafone, Mercedes, Opel, Walt Disney and Coca-Cola.
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: The YOC network has over 500 million monthly page impressions.
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: 35 million unique mobile users.
Q6. Geographical coverage: 50 percent of the YOC network is in the UK, followed by Germany, Austria, Italy and France.
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: YOC works publishers across all sectors including national newspapers, business and financial, information sites, sports, entertainment and technology
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Targeting options including age, gender, device and geographical targeting.
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: Advertisers receive daily reports and analysis from a dedicated campaign manager.
Q10. Pricing models: This varies per region. In Spain, Germany and France campaigns are run on a CPM basis. In the UK and Austria CPC and CPM are implemented.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: N/A
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: N/A
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: N/A
Q14. Protection for publishers: Publishers can refuse inappropriate advertisers.
Q15. Key differentiation: The YOC Group is Europe's largest premium off-portal mobile advertising network. Our customers include international top brands, media houses, Internet portals, mobile phone service providers and banks. YOC has experience developing and operating more than 400 mobile portals in Europe, as well as planning mobile marketing and advertising campaigns for a range of blue-chip brands.
Q16. Contact details: Christian Louca, Christian.louca(at)yoc.com

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Mobile advertising network: Hands
Mobile site: m.hands.com.br
Type of network: Premium blind
Established: 1999
HQ: São Paulo - Brazil
Employees: 16
Thanks to: Edison Maluf, general director, Hands
Notes: Hands is a Brazilian mobile portal/content aggregator for over 50 premium publishers. The hands ad network serves ads to the sites on the portal. It also designs, develops and operates mobile sites for mobile content and service providers and brands/advertisers.
Last updated: December 2009.

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: 52 premium publishers including three top Brazilian newspapers: O Globo, Estadao, Folha; Rolling Stone Brazil, Caras Magazine, Webmotors, Guia da Semana, IDG Now, Nintendo World, Valor, Meio & Mensagem.
Q3. Advertisers on network: International advertisers include Unilever (Rexona, Clear), Mitsubishi, GM and DHL Logistics; local advertisers include Loterias da Caixa and INPG.
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: N/A
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: N/A
Q6. Geographical coverage: All of Brazil, however mobile Web traffic is concentrated in SE Brazil; and around major cities such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Brasilia and Goiania.
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: Hands focuses on well-known publishers with strong commercial appeal. Between them publishers cover all channels including news, games, business, beauty, celebrities, price comparison, cinema and sports. Although the Brazilian market is huge, people are still learning how to use mobile Web; also the mobile audience is often people from high society – it's a unique market.
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Hands target ads by sex, age, interest, channels and particular publishers. Hands works closely with publishers in order to better understand audience behavior and pitch interesting ads at the readers.
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: Reports are available as frequently as the advertiser requires. Some advertisers also use tags. To help optimize the campaigns, Hands will also develop a landing page (if the advertiser hasn't one already). Features such as click-to-call, click-to-video, click-to-email are all available.
Q10. Pricing models: 100 percent CPM. Each advertiser deal is negotiated, there is no self-service marketplace common with blind and premium blind networks.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: This varies according to how many impressions the advertiser buys. However CPM is on average US$20.
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: CTR is always monitored, but varies greatly depending on the campaign.
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: Remuneration is based in how many impressions the publisher delivers. If a publisher delivers 50 percent of the impressions to a given campaign, it receives a proportional amount of money. It encourages all publishers on the network to keep thinking of ways to increase audience.
Q14. Protection for publishers: Hands' close relationship with each publisher, means they always know which advertisers are interested in buying a space in their mobile site. They always refuse an ad, but this never happens. The publishers can also turn down an advertiser if they think the negotiated CPM is too low.
Q15. Key differentiation: Hands' knowledge about mobility and the Brazilian market and our close and profitable relationship with the publishers. Hands isn't just experienced in mobile ads, but also developing mobile Websites. Hands has also developed a proprietary platform and ad server that adapts one single version of mobile site to all the devices of the market. No matter what device you have, you can access the m-sites hosted at our platform and see them perfectly.
Q16. Contact details: Advertisers: Edison Maluf, emaluf(at)hands.com.br; publishers and partnerships: Joao Guilherme Franco, guilherme(at)hands.com.br; press: Mariana Oliveira, contato(at)hands.com.br.

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Mobile advertising network: Advertising.com/AOL
Type of network: Premium
Established: The network was launched in 2005 by Third Screen Media. TSM was acquired by AOL in 2007, and merged into Advertising.com (acquired by AOL in 2004).
HQ: New York, USA
Other offices: London, UK; Toronto, Canada; Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Dulles, Mountain View, San Francisco, USA.
Thanks to: Kashif Ali, senior director, publisher services, Advertising.com Mobile (AOL Advertising)

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: over 75 publishers, representing over 100 sites and applications, including Accuweather, CBS, The New York Times, Tribune, Whitepages, and AOL’s owned/operated properties such as AOL, MapQuest, Moviefone.
Q3. Advertisers on network: Over 100 per year, including AT&T, Bank of America, Electronic Arts, Exxon, Ford, MGM Grand, P&G, Sony, Thumbplay.
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: Over 1 billion page impressions per month.
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: 29 million unique viewers per month (Nielsen, June 2009)
Q6. Geographical coverage: Primarily focused on USA, with growing presence in Canada, UK and other countries.
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: More than 20 channels offered, including audience-targeted packages such as Hispanic/Latino, African-American, and mobile mothers.
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Full suite of targeting options, including device, browser, operating system, carrier, on/off-deck, geography, time-segment, content, and multiple demographic combinations.
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: Advertising.com’s mobile campaign management team manages and optimizes campaigns in consultation with advertisers. Standard self-service reports e.g. campaign pacing are available advertisers online.
Q10. Pricing models: All major pricing models supported, including CPM, CPC and CPA.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: CPM ranges from US$5-US$25; CPC ranges from US$0.05-US$0.50; depending on campaign objectives and parameters.
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: Varies by campaign objective.
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: Revenue shares are competitive and reflective of market, typically ranging between 50–70 percent.
Q14. Protection for publishers: Publishers can set acceptance criteria for industries, advertisers, type of advert and pricing, among other parameters. Publishers can also opt out of a specific campaign at any time.
Q15. Key differentiation: Expertise: Advertising.com’s unmatched expertise in building and operating advertising networks. Resources: AOL’s vast sales, product and engineering resources. Scale: approximately 50 percent reach of North American mobile Web. Flexibility: range of buying and participation options. Relevance: full suite of targeting solutions.
Q16. Contact details: For Advertisers: Phil Miano, sales director, advertising sales, Philip.Miano(at)corp.aol.com. For Publishers/partners: Kashif Ali, senior director, publisher services, Kashif.Ali(at)advertising.com.

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Mobile advertising network: Nokia Interactive Advertising
Type of network: Premium
Established: The network was set up in 2004 by Enpocket (acquired by Nokia in 2007). The first operators on board were Airtel (India) and Sprint (US).
HQ: Boston, USA
Overseas offices: The European HQ is in London. Our other main global offices are in New York, USA; Mumbai, India, Ratingen, Germany; Singapore and Brazil.
Thanks to:Diana Lagattuta, head of marketing, Nokia Interactive Advertising

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: Nokia Interactive Advertising (NIA) focuses on advertising on Nokia services, such as Nokia.mobi and Nokia Internet Radio, and works with strategic partners, top-tier publishers and operators, such as RTL in Germany, Airtel in India and Sprint in USA.
Q3. Advertisers on network: In 2008 NIA ran almost 4,000 campaigns for over 350 brands including D&G, Ford, Universal, P&G and Sony Pictures.
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: Over 5,000 different advertisements per month.
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: N/A
Q6. Geographical coverage: Americas, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa (in order of importance).
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: Premium, top-name publishers and mobile sites and applications that come bundled on device.
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Demographics, location, handset type, and in the US by channels (e.g. auto, news, sports)
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: NA
Q10. Pricing models: Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), predominantly, being a premium network.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: From US$15 to US$75 CPM, depending upon region, class of publisher and targeting selected.
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: Click-through rates are very high across our network, resulting in a lot of media that is solidly booked by repeat customers. The most impressive, I remember was a campaign in India for the airline Garuda (the national airline of Indonesia) which achieved a 40 percent CTR.
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: N/A
Q14. Protection for publishers: Strict guidelines for the type of content from publishers and advertisers; so that major brands can be assured that their advertising does not appear next to inappropriate content and visa versa.
Q15. Key differentiation: Unrivalled ability to touch hundreds of millions of consumers across the globe. Almost 40 percent of mobiles sold are a Nokia, and with our major push into services we can offer more than just banners, with more integrated, immersive advertising that leverages contextual information, such as location.
Q16. Contact details: Nokia Interactive Advertising contact page and offices; sales.interactive(at)nokia.com.

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Mobile advertising network: Pudding Media
Type of network: Premium.
Established: 2006
HQ: Singapore
Overseas offices: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Pasig City, Philippines; Menlo Park (CA) United States. Plans for offices in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and India in 2010.
Employees: 30.
Thanks to: Ariel Maislos, founder and CEO, Pudding Media.

Q1. Annual revenue/turnover: N/A
Q2. Publishers on network: Major mobile operators in APAC, including Maxis (largest mobile operator in Malaysia), StarHub, Singapore and True Move, Thailand. During 2010 Pudding expects network to be connected 10 major carriers in APAC.
Q3. Advertisers on network: 50 premium brands, including Fox, Warner, Nestle, Unilever, Citibank, HSBC, CIMB, Nokia, KFC and Buena Vista.
Q4. Mobile ads served or page impressions: 100 million page impressions per month and growing.
Q5. Unique mobile users that see ads: 60 million by end 2009.
Q6. Geographical coverage: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.
Q7. Specialism by publisher or demographic: Premium publishers – mobile operators and major mobile portals
Q8. Options for targeting adverts: Targeting by gender, age, language, income, location, handset, time of the day/week.
Q9. Tools to help advertisers optimize/track campaign: Online reporting tools available 24 hours.
Q10. Pricing models: CPM and CPC.
Q11. Cost range for advertiser: from US$2 to US$15 CPM, depending on country.
Q12. Estimated ROI for advertiser: Advertisers should expect a click through rate (CTR) between 0.3 to 7 percent.
Q13. Remuneration for publishers: N/A
Q14. Protection for publishers: No adult content. In Muslim countries: no gambling, alcohol.
Q15. Key differentiation: Strategy (premium inventory), our technology, our business model, our speed to market, our reach to consumers.
Q16. Contact details: Ariel Maislos, founder and CEO, Pudding Media, ariel.maislos(at)puddingmedia.com

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