Tag: mobile ads

Apple changes mobile ad formats for its News

| March 22, 2016

The posts seen by users of iPhones and iPads will now be peppered with a new kind of advertising.

From now on, there will be a new mobile ad format that will be making their way into the Apple News feeds, which will appear in the form of sponsored posts that will appear along with other articles.

Apple announced the new mobile marketing format as a part of the March mobile advertising platform updates.

According to the document in which the announcement of the changes was made, the new format for the mobile ad display will show them “directly in the content feeds, in line with the News articles”. This will be occurring in both the iPad and iPhone version of Apple News. These advertisements are not meant to stand out very much from the rest of the articles in the feeds, as the same font will be used for the ads and articles.

That said, each mobile ad will have a small “sponsored” tag that will allow users to identify them.

Mobile ad format changes for newsStill, it is evident that these mobile ads are being designed to blend in and look like the rest of the articles being displayed in the feed, according to the developer document in which the new format was announced.

The idea behind this new mobile advertising format is to provide marketers with a fresh way to promote sponsored posts and sell those spots. While this can provide an advantage, it’s not without its drawbacks for advertisers, as well. It remains the same downside as with advertising through any other format on the iAd platform, which is that Apple takes the same 30 percent cut from all revenue generated through those ads.

Yet with about 40 million users recorded for the Apple news mobile app in January, the opportunity for advertisers is not a small one. Despite the fact that the mobile ad tag that indicates that it was sponsored is quite small, it still complies with the regulations from the FTC that require that all sponsored content be clearly marked. It is expected that the new format will be a part of the update going into effect this week.

Gnomad launches Uber back seat mobile advertising at SXSW

| March 21, 2016

The Houston based mobile ad platform will target the ride share program’s customers.

Gnomad took the opportunity to use the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in order to launch its mobile advertising platform which will make it possible to display ads to passengers sitting in the back seats of dozens of Uber vehicles around the Austin, Texas area.

The Gnomad mobile app was developed by a company called Poetic Systems, Inc., out of Houston.

The way it works is that it displays mobile advertising and content, among other features, that are geared toward travelers who are visiting from elsewhere and who are seeking to find out more about what there is to do within the area, particularly throughout the duration of the festival. So far, the mobile marketing content in the app is featuring the Greater Houston Partnership, which is a SnapStream based in Houston. It has also placed the spotlight on the Capital Factory co-working space and an assortment of startups in Austin.

Mobile advertising content was also assembled for Gnomad along with the Tasting Table culinary website.

Mobile Adveritsing - Ride Share ProgramThat site is based in New York under Rich Winley, the co-founder and CEO. Ahead of the SXSW, he explained that “We’re expecting to be in about 75 Uber cars,” and that “We’re expecting 20,000 people to see the GHP ad over the weekend.”

That said, despite this mobile marketing agreement, Gnomad is not considered to be an official partner with Uber as each driver with the rideshare program is considered to be an independent contractor. This has given them the opportunity to create individual partnerships with Gnomad if they wish to do so. Those drivers, who are currently facing fare cuts, are frequently seeking additional opportunities to generate an income. By working with Gnomad, Winley explained that they can take part in a revenue sharing model.

Over the long term, Gnomad will continue these types of mobile advertising opportunities and intends to take its ad tech to New York throughout Fashion Week. For that event, it has partnered with a handful of ad agencies in New York, which had not been identified by the time of the writing of this article.