The current Bitcoin acceptance market

paymentscardsandmobile.com

Bitcoin has a long road ahead before merchants widely accept the currency, but bitcoin acceptance is expanding and accelerating.

Silk Road, the illicit online black market, was an infamous early adopter of bitcoin, taking advantage of the currency’s anonymity. The U.S. FBI forced Silk Road to shut down in October 2013.

Since then, many legitimate online retailers began to accept bitcoin as an alternative payment method alongside PayPal and other digital wallets. Initially, bitcoin-acceptance was led by small merchants seeking publicity from the enthusiastic bitcoin community. Now bitcoin acceptors increasingly include known brand names – writes Chris Dickey, Associate, specializing in Credit Card Issuing,First Annapolis.

Overstock.com has been a flagship brand driving notoriety by publishing its bitcoin sales figures. Overstock’s bitcoin sales are currently $15,000 per day, and are expected to double by the end of this year1 (Overstock processed $1.6 million in bitcoin sales in the first quarter of 20142).

Dell, Dish Network, and Expedia are among the other well-known merchants now accepting bitcoin online. European merchants have processed almost $40M in the first three quarters of 2014, a growth rate of over 1000% year-over-year.3 Throughout 2013, bitcoin acceptance increased slowly, but the trend has been accelerating this year as more major merchants begin bitcoin acceptance.

Figure 1: Notable Bitcoin Merchant Acceptance Announcements

Source: First Annapolis Consulting research and analysis.

Coinbase and BitPay act as the bitcoin acquirers for most of the mainstream bitcoin-accepting merchants and PSPs. These are a new class of acquirers that are willing to accept the risk of bitcoin price volatility and don’t need traditional acquirers to process payments. These companies convert bitcoin to USD, or another fiat currency, immediately after payment, reducing the merchant’s exposure to volatility risk.

The numbers published by Coinbase and BitPay indicate that over 75,000 merchants worldwide accept bitcoin, an estimated 90% of which are e-commerce merchants (10% brick-and-mortar).

The biggest sectors are retail (computers/technology, electronics, apparel), travel, and food. The average ticket price of a bitcoin transaction at present is $400+, significantly higher than many other payment methods. And, mid-to large-size companies are showing the most interest in accepting bitcoin as a payment method.

We believe that the acceptance base has room to accelerate as the current base already includes a number of key merchant aggregators such as Square, Shopify, Intuit, and Etsy, who allow their merchants, primarily SMEs, to accept bitcoin on a turn-key basis.

BitPay describes signing up 500 to 1,000 new merchants per week, a figure that is increasing 20% month-over-month. Mainline payment providers are increasingly enabling bitcoin. Digital River, PayPal, Braintree, and Global Payments have referral agreements and technical integrations with Coinbase or BitPay, allowing merchants of all sizes to integrate bitcoin payments. It is unclear how many of their merchants have taken advantage of this service, but as acceptance rises bitcoin’s turnkey nature and PSP support will make integration easier.

Bitcoin has notoriety, but what does it mean for merchants, acquirers, and PSPs – should you accept and/or commercialize now? While Overstock has reported some success with bitcoin with few glitches, there remains uncertainty about the scale and stability of bitcoin’s future.

As of today, bitcoin is best suited for e-commerce merchants with a customer demographic of tech-savvy males aged 18 to 45 years old, bitcoin’s main demographic. Bitcoin’s value proposition for merchants includes: an opportunity to drive incremental customers, a reasonable cost of acceptance relative to credit cards (1% merchant fee is typical for CoinBase and BitPay charges a typical merchant fee of 0%, instead making money on FX conversion spread), and a payment guarantee from the acquirer (assuming there is one).

Payment acceptance service providers would be wise to put bitcoin on their medium-term radar and to learn and understand the commercial model and advantages and disadvantage in the meantime. The success of early adopters Digital River and Global Payments could quickly spur other providers to enter this market – either in the form of PSP facilitation or direct bitcoin acquiring and assumption of risk.

Bitcoin merchant acceptance has taken strides forward in the past year. Bitcoin is no longer seen as just an illicit way to do business, but rather as a legitimate alternative payment method. Acquirers like Coinbase and Bitpay are making it easier for merchants to accept bitcoin as a low cost, acquirer-guaranteed payment method. As a result, merchants are increasingly accepting bitcoin. That being said, current penetration is still low suggesting prudent investment.

How Twitter will power the Internet of Things

telegraph.co.uk

Twitter is no longer just about connecting people to one another but about connecting machines to machines

If you want to announce something publicly to the world, Twitter is usually the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do it. Whether you're an individual or a company, posting a Twitter update ensures that anybody with any interest in what you're doing will have instant access to that information.

However, it is no longer just individuals and companies that are using Twitter to broadcast what they are doing – machines are doing it too, and thanks to the public nature of tweets, this information can be used to drive a whole new range of 'internet of things' applications.

According to Andy Piper, developer advocate at Twitter, people have been putting inanimate objects onto Twitter since the early days; the first plant sensors were given their own Twitter accounts in 2008, allowing them to tweet that they were thirsty and needed watering.

Piper said that Twitter's open API (application programming interface) allows anyone to write an app to record data from sensors in buildings or public spaces and translate that data into 'tweet' form so that it can be posted onto Twitter.

The launch of Twitter's Fabric mobile development platform this week, should make creating these apps easier than ever, and with analysts at IDC predicting that the internet of things market will grow by more than $5 trillion over the next six years, there is a strong incentive for developers to get involved.

One of the exhibits on show at the Twitter Flight event in San Francisco was a drone that could be flown by issuing instructions via tweet. The developer who had created the mobile app to control the drone had built it using Fabric in a single weekend.

There are also a number of Twitter-connected ornaments that light up or change colour every time the owner is mentioned in a tweet. Piper said this was a great way of surfacing data from Twitter in a physical form.

However, the potential for Twitter information to be used in all manner of 'internet of things' applications is much greater, according to Piper.

He gave the example of last Winter's flash floods in the UK, which prompted demand for a better early warning system. As a result, the Environment Agency worked with a third party to connect every river sensor in the UK (between 2,800 and 3,000 sensors) to Twitter.

“When I first heard that I thought, this is ridiculous, we don't want that many new Twitter accounts telling you the river level – what's the value?” said Piper.

“But then I realised that, if I live in Kingston, I don't want to know what the whole of the Thames is doing; I want to know what the river in Kingston is doing. So now I can subscribe on Twitter to the two river points that are closest to my home, and keep an eye on what the levels are.”

Piper said that this kind of information can sit alongside updates from friends, family and celebrities you might follow, adding a new dimension to your Twitter feed. It could also be fed into other internet of things applications to make them more responsive.

For example, a stream of Twitter data from a weather vane could be fed into an app that controls a smart heating system, telling it to adjust the temperature in the house according to the weather outside.

Although some internet of things devices like Google’s Nest and British Gas’ Hive are already capable of integrating with third party apps in this way, they are closed ecosystems, according to Piper, whereas Twitter remains open.

“The internet of things for me is about making it really easy to integrate all of those things and objects that are relevant to my environment and my life, and I think Twitter is a core part of that,” he said.” It has been for a long time, it just hasn't always been thought of in that sense.”

Digital Travel Bookings Increasingly Going Mobile

mobilemarketingwatch.com

While the act of finding hotels, flights, and rental cars has largely been relegated to PCs for much of the past decade, 2015 will see the majority of these transportation and lodging-related books shift toward mobile.

Of course, mobile search will be on the rise across the board (not just in the travel industry), but it is expected, as eMarketer predicts, to particularly rise in dramatic fashion when it comes to those looking for all facets of transportation information.

eMarketer’s prediction says that about 63% of mobile users will search for some kind of travel info this year and that almost half of those will do it on a mobile device. More than 50% will book something online, and nearly a third will use a mobile device to book their travel.

Smartphones are going to be more popular for booking travel than tablets in the future, but not by a sizable margin. About 90% of users will count on a smartphone to research and secure their travel accommodations, compared to about 80% who will user a tablet.

This is How You Should Market your App

tech.co

This summer it was announced that in the iTunes App Store alone, there are over 1.2 million apps available for downloading. If you plan to launch an app, it’s not enough to have the most beautiful interface and innovative product. If no one knows about it, you’re just another one of the 1.2 million, a number that’s growing every day.

So how do you get your brilliant app noticed? Marketing your app properly will help you duel the competition and show the people who really matter why they should download and use your app instead of any of the other ones available.

Here are some things that can help you become successful in marketing your app pre-launch:

Gain Early Data

E-mail addresses. Collect email addresses from those readily anticipating your launch. These people will be the first people to see your app once it’s launched and the most likely to give you positive reviews. Take advantage of this because these reviews will be the first organic form of marketing for your business.

Create Brilliant Screenshots

The first thing people will judge your app by is the screenshot they see in the App Store. If it’s not enticing and professional people will swipe on to the next App before you can even say ‘screenshot.’ Your screenshots are critical for awareness of your app and it’s a great opportunity for you to leverage your potential users right there in the App Store. You can get feedback on your UI design by posting your ideas on dribble.

Press Release

For your launch day, you’ll want to make sure you have a professional and gripping press release prepared that perfectly describes your product. Talk a little bit about yourself and the others behind the product and focus on what’s really unique about your app. Check out Copify if you need help.

Marketing and promotions are essential on launch day and the days just after, if you can rock these marketing tips for your launch it’s the key to the success of your application. Journalists love to be notified straight after the launch, so reaching out to them right after your launch gives you the best chance of being covered by them.

The Launch

Tuesdays are your best day to launch as it gives you four days to achieve a high rank before the weekend, which is when most people will be online surfing the App Store and when most downloads occur. If you can get into the ranks for the weekend you’ll see a sweeping positive effect on your downloads, and it may even hold you over into the next week.

The first thing you should do is submit your press release, once the App has been launched send in your PR. Here’s a list of 50 free press release submission sites.

Use Social Media. Social marketing is a hugely successful factor for pushing early reviews and can get you seen by those extra few people that could move you up in the rankings. If you have social accounts for your app it’s even better to promote things related to the app, but even your own personal Facebook and Twitter accounts can greatly reach people who may be interested in your product and help you to break into that top 25.

The day after

Ask customers for feedback. Again, all of the positive ratings and glamorous reviews you can get right off the bat will help you to promote on social media, or to get recognized by leading publications, and get you into that top 25. You might even consider sending out a push notification to anyone using the App to send them a friendly reminder to leave you some feedback.

Follow up with any coverage that you may have received either on social media or from journalists. Make sure you favorite and retweet, show some love to make sure they know how much you appreciate their publicity even if it is just a small gesture every bit counts.

In perpetuity

Congrats! You’ve made it through your first (hopefully) successful launch. You created some good buzz about your product and received a lot of positive feedback. And if it wasn’t the smashing success you hoped it would be there are plenty of other things you can try.

After the fact, it’s important to increase your budget for cross promotional advertising. There are services available like App-O-Day that will give a huge burst of downloads to your application. This usually works to guarantee rankings in your category.

You may also want to invest in a tracking and attribution application to help you decipher where to put your money to receive the greatest ROI. Once you’ve sent out so many different promotions via social media, they hype from journalists, etc. it’s difficult to tell with mobile platforms where your traffic to the App Store is coming from. A tool like AppsFlyer will help you track your conversions, and help you find more loyal users once the initial buzz has worn off.

Ten ways location-based marketing can help small business owners

theglobeandmail.com

A 2013 study that examined mobile shopping activity across 20 retailers during Thanksgiving and Black Friday found that total mobile visits increased by 93 per cent, overall mobile transactions increased 219 per cent, and total revenue from mobile transactions increased by 368 per cent. Proximity marketing takes these opportunities even further and gives small businesses a powerful new tool for reining in holiday shoppers.

Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content based on a particular place and time. It enables brands to deliver messages to consumers when they are nearby, and thus more likely to take advantage of an offer. However, many of the existing technologies, such as iBeacons with their mandatory apps, QR codes or app development, are expensive and difficult to implement.

Here are 10 ways proximity marketing can help small businesses compete with the big guys, without breaking the budget.

1. Meeting holiday shoppers where they are: on mobile. These days, people are glued to their smartphones. Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly integrated part of the shopping experience, whether you are browsing for jewellery during your commute or comparing prices while standing in a store. Studies show that 80 per cent of consumers use mobile to enhance their in-store experience, and all signs indicate that this trend will continue. Proximity marketing is an opportunity to meet customers where they are and deliver content in a format that is likely to engage them. This type of marketing is also actionable, which means consumers can take advantage of the promotion or message in the moment.

2. Casting a wider net. Brick-and-mortar business rely on foot traffic to survive. Sure they can send promotional offers to existing customers (assuming they have their e-mail address) or place ads where potential customers might see them, but proximity marketing enables SMBs to cast a wider net by attracting the attention of all nearby mobile phone users. My company offers a Smart Antenna which can can reach up to 300 feet, while Apple’s iBeacon extends up to 100 feet, but iBeacons send only “ID chirps” – they require an app to provide the advertising component. Generally, the wider the range the better.

The goal is not only to send offers to people already in the store, but to draw people in from the outside. Proximity technology gives small retailers a chance to reach customers who may not be familiar with their business, and it gives customers the chance to discover something new. This is especially important during the holiday season when people are searching for gifts.

3. Simple implementation. Getting people to download an app, particularly one which involves location-aware technology and thus raises privacy concerns, is not an easy thing to do. A better approach is to deliver messages over Bluetooth and WiFi, in a way that doesn’t require anything to develop or install.

4. Saving money. Many of the proximity marketing solutions require developing a dedicated app. This is extremely expensive, and often out of the price range for small businesses. Development of an app for retail operation can cost between $30,000 and $100,000, and these prices often increase during the holiday season when demand is high.

Then businesses have to spend more marketing dollars to encourage people to download the app in the first place, and on software systems and databases to manage the data. This is why Bluetooth-compatible technologies like the Smart Antenna are such a cost-effective solution for small businesses. All retailers have to do to get in the game is buy the hardware and pay a small monthly fee since no app is needed. It saves money for consumers too, who don’t have to use their own cellular data plan to access the content.

5. Protecting privacy. Privacy and security are major concerns for today’s consumer. Breaches at Big Box retailers like Target and Home Depot and the Heartbleed bug, not to mention all the dialogue about privacy in the wake of the NSA revelations, have made people wary of sharing their personal information with large corporations. Sharing information increases the risk that it will be stolen or sold. Many consumers are also uncomfortable with the idea of a company being able to track their movements.

Businesses should choose proximity marketing technology that does not require people to sign up or provide credit card information. This is more secure, less intrusive and more convenient, because it doesn’t require the hassle of entering personal details. Proximity marketing technology like the Smart Antenna doesn’t require the shopper to connect to the store’s network to make the iBeacon app work; it is self-contained and more secure for the retailer. This type of solution allows small businesses to build a relationship of trust with their customers.

6. Leveraging data. Data has completely transformed the Internet marketing landscape, but these advancements have been slow to trickle down physical stores. In-store customers or shoppers walking around a mall don’t leave the same data trail as someone browsing for shoes online. Considering that more than 80 per cent of shopping still happens offline, brick-and-mortar retailers need ways to collect data and interact with customers as they shop. This is where proximity technology steps in.

By installing a device that collects customer data, and that can interact with shoppers on their phones, small businesses are able to leverage data on the same level as large corporations and e-commerce platforms. They can analyze their customers’ preferences and behaviours, such as in-store shopping frequency, dollar value per item, redeemed offers, rejected offers and length of stay. Data can also be used to make operations more efficient and send offers based on customer preference.

7. Predicting the future. Data analytics aren’t only valuable in the present, they are also a key, cost-effective way for small businesses to stay on top of trends and prepare for the future. Data on consumer behaviour can reveal to retailers which products or campaigns are doing well and which aren’t.

By identifying these types of patterns, smaller companies can figure out what direction shoppers will go in next year and adapt accordingly. If consumers are responding well to a 2-for-1 campaign, or sales of a certain brand of tee-shirt are increasing, these are signals businesses can use to stay ahead of the curve.

8. Creating context. Data is essential for creating context, and context is essential in today’s marketing. Consumers don’t want to be assaulted by anonymous, irrelevant messages. They either completely ignore them, or worse, think less of the brand because they find their ads frustrating. Proximity technology enables physical retailers to collect unprecedented amounts of data. This data can be used to deliver more timely, relevant messages.

For example, a frequent customer could receive a loyalty coupon the second they come within 300 feet of a store. Or if they are frequently accepting offers promoting home goods, they will receive similar type-push notifications with available deals. The more relevant the offer, the more likely that consumer is to convert.

9. Making it personal. Proximity marketing also enables retailers to tailor content to each user. These technologies not only factor in the time and place, but also a consumers’ purchasing behaviour or preferences. For example, this technology could enable to clothing boutique to notify a nearby shopper that her favourite brand is in stock, or that an item she purchased in the past is on sale. Or when the shopper visits a grocery store, the store can send coupons for items the shopper regularly buys instead of random coupons for things they don’t want. These kind of personalized, seamless experiences can help small businesses attract and keep loyal customers.

10. Bigger isn’t always better. Small businesses may not have the same marketing and advertising budgets as corporate retailers, but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. One advantage small businesses have over Big Box retailers is their unique brand and ability to offer a personal touch – something shoppers crave during the holiday season.

Proximity marketing technology can help small businesses reach out to individuals in a way that feels more personal and intimate. The consumers receives the message because they are nearby, not because that merchant has the biggest, loudest sign. In a world where shoppers crave more meaningful experiences from the brands they patronize, SMBs can use proximity marketing technology to stand out from the crowd.

These 5 Brands Have The Best Mobile Ads We’ve Ever Seen

business2community.com

Advertising has changed drastically since the days of Don Draper and in-office cocktails during creative meetings. Now, print and TV are old-school mediums, and forward-looking brands are turning to mobile to reach a new kind of audience.

By 2015, there will be an estimated 2 billion smartphone users. So, whether your brand uses mobile ads to drive traffic to your website, promote a new product or service, or to acquire new app users, your prospective audience is vast and active.

Mobile ads open up a world of technical, targeting and tactical options previously impossible in traditional ads. This form of app advertising is now one of the most popular among marketers, which has lead to increased creativity in the way ads work to engage your audience.

In this post, we take a look at five of the best mobile ad campaigns which actually work in capturing attention, capitalizing on creativity, and driving awareness.

1. PBS KIDS – The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!

When PBS wanted to run a campaign promoting Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday, they employed game-like mobile apps as part of an integrated marketing strategy to drive website traffic and to encourage viewers to tune-in to an upcoming TV special.

Instead of running an ad showcasing the date and time of the special, PBS took a mobile-specific approach by creating a quick, easy-to-complete & kid-friendly game within their interactive ad. In the game, the user was able to “pop” balloons using their touch screen, and after had the option to play again or click to access a sneak preview of the TV special on their website. The results screen also contained a real-time countdown to the airing to create a sense of urgency with the audience.

PBS targeted Moms – those who would be interested in showing their kids the special, or those whose children might use their phone or tablet to play the short game.

Ad success equation: By pairing intelligent targeting (to Moms) with native functionality (the touch screen), a whimsical touch (the interactive game) and a sense of timeliness (the running countdown) PBS created a campaign that increased mobile engagement and contributed to tune-ins.

2. John Lewis – Monty’s Christmas Penguin

Monty the penguin has us feeling all the feels this holiday season. The story of Monty’s quest to find love is not only a brilliant and emotional Christmas tale meant to exemplify the spirit of the season, but also a genius move from UK retailer John Lewis (who always seems to hit a home run with customers). From a movie-quality commercial to a dedicated mobile app (and the power of social media), Monty’s mark has already been felt far and wide.

But John Lewis and Monty aren’t stopping at virality and calling it a day. The brand has put into place mobile ads for the Monty’s Christmas mobile app in effort to gain new users and to strategically beat out the competition.

John Lewis and its competitors Marks & Spencer and Debenhams are famous for carefully choosing the songs used in their holiday adverts, typically employing famous musicians or bands to cover past hits in new ways. Because of this, many mobile users will open up Shazam on their phone to identify a particular song or version they enjoyed.

John Lewis (who has since stated this was simply a coincidence and not an implicit strategy) targeted Shazam users who were looking up tracks from its competitors’ adverts and had a mobile ad for the Monty’s Christmas app appear on the screen. Regardless of the intention, it is a successful mobile tactic that has helped with the Monty app marketing.

Ad success equation: Starting with heart (Monty the penguin) as the foundation for any great viral campaign, John Lewis paired strategic targeting (seekers of its competitors’ music) and a mobile-first strategy (app usage to find this music) to keep users falling in love and interacting with Monty’s story in a dedicated app.

3. Bradesco – Fake Ad

This next example is from 2012, but it still rings true as one of the best mobile ads we’ve seen. Bradesco, a car insurance provider in Brazil, created an iPad app to demonstrate the value of their services – without looking like your run-of-the-mill insurance ad.

The ad was run only in iPad magazines, and was designed to appear as an ordinary car ad. However, once the user swiped to access the next page of the magazine, the car in the ad went with it, crashing against the side of the screen. After, a screen appeared with the tagline: “Unexpected events happen without warning. Make a Bradesco car insurance plan.” Simple. Straight-forward. Impactful.

The ad won a Cannes Mobile Lion award as one of the best mobile advertisements in the world. It’s also a fantastic example of creating a hyper-specific ad in order to make a big statement. On a phone or outside of a tablet magazine, the ad might not have had such force. But because it was designed to fit in the publication as a basic car ad, the end result is that much more provoking. That gravitas, paired with the honest nature of the tagline, is what makes this ad great.

Ad success equation: Bradesco started with a simple, but elegant, idea (the ease with which crashes happen) in the hands of the user (literally) and ensured that by placing it perfectly in the right format (a regular car ad) and context (in a tablet app magazine) it made a mark.

4. Taco Bell – Happier Hour

Taco Bell has been making mobile waves long before its online and social media blackout #OnlyInTheApp campaign (although we have to give them credit for that risky and spectacular idea). While their recent app promotion strategy has been out-of-the-box, Taco Bell has previously seen mobile success by employing one excellent strategy: give users special offers, and make it easy for them to redeem.

Sound slightly uninspired? It shouldn’t. Because while creativity makes for awesome ads, so does giving your customers an easy way to get what they want.

Last year, the fast food giant ran a mobile ad campaign promoting their new “Happier Hour” nation-wide. The visual advertised a $1 drink specialty that was available from 2-5pm. It also included a variety of ways to keep a user on track with actually participating in the offer. In the ad, you could choose to have Taco Bell remind you at the start of Happier Hour (by adding it to your calendar app), to remind you when you were physically nearby a Taco Bell, or share the information with a friend by sending them a funny gif.

This ad may seem simple on the surface, but it elevates a number of new ways for a user to activate it or stay on top of the offer. It’s accessible, and that makes it great.

Ad success equation: Knowing that the fast-food audience will respond to deals (Happier Hour drinks) and creating functionality around ease-of-redemption (activating reminders around time or location) plus cool bonuses like inviting a friend via a gif, Taco Bell launched an unassuming but effective ad campaign.

5. Showtime – Homeland

Confession: I have never seen Homeland. I have heard the rave reviews and cries from friends when I admit this fact. But while I’ve long been convinced that it’s worth a watch, I’ve never actually taken the time to watch it. Until I came across one of the mobile ads Showtime has launched to promote the show.

The banner ad is ordinary enough; it displays the show title, time and network, and prompts you to “zoom.” This call-to-action (CTA) is what caught my eye – zoom on what? It’s a banner ad? Shouldn’t the CTA be asking me to click to watch a preview or take me to the website?

In fact when you do zoom, the ad opens to display across the table screen and showcases a mosaic of images that makes up a portrait of the lead characters. Zooming in further opens those images and reveals that they are actually short videos you can play that highlight different aspects of the show’s plot.

Not only is it visually striking, the ad also betrays expectations by featuring a mosaic constructed of surprise videos. The idea of a banner ad that opens to reveal a video isn’t groundbreaking, but the actual experience of accessing the videos is pretty thrilling, and thus it turns the standard on its head. It’s also timely – appearing on the publication the day it airs, and targeting The New York Times readers (who are more likely to be interested in a foreign relations drama).

Ad success equation: Transforming a banner ad with an intriguing CTA (“tap to zoom”) which defies expectations by delivering an intricate collage of images (to feature a main character) that then are all revealed to be bite-sized videos (catching you up on the plot of the show and luring you in to watch more) is a smart way to create a new twist on mobile ads without incorporating too many bells and whistles.

What Makes a Great Mobile Ad Campaign?

The answer to this changes depending on what kind of marketer you’re talking to. But when it comes to mobile, it’s clear that creativity and technical ingenuity are key. And just like with mobile apps, you need to make your ad engaging and useful to the end user.

Yahoo Integrates Access To Flurry’s In-App Video Inventory

marketingland.com

The company is positioning itself as the industry's biggest supplier of video ad inventory

Yahoo announced today that it is integrating Flurry’s in-app video inventory into its ad platforms.

Yahoo acquired Flurry in July for its reach across mobile apps and ad targeting capabilities. The integration allows advertisers to buy mobile video inventory on Flurry’s app network as well as its exchange through Yahoo Ad Manager Plus, which encompasses display, stream ads, mobile, search video and display ad inventory.

Flurry also offers persona targeting capabilities and says it already serves more than 100 million video ads each month to more than a billion devices globally.

Advertisers can buy :15, :30 or :60 second interstitial ads by audience, channel or show.

Video is a key part of Yahoo’s strategy for reviving its ad business. With the Flurry integration, Yahoo now claims to be the “the largest provider of video ad inventory in the industry” — and this comes before it closes its acquisition of programmatic video platform, BrightRoll, early next year.

Flurry also released some surprising insights on the amount of time users are spending on mobile devices that underscores why Yahoo is moving heavily into video.