CommuteStream’s New Ad Network Uses Mass Transit to Serve Up Ads

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Today in Chicago, commuters on the Chicago Transit Authority will open up their transit apps and find new ads for businesses along their transit route.

CommuteStream, the company behind the new ads, uses “predictive geo-targeting” to show content based on the rider’s routines and preferences. Does your bus pass by a local bar every day? Chances are good you haven’t noticed, but with CommuteStream’s technology, you’ll soon see ads and perhaps deals served up from local businesses along your route.

rsz_incontentad2Annoying as it might seem, as targeted ad technology gets better, it can actually help consumers by showing them things they’re actually interested in when they’re actually interested in them.

But, that convenience is nothing compared to what the network could do for small businesses.

Small and local businesses often find themselves priced-out when it comes to mobile ads, stacking the odds in favor of larger competitors. Yet mobile ads are increasing rapidly. If local businesses can’t find a way to compete, they risk losing even more business.

“With smartphones taking over, understanding riders on an individual level, and in the context of the transit system, opens up major hyper-local advertising possibilities and new markets,” CommuteStream co-founder Samuel Pro said. “It puts the power of highly-targeted mobile advertising, traditionally reserved for large brands and agencies, into the hands of businesses that didn’t previously have any affordable or easy to use options.”

Within a month, CommuteStream hopes to offer 1M impressions a month for these hyper local ads.

The problem, however, is that the ads will be served on local transit apps. At launch CommuteStream is partnering with Chicago Transit Tracker Lite, which reaches about 1% of transit riders. The company estimates that 1/3 of transit riders use their mobile phones to plan commutes.

CommuteStream provides potential monetization for those apps, you have to wonder if their usage estimations are right. Locals are used to their stops and know their route.They don’t really need to check an app for figure out their stops.

Tourists, on the other hand, could be a potential boon for the ads, since they are usually unfamiliar with the landscape and don’t know where to go.

Pro told me via email that most of their users are local, and that’s their target market because locals will provide sustainable business for businesses. If CommuteStream can reach the market they’re looking for, it has the potential to be a huge win for everyone.

CommuteStream launches their pilot today in Chicago, with plans to expand to other major cities soon.

With Election Over California Startup VIRURL Stages Banner Ads Protest At ad:tech

VIRURL,Santa Monica startup, California startup, ad:tech,startup,startups,viral ad,The votes have been counted and we have a new President, so what are the protestors going to do now. Well a Santa Monica startup in the ad space, called VIRURL used them to protest annoying banner ads on Thursday at ad:tech. ad:tech is one of the biggest digital advertising conferences in the world and is held annually at the Javits Center in New York City.

VIRURL is promoting a new “viral” ready content based ad unit called the SlideOut.  The “Slideout” widget for web publishers is a tool designed to serve and monetize relevant partner content to site visitors unobtrusively. That partner content, in the form of a “recommended content” link is served to the user when they navigate to the bottom of the page, intuitively offering extra sponsored content that may be of interest. The feature has recently gone live on HollywoodAssistants.Tumblr.com, one of the most popular Tumblr blogs on the web.

VIRURL used the protest as an almost flash mob like way to garner attention for their new product. It looks like it worked.

“We’ve built a company on an entirely different premise. It’s a business model that empowers advertisers in a way that  the broken banner model never could. The energy we ignited today is just the beginning of our revolution. Virurl’s tools and technology are delivering 20x engagement (in terms of click through) and those numbers speak for themselves.” VIRURL CEO and Co-Founder Francisco Diaz-Mitoma told Nibletz.com exclusively.

“This is the next step in killing off the banner ad, which is going on 20 years as the most popular way to ineffectively monetize the web. The web has evolved by leaps and bounds in those two decades and so should its advertising,” said Diaz-Mitoma. “Web consumers hate banner ads and publishers and advertisers don’t make money from them. The new VIRURL Slideout solves this problem by positioning paid content in such a way that it gets a visitor’s attention without diminishing their online experience.”

“VIRURL already offers a 20x increase in CTR engagement over traditional banner advertising, and a new option like the Slideout can only serve to increase that engagement. Every time a user clicks on that VIRURL ‘Slideout’ on a blog or Tumblr like ‘Hollywood Assistant,’ the publisher makes 60% of the revenue from that transaction,” added Diaz-Mitoma. “This is all done with just a snippet of code, not only maximizing profitability for publishers, but doing so with complete ease-of-use. VIRURL offers unprecedented transparency and customization to both advertisers and publishers, as well as those they are trying to reach.”

Linkage: 

Check out VIRURL here

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