Platform-A Jumps Further Into Social Advertising

Platform-A, the AOL owned advertising network which has the largest reach of any network based on the number of pages their ads are shown on, has announced that they will begin offering social application developers on Facebook and Bebo a guaranteed rate. Platform-A already advertises on AOL Instant Messenger and Bebo but this extends them into third-party applications. This is a similar strategy to Lookery who guarantees 12.5 cent CPMs (cost per thousan impressions) globally and 25 cents in Europe.

According to Larry Dignan, Platform-A’s CPM rate will probably be closer to the 70 to 80 cent range. PaidConent is reporting a much lower rate at around 40 cents. This is still extremely low for most developers and the overall industry is finding it extremely challenging to boost the CPMs much higher. The move by Platform-A into this space emphasizes how this is an industry wide problem and not just confined to a small group of application developers. It is ultimately in everybody’s best interest to figure out a way to boost the CPMs.

Last week at the Digital Media Conference in Virginia, Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform A, stated that she expects a substantial amount of consolidation in the industry. Ultimately, having countless advertising networks is not really sustainable. Over the next 12 months we are going to see new monetization models pop-up but it will still be a challenge to try and increase the overall industry returns. Do you know of any networks providing higher CPMs?