AdParlor announces virtual currency platform

Today AdParlor publicly announced the launch of its virtual currency platform. It has been running for the past three months and many of the top facebook application developers have already taken advantage of this revenue generating opportunity. Essentially, AdParlor will take up a small piece of real estate on applications that have a virtual currency. We will then put out 'EZ' offers that users can complete in exchange for virtual currency. Any time a user completes an offer, the application developer earns real money! Learn more about the program here. See the official press release here.

What kind of eCPM can my facebook application generate?

One of the most common questions I hear is "What kind of eCPM can my facebook application generate?" The answer is, it depends!

There are two primary factors that effect the eCPM:

1. The country of origin of your users
2. The Click Through Rate / Conversion Rate
   

The country of origin is simple to explain. The fact is, that there are simply more advertising dollars to go around in certain countries. More advertising dollars competing for inventory means higher eCPM's for you as a publisher. In an interview with Michael Arrington a while back, Chris DeWolfe (CEO of myspace) claimed that 95% of their advertising revenues are coming from 9 countries! Essentially, if you have lot's of eyeballs from these more monetizable countries, this will bode well for your eCPM. What are these countries? I can name a few: U.S, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, and France. Any thoughts on the other 2?

The CTR / Conversion Rate is a little bit trickier. This can depend on several factors:

1. Ad Size and Placement - Ideally, you should choose a large ad format (300x250, 728x90...) and place it above the fold.
2. Ad Density -You can expect a higher eCPM if you limit your application to 1 (maybe 2 ads). You don't want to plaster your application with advertisements.
3. APPLICATION/AD ENGAGEMENT- This is the biggest factor by far. If you have a gaming application where users are fully immersed in the game and the advertisement is blindly refreshing (away from where the action is) you can deliver millions of impressions and never get a click. Apps that are more casual, and less engaging in a way, perform much better. Another strategy that pays dividends is to place ads strategically. Maybe your application is a game, but right smack in the middle, after every 5 turns, an ad appears and the user must click skip to continue playing. Although this may be annoying for your users, it can work to drive up your eCPM.
   

I still haven't thrown a number out there yet, but I probably should. At AdParlor, based on hundreds of applications, we have seen eCPM's that range from 1 cent to $5! That goes to illustrate my point - it depends!

Facebook to deliver ads on applications!

Interesting developments in the last 24 hours. Facebook has announced that they are testing their ads on applications. On the developer forum, they posted this: "we are always internally exploring different ways we can directly help you monetize better. Starting today you may notice a few applications occasionally serving Facebook Ads directly in their canvas pages as a part of a small alpha test. We will use the results of this test and other tests that we do to determine the best ways we can help you monetize. For this initial test we picked a few developers that had a variety of different user bases and application types to give us the kind of data we need. We will examine the results to decide whether to open up the program to more developers in the future."

I see no reason why facebook will stop at just 'some apps' and am sure they are planning to roll this out to all app developers! I would write more, but Nick O'Neill already did a good job on allfacebook - might as well read about it there: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/screenshots-of-facebook-application-ads-in-action/

OnMedia NYC 2009 Always On

I am on my way to the OnMedia Always On conference in New York! This is where 'where cutting-edge technology CEOs from the back streets of Silicon Valley meet the global advertising and media establishment. This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on which forces are disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries.'

http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/29208

Feel free to shoot me an email at hussein.fazal@adparlor.com if you will be at the conference and we'll meet.