'Net Features : greystripe

Friday 15 for Web Pros

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Friday is the perfect opportunity to take a moment and look back at the most important and interesting business and technology developments of the week – those that will influence you in the future and likely are impacting some aspect of your Web enterprise right now. This week, let’s look at 15 key developments in the world of Web business.

- The Open Commerce Ecosystem of Ebay Arrives
Ebay has been the talk of the Web this week with its X.commerce effort, which aims to connect developers with merchants to create a complete commerce operating system. A few of the integrations announced at the Innovate Developer Conference include those with Facebook (integrating Open Graph functionality through Magento and GSI), Adobe (integrating its digital marketing platform), Kenshoo (which automates digital marketing campaigns) and online bookkeeping tool Outright.

- The Value of Real-Time Search Data
URL shortener bit.ly played its trump card this week – an immense set of real-time data. The company released a reputation monitoring service for enterprise customers based on its search technology which weighs results by cross-platform social engagement. Bit.ly joins several other vendors in the real-time search and analytics space including Topsy and Google.

- Google+ Closes in on Twitter
The Google+ network/platform has surpassed the 40 million user mark, inching ever closer to the 100 million active users of Twitter but still quite a distance from Facebook's 800 million users. Revenue was up 33 percent year-over-year, and quarter revenues were just short of $10 billion for Google, but questions remain about its ability to foster social communities.

- Can Anyone Save Yahoo? Comscore Search Data
Comscore reported that Google’s share of the search market increased a half percentage at the expense of Yahoo – which fell to its lowest search volume levels ever. Perhaps an Alibaba acquisition isn’t such a bad idea, after all. While Yahoo! has a strong foothold in the display advertising market, the network might have seen better days.

- Let’s Take it Offline
Mobile payments company Square, which offers apps that allow merchants to process and manage credit card transaction with a swiping device that plugs in to the headset/microphone jack, announced that it is now processing 2$ billion in payments volume per year. Square also announced that it is dropping several requirements for new Swype merchants.

- Jumping on the KickStarter Bandwagon
Crowdfunding service Kickstarter has seen 1 million people sign up and offer financial support for projects listed on its site. Kickstarter also indicated that of those who have backed projects 89% of them have supported at least one idea that was successful.

- Search Ad Spend Rebounds
SEM and software provider Covario released its global spend search ad spend analysis which indicated that PPC spending was up 26 percent from the previous quarter and 24 percent versus the same period last year.

- A Local Vibe from MapQuest
MapQuest unveiled Vibe this week, a local search/mapping tool which identifies neighborhood-level hot spots. MapQuest Vibe profiles more than 50,000 neighborhoods, 27,000 cities and 50,000 hotspots in the U.S., reaching 98 percent of the population.

- Ad Boosters from GreyStripe
Mobile advertising network GreyStripe released several new industry-focused and social ad units this week dubbed Ad Boosters. The customizable “boosters” allows advertisers to direct users to take specific actions. A retail booster, for example, could include a “Find Store” button, a coupon or buy now button. This is somewhat similar to the way that Google has introduced the +1 button on its display ads.

- Foursquare Gets Real with Radar Notifications
It seems as if the hottest new trend on the Web is in real-time data retrieval, and now location-based social media service Foursquare is hopping on the bandwagon. Earlier this week they announced Radar, a new real-time feature that will sends notifications to users when they're close to businesses that fit into their "to-do lists", or any other Foursquare lists to which they've subscribed. This tool will be especially useful for driving relevant customers to local businesses when they're in a city or area that they're not familiar with.

-Location-based Marketing with Hootsuite
HootSuite acquired location-based marketing tool Geotoko this week. This geo-aggregation tool collects audience information from check-in tools like Facebook Places and Foursquare. The integration of this tool with HootSuite will especially help multiple location brick and mortar businesses better understand audiences, based on data such as location, sentiment and demographic. With this data, businesses will be able to reach out to consumers with specific offers, promotions and campaign adjustments.

- Google Commerce Goes Mobile
Just two years after Google Commerce was launched, this week Google announced Google Commerce Search for mobile. According to Google, the launch of Google Commerce Search for mobile came about after consistently finding an increasing number of shopping queries from mobile phones. Timberland is one of the first Google Commerce for Search customers, and claims that since its mobile-optimized website launched, mobile sales have grown 20 times faster than desktop sales.

- LinkedIn Acquires IndexTank

Linked acquired hosted search service IndexTank this week, which will integrate its technology with LinkedIn’s search. IndexTank’s real-time search technology already powers many searches, such as Reddit.com, Twitvid and Spoke. Currently, LinkedIn claims that it will release key components of IndexTank as open source software, which will allow others to run the IndexTank API.

- Microsoft and Skype Seal the Deal
Microsoft finally made it official with video/chat software application provider Skype after being in talks to buy the company since May. The software giant finally closed the deal and purchased Skype for $8.5 billion. For now, Skype will operate as an independent division, with their offices and employees remaining and over time it will be integrated into Microsoft products like Xbox Live and Windows Live.

- Facebook Friendly
Facebook, the reigning King of social media, recently acquireded the startup friend.ly, the company behind a popular social question-and-answer service featured on the social network. Friend.ly will still exist and operate as a standalone service on the site, while the company’s team will begin focusing on new projects at Facebook.

Ad Units by Greystripe More Social, Interactive

Michael Garrity — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Mobile advertisements are about to improve their social lives. Greystripe, a mobile ad network, recently launched Ad Boosters, ad units that enhance Flash advertisements by making them more social and interactive.

Ad Boosters come in two different forms. One is an industry-specific ad unit with features that are distinct to vertical markets, including retail, package goods, automotive, travel, tech, health or restaurants. These customizable units allow advertisers to include buttons for special actions unique to the ad right in it's code. (As an example, an ad for a retail store could include a "store locator" button.)

The other type of ad unit is about social network integration, allowing brands to include one-button access to social networks. These units currently support Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

These new Ad Boosters also support special "click-to-action" buttons like buy, deals/daily deals, coupons, video, recommend, download, call, store locator and mobile website.

In addtion, the Boosters give advertisers the opportunity to include a branded image, such as a logo, onto the ad in the form of a 300x100 image on the top of the screen. Below that is the 300x250 ad unit that focuses on the campaign's message. The actionable buttons are displayed below the ad at the bottom of the screen.

For those interested, select Ad Booster buttons come packaged together as special industry-specific bundles, but they are still totally customizable.

GreyStripe Extends Network to AdWhirl Users

Administrator — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Mobile advertising network Greystripe announced integration with mobile advertising mediator AdWhirl which will enable app developers using its SDK to incorporate Greystripe banner ads.

Developers will be able to simultaneously integrate Greystripe and other mobile advertising networks – immensely useful for those interested in optimizing for maximized revenue and fill.

There are quite a few options out of the gate for AdWhirl developers. Greystripe’s iPhone banner product suite includes expandable to full-screen rich media Immersion ad units (which are ideal for those that don’t want users leaving the application – useful for advergames, video and mobile websites). These expandable banners utilize Greystripe’s Lightning Technology, which delivers Flash ads to the iPhone as HTML5.

“Greystripe’s expandable immersion ads are the most engaging available today, which means great revenue for application developers,” said Greystripe VP of Publisher Relations Erica Chriss. “We’re excited to be working with AdWhirl to widen our base of developers."

Greystripe Goes Android For Ad-supported Games/Apps

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Mobile brand advertising network provider Greystripe announced it has delivered over 300 million ad-supported games and applications on the iPhone and Java platforms and that their full-screen ad formats will now be available for Android games and app developers with an Android SDK.

“Given users reluctance to adopt Google Checkout and pay for apps, the free-ad supported model makes sense for Android,” said Michael Chang, CEO for Greystripe. “As the number of Android phones has reached critical mass, providing a cross-platform solution that reaches a broad base of consumers becomes even more important for our developers.”

Both existing and new developer partners are able to leverage Greystripe’s technology on the iPhone, 1,400 feature phones, and now Android phones. Greystripe’s Android SDK supports pre-roll, interstitial and post-roll inventory. Application and game developers can add Greystripe’s Android SDKs and start monetizing their content immediately .

“After seeing how well our games fared on the iPhone, we have an opportunity to monetize even more with Greystripe, “ said Amit Khanduja, Executive Vice President for Jump Games. “We’re excited about the extended offering on Android and look forward to our continued partnership with Greystripe.”

WM Morning Wire: 10-17-2008

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Welcome to October 17th, 2008! Website Magazine staffers are putting the final touches on our November edition and like every other issue we produce - it's amazing. If you're not yet a subscriber to our print or digital edition, sign up now - it's free and is the smartest thing you can do as a Web professional.

Below are a few press release that caught our attention this morning that you too might find interesting. We'll be covering some of these releases throughout the day, but if you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact Website Magazine editors now.

Greystripe Furthers Commitment to Mobile Game Advertising Industry With Meaningful Insider Metrics: Greystripe has delivered these metrics with their October 2008 Consumer Insights Report, which serves as a quarterly update to answer the demographic questions advertisers may have. In this quarter’s report, Greystripe reveals a deeper look at the consumers playing their games, along with mobile gaming demographics, click-through rates and exclusive iPhone statistics, all collected from their internal database of users.

comScore Doubles the Number of Reported Web Sites in Most Countries to Enhance Measurement of the Internet's 'Long Tail': comScore, Inc. announced the availability of enhanced site audience data in the comScore Media Metrix and comScore World Metrix audience measurement services. This enhanced capability provides more robust and granular reporting across global markets and more than doubles the number of reportable sites worldwide.

New Vimeo Plus Online Video Service Makes Posting Larger Hi Def & Standard Def Content a Reality for Video Makers From Amateur to Pro: Vimeo, the web's leading showcase for user-created, standard and high definition content, expands its role as the creative center for videos with today's debut of Vimeo Plus. This long-requested, affordable enhancement of the original Vimeo.com website offers 300 percent more storage space, even higher video quality conversions in standard definition and an array of new features that make it easier than ever to securely store, share and showcase videos.

Business Software Industry Appears to Remain Strong Despite Economic Difficulties: Capterra, a website that connects buyers and sellers of business software, has conducted a survey of its software vendors to determine the impact of the country's current financial turmoil on software buying patterns. Capterra looked at three factors: actual software sales, sales leads and website traffic.

Shutterstock's Editorial Image Collection Rapidly Expanding Thanks to Success of Red Carpet Program: Shutterstock®, the world's largest subscription-based online stock photo agency, achieved another industry milestone this week when its editorial library passed the 100,000th image mark, thanks to the success of its entertainment/celebrity photo program: Shutterstock on the Red CarpetTM.

Neulio 2.0 Enables Organizations to Leverage the Power of Structured Social Media™: Neulio, the creator of Structured Social Media™ solutions, today announced Neulio 2.0, a next-generation hosted solution for publishing multi-part, multi-format online content. Neulio 2.0's unique platform enables organizations of all sizes to leverage Web 2.0 technology for training, marketing, customer support, and other business applications.

Identity.net Partners with i-SAFE to Bring Online Safety Technology to the Classroom: Identity.net announced today a partnership with i-SAFE, the leader in Internet safety (e-Safety) education. i-SAFE's mission is to educate and empower youth to help make their Internet experiences safe and responsible. This partnership will bring Identity.net's identity management and online safety technology to 6.4 million i-SAFE-trained students and 700,000 faculty nationwide.

Mobile Gaming Statistics - GreyStripe

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:31:00 GMT

Online gaming used to be big business, now it's mobile gaming. GreyStripe, a leading ad-supported mobile games and applications distribution platofrm shared an interesting look into the viability of their network in relation to demographics. If you're thinking about going mobile, read on.

GretyStripe statistics revealed that a significant number of mobile gamers are part of a "coveted demographic" in the advertising world. The services' 800+ games are the most popular amoung the 18 to 34-year old age group. Nearly three-quarters of their users (68% in the U.S. and 75% abroad) fall between 18 and 34 and are nearly evenly split between men and women. This might confirm that mobile gaming reaches as many men as it does women. Other data revealed that 51% are the primary purchasing decision makers (with 90% having the buying power for their family.

And you thought everyone was too busy playing brick-breaker to even think about clicking on your ads.