NEW YORK – Turns out all those “open vs. closed” debates aren’t limited just to mobile networks and software platforms. Wireless advertising is joining the fray, too.
Kind of.
Interoperability – or the lack thereof – caused a stir at last week’s Mobile Marketing Forum when Millennial Media’s Paul Palmieri called out Third Screen Media for not playing well with others. Asked during a roundtable discussion what issues are holding wireless advertising back, Palmieri called the AOL L.L.C. franchise a “bad apple,” pointing to a recent move by Google Inc.’s DoubleClick to integrate with mobile players including Millennial, AdMob and Google’s own AdSense – but not Third Screen.
“We find players in the mobile ecosystem on the ad-network side, on the ad-serving side, in large part very open to redirecting traffic from one place to another, and we invite remaining outliers – of which there are few – to join and not to hold the ecosystem back by attempting to capture ad inventory – regardless of their ability to fill inventory – to one network,” Palmieri said following the close of the show. “The industry really needs cooperation, it needs to have technologies and platforms that are able to redirect to one another, to allow in part publishers to make money and to make as much money as they can. By doing that we’ll open up more advertising impressions to audiences . and open up more advertising inventory to interested advertisers.”
Palmieri’s unexpected remarks prompted a buzz among attendees at the conference. But Third Screen responded with a surprising proclamation of its own: the outfit “is looking forward to enabling third-party ad serving to its Third Screen Media ad-serving platform later this year,” Eric Bosco, SVP of operations and product management, said in an e-mail response to RCR Wireless News. Bosco declined to offer further details regarding any specific relationship.
Playing nice
Third Screen was acquired by AOL last year and has become a key component of Platform-A, a digital advertising business created in the wake of a billion-dollar spending spree by the longtime Internet player. AOL hopes to create a one-stop shop for advertisers and brands looking to deploy campaigns online and in mobile, but the fusion of so many parts has proven to be a monumental task: Platform-A has missed sales targets, according to news reports, as the business units have had trouble working together, and Curt Viebranz was dismissed as president three months ago in favor of Lynda Clarizio, who had overseen the Advertising.com operation – another AOL pickup, and a former Palmieri employer.
Platform-A has made impressive strides in the on-deck advertising world, though, inking deals to sell and deliver display ads for Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile USA Inc. And while the lack of interoperability may a concern for some players, Platform-A is seeing traction with its on-deck business, Bosco said.
“There’s fragmentation in mobile, just as there’s fragmentation in the online space, yet there’s an added level of involvement because the carriers are critical players,” Bosco maintained. “That said, Platform-A has exclusive repping rights with two of the biggest carriers . and we’re not experiencing the same kind of disconnect that others may be coming up against. There’s no question that mobile inventory is being sold, and with our flagship partners, Platform A – via our Third Screen Media ad-serving network – is actively monetizing inventory and getting strong results.”
Platform-A’s primary business is online advertising, of course, and Third Screen’s tardiness in forging an alliance with a third-party ad-server likely is due to the fact that executives have been busy cobbling together several different businesses. But the move to integrate with other players on the field is sure to move the space one step closer to the ever-elusive tipping point industry veterans have spoken of for years.
“We are strong believers in an open approach to building the mobile-ad ecosystem in much the same way there was an open approach to building the Internet advertising system,” Palmieri said. “It’s one of these things like SMS interoperability,” which helped spur a dramatic increase in text messaging. “People were incredulous it had never happened before.”
