ADIFY’S BUILD YOUR OWN NETWORK PLATFORM ENABLES NEW CLASS OF ONLINE AD NETWORKS
Company’s private label ad offering change rules of Web advertising, letting publishers of all sizes create instant networks to help advertisers connect with highly targeted audiences
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 7, 2006
— At the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, Adify Corporation today unveiled its new Build Your Own Network (BYON™) platform, giving entrepreneurs, advertisers and publishers of all sizes the infrastructure and tools for creating customized online advertising networks. With Adify’s BYON, network builders can define, assemble, merchandize and manage new, highly-targeted advertising networks within weeks, incurring little or no upfront cost. In turn, Adify handles all of the campaign management, performance tracking, reporting, billing, payment and technical support functions needed for successful advertising campaigns.
Adify released its BYON offering at Web 2.0’s Launch Pad workshop, which is designed to showcase the event’s most interesting company or product launches, as determined by John Battelle, Web 2.0's executive producer and an advisory board of noted entrepreneurs, VCs and industry analysts. This year, more than 200 companies petitioned the conference chair for the opportunity to launch their new product onstage at Web 2.0, and only 13 were selected.
“In the offline world, hundreds of special interest, editorial driven magazines offer advertisers clear, focused content-targeted demographics. The Internet is poised to break free from the one-size-fits-all network model and deliver the same level of segmentation to advertisers,” said Larry Braitman, co-founder and CEO of Adify. “We envision thousands of niche or vertically-focused ad networks emerging to meet specific market needs, driven by entrepreneurs and enterprises who are members of the specific communities they serve. These network builders are in the best position to assemble publishers and deliver value to advertisers. Adify’s BYON offering provides the tools and services to manage every step along the way – from inventory management and pricing to ad serving and reporting – giving network builders a turnkey platform for developing a sustainable, long-term advertising model.”
Traditional media organizations, advertisers and entrepreneurs are using Adify’s BYON platform to monetize pre-existing networks or to create niche, vertical advertising networks from scratch. Leading up to the launch, Adify has been working with partners to implement a range of new ad networks, including:
- Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI) – Washingtonpost.com selected Adify’s BYON platform to enable advertising across its recently launched Sponsored Blogroll advertising network. The Sponsored Blogroll program helps match bloggers with advertisers looking to target specific content areas with focused readership. Using Adify, WPNI can capitalize on its sales force and relationships with advertisers to extend advertising reach, while helping the blogger community grow revenues.
- Ready to Rare – Founded by entrepreneurs Matt Wong and Brian David-Marshall, Ready to Rare is a new Adify-powered network that connects advertisers with consumers in the highly targeted collectible card game market. This gaming genre, which was inspired by “Magic the Gathering,” has an estimated six million players in over 70 countries worldwide. Ready to Rare aggregates advertising inventory from collectible card game Web sites around the world, offering advertisers a tightly focused vertical network to reach an elusive, yet highly passionate audience.
- Sportsyndicator – Led by Ransu Salovaara, a Finnish entrepreneur, Sportsyndicator is creating a series of outdoor and extreme sports-oriented advertising networks encompassing Web sites – and serving advertisers – in this underserved niche.
- VFW Webcom – VFW Webcom is a North Carolina-based organization responsible for managing a network of more than 9,500 Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) outpost Web sites. Using the Adify platform, Webcom allows advertisers to target VFW members on any scale, from a blog at a single outpost, to a nationwide campaign across all of the 9,500 VFW sites – a commanding target audience for political campaigns or any other marketers seeking to reach the veteran demographic (a voting block with a 90 percent voter participation rate).
- Top Dog Ad Network – Focused on dog lovers, veterinarians, breeders and other pet professionals, Top Dog enables large and small advertisers to increase their share of voice on highly targeted Web sites, representing a new source of dog-related adverting inventory.
The foundation for Adify’s BYON solution is a suite of tools allowing network builders to promote and sell text, graphic and rich media advertising inventory across a custom-built network, while relying on Adify for key enabling services required to execute the transaction, including ad management, tracking, reporting, billing and payment.
About Adify
Adify was founded in 2005 by online advertising pioneers from Flycast Communications, one of the original online ad networks. Adify’s mission is to empower online publishers to sell advertising through a variety of new channels, including self-service storefronts, vertical networks and open marketplaces. Adify is based in San Bruno, Calif. and is funded by Venrock Associates.
Media Contacts:
For Adify
Jason Throckmorton or Corey Lewis
415.625.8555
adify(at)launchsquad.com
