Berggi launches new ad platform for mobile applications
May 14, 2008
A Berggioning business
Mobile applications provider Berggi has formally unveiled a new advertising platform for mobile applications.
The Palo Alto, CA-based company in January launched with beta customers in the United States and Spain. The new mobile ad platform is designed to increase reach and revenue for mobile applications.
“As a mobile applications provider which gives its products to the final end users for free, we have anticipated to make revenues from mobile advertisements,” said Babur Ozden, CEO of Berggi.
has three characteristics as its distinguishing features.
First, advertisers can select advertisement placement anywhere within the mobile application. With other ad networks, mobile advertisers are limited to showing ads only at the entry and exit points of a mobile application, Mr. Ozden said.
Second, Berggi has borrowed key interactive elements of Web advertising. Its platform will let users register or interact with the ads without leaving their mobile applications.
Finally, will use the user profile information it has for contextual targeting, improving as the platform follows and observes user activity. Contrast this with the current practice of targeting mobile ads based on generic or static user profile data and not on usage patterns.
In addition to those features, will offer Web tools for creating mobile ads, managing mobile ad campaigns and reporting on campaign effectiveness.
Berggi is a downloadable mobile portal, available worldwide. It offers mobile email, messaging, videos, Web downloads, sharing and communities.
The company also has offices in Houston, TX; Madrid, Spain; Beijing, China; and Sofia, Bulgaria. Investors include Spanish firms Group Avanzit and Adara Ventures.
Berggi launched BerggiMail email last year and BerggiVideo five months ago. Deployed on the platform, those two applications have more than 3 million users so far.
The firm will make its platform application programming interfaces open to other mobile applications providers.
Mr. Ozden said was launched because the needs of mobile applications providers weren’t being met by third-party mobile ad networks.
“The third-party networks pursue mobile carriers and mobile content providers as publishers,” Mr. Ozden said. “However, for mobile application developers like Berggi – the fastest-growing segment of the mobile space – there is no third-party ad network out there whose business model is to work with us.
“Therefore, the technology and platforms is not targeting our needs,” he said. “We were trying to solve our revenue problems. We saw this niche and we basically picked up the phone and asked other application providers if they suffered the same problem. They did.”
Of course, debut takes the company into territory dominated by mobile ad networks such as AdMob, Medio and Third Screen Media.
“Our goal is not to go and compete against AdMob and AdMob’s rivals,” Mr. Ozden said.
“We will seek if the third-party ad networks can adapt to our platform and therefore they could offer a fitting advertising network platform for mobile advertisers,” he said.