News Corp.?s iPad app for The Daily launched with campaigns from brands such as HBO, Land Rover, Macy?s, Paramount and Pepsi. However, its long-term success will not only depend on ads served, but also the number of paid subscribers it can attract.

This week Rupert Murdoch, chairman/CEO of News Corp., unveiled The Daily, which he claims is the industry?s first national daily news publication created from the ground up for iPad. By integrating Medialets? mobile rich media ad platform, The Daily is letting its sponsors choose from a range of rich-media ad formats, including banners, adaptables, expandables and interstitials, which tap into the capabilities of the iPad.

?It has been a long time since there has been meaningful innovation around the newspaper model, and it is really encouraging for media and connected devices in general that there is someone with deep pockets willing to take a risk developing expressly for these platforms,? said Eric Litman, chairman/CEO of Medialets, New York. ?The advertisers buying on The Daily were first and foremost looking for an opportunity to innovate and be associated with an innovative content brand.

?Because of the level of interactivity, and because the ads specifically in The Daily are large full-screen ads, they can do some pretty amazing things,? he said. ?Prior to smartphones and large form-factor devices such as the iPad taking hold, it was really difficult to get creative directors at agencies to build for mobile.

?The impact will be felt not just on the media side?this is a great place for creative agencies to really showcase what they can do.?

The Daily is a daily national news publication built exclusively as an application for tablet computing.

Monetization opportunity
Led by Editor-in-chief Jesse Angelo and Publisher Greg Clayman, The Daily is the first application made available on the App Store as a subscription that will be billed directly to an iTunes account.

The Daily iPad subscription is priced at $0.99 cents a week or $39.99 for an annual subscription.

Monetizing mobile media has been a key issue for media brands, as ad-support alone just does not cut it.

Every platform that media companies look at should have an ROI strategy and mobile is no exception.

The iPad is going to revolutionize the way media companies monetize their mobile content and the News Corp. app is evidence of that. The iPad presents an opportunity to bring in new customers and new advertisers who are looking for more than just static ad and content experiences.

With approximately 15 million iPads having been sold to date, and with the expectations from a variety of analysts that another 45 million will be sold this year, News Corp. is targeted at a fairly broad, diverse audience.

Every day, The Daily publishes up to 100 pages focused on six key areas: news, sports, gossip and celebrity, opinion, arts and life, and applications and games.

The Daily features Sudoku and crossword puzzles, localized weather reports and a customizable sports package that captures news on the user?s favorite teams.

Subscribers can also leave comments on Daily stories in either written or audio form, as well as bookmark them to read later within the application.

Most of The Daily?s articles can be shared via Facebook, Twitter and email. The application links out to the Web and brings Web content into the application.

As with any publication?print, digital or otherwise?News Corp. must focus on consistently offering quality content for The Daily to be a success.

?The Daily?s monetization model is interesting in terms of what it foreshadows for Apple and other publications?I believe it will become a more widely adopted model within the industry,? said Noah Elkin, principal analyst at eMarketer, New York. ?Compared to other publications, the cost for subscribers fairly low for a daily publication?The New York Times, when it goes to a pay-wall model for the Web, will charge $240 a year.

?Whether or not it appears to be a good value, it has to be something people want to read, and it will be interesting as a test bed for Apple?s subscription model,? he said. ?Ad support could possibly contribute to revenue, but a lot of the potential for success depends on News Corp.?s ability to drive subscriptions, which depends less on the pricing and more on the content.

?It is not hard to get someone to try it once, but to plunk down $40 for a whole year, that is a whole other order of commitment?the content has to be appealing enough to encourage that, and it is tough to do with a general-interest publication.?

Mobile advertising
The Daily?s full-page ad units are interactive and customizable. They offer a mix of branding and direct-response opportunities.

Launch advertisers include HBO, Macy?s, Paramount, Pepsi Max, Range Rover, Verizon and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Medialets worked with a host of agencies on the various ad campaigns running within The Daily application, including Moxie Media for the Verizon campaign, PHD for HBO?s ?Big Love? ads and MEC Media for Macy?s Kinder Aggugini initiative.

Verizon is promoting its 4G LTE network:

HBO is promoting the final season of Big Love:

Macy?s in-application ad unit drives consumers to http://www.macys.com/impulse, as well as to its Twitter and Facebook pages:

Chiat/Day LA helped to power the ad units for the Pepsi Max Super Bowl campaign.

First, a full-screen banner promoting Pepsi Max displays within the flow of articles.

The second creative is an expandable ad unit that lets users interact with a Pepsi Max bottle. Users can virtually ?kick? the Pepsi Max bottle down the field (?Hail Mary to the Max?) and ?like? Pepsi Max on Facebook.

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The Land Rover campaign was conceived by WPP Group's Wunderman. It celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the automotive brand, featuring a full-screen interstitial with a globe that users can tap to spin.

The spinning globe lands on one of 15 different places in the world where Land Rover has a presence, including Panama, where the vehicle played a key role in a rare crossing of the Darien Gap.

Each destination features a story, supported by an image gallery and/or video.

The creative also invites the user to sign up for email alerts from Land Rover.

The iPad creative for a campaign promoting ?Rango,? Paramount Pictures? animated feature was developed by the Medialets in-house creative team in collaboration with the studio.

The ad unit includes a click-to-video feature that lets users watch a trailer of the animated film.

Y&R Media and OMD helped to power the Virgin Atlantic iPad rich-media campaign, which promoted its UpperClass service to London.

Users tap hot spots to access image galleries and video of traveling to London on Virgin Atlantic, including amenities such as its complimentary limo service and the Heathrow Clubhouse.

An ?Explore More? button lets users learn more by visiting VirginAtlantic.com in an embedded browser, while a ?Share? option connects users to a wide range of social media sites.

?The Pepsi ad is a great example of building creative expressly designed for the iPad platform,? Mr. Litman said. ?The Virgin Atlantic ad unit wouldn?t make sense for another platform because it is touch-driven.

?The tablet market for brands is becoming very real,? he said. ?There is a mix of categories now available to buy in news, business/finance, sports, entertainment, lifestyle and a meaningful audience growing to real scale this year.

?It is a great time to begin to invest in understanding how to take advantage of a medium where consumers are clearly shifting their attention.?

Final Take
Rich-media ad for Virgin Atlantic within The Daily iPad application

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