dailywireless.org » Ad Tech: WiFi & More

Ad Tech: WiFi & More

He was not a loony. He was the sanest man I ever knew in my life.
– China Syndrome

At the Ad:tech Conference in New York this week, more than 300 exhibitors and a variety of keynote speakers will discuss the latest trends in modern marketing.

According to market research company eMarketer, hotspot based advertising is set for rapid growth. They say Internet ad revenue reached $15.9 billion in 2006, and is projected to reach $25 billion by 2010. At the same time, U.S. and global Wi-Fi users have been growing at annual rates in excess of 35% for the past several years.

MySpace announced a new advertising platform, called “SelfServe at Ad:Tech today. A new ad creation tool will allow advertisers to select from a number of targeting factors, such as geographic, demographic, and various user interest categories. After selecting their desired ad placement within the MySpace network, SelfServe participants will be able to use the customized tool to pay for their ads and initiate placement. The service will launch to a limited set of advertisers in the next sixty days.

IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Internet conglomerate run by Barry Diller, said Monday it will break itself into five publicly traded businesses — an indication that the media mogul’s plan to build a multimedia empire has failed, says the Associated Press.

The New York-based company plans to spin off its HSN home shopping network, Ticketmaster ticketing service, Interval time-share business and LendingTree mortgage referral units. Roughly 30 Web-only brands — including the Ask.com search engine, Match.com, Evite, Citysearch and Excite — would remain as part of IAC. Diller also announced that IAC had reached a renewed deal with Google to continue as its advertising-listings provider for another five years. That deal is expected to bring in more than $3.5 billion in revenue.

Federal Trade Commissioner John Leibowitz has two major concerns about online advertising: that it’s being shown to children and that it tracks private information in too much detail. He is suggesting changes to web site privacy policies including an opt-in agreement on those policies. The Interactive Advertising Bureau thinks that the FTC should mind its own business, notes Broadband Reports.

AnchorFree today launched its broadband media platform, guaranteeing 100% accurate location-based targeting, through AnchorFree’s geo-targeting capabilities, which are based on the access location of the consumer.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, AnchorFree claims to be the largest advertising supported Hotspot media network, representing more than 10,000 Hotspot locations, and five million user sessions per month.

AnchorFree’s location-based ad network delivers interactive, targeted ads to laptop and mobile devices. They provides a wireless router with built-in marketing and messaging firmware.

As each user starts a session at an AnchorFree Hotspot, a Doorway Video or Display Ad appears. Then AnchorFree’s hotspots insert a persistent communications frame at the top of the browser as long as the user is on-line.

Venues can share in the revenue while advertisers gain a targeted audience. Any business, from coffee shops and restaurants to travel spots and retail locations, can leverage the AnchorFree network to offer their patrons free Internet access while generating new revenues with no financial investments required.

AnchorFree also offers consumers control over their privacy and security through the company’s Hotspot Shield, a free advertising supported VPN client.

AnchorFree has created five hot zones in San Francisco - on Fillmore Street, Castro Street, Union Street, Chestnut Street and in Union Square - by donating more than 200 routers to restaurants, cafes and small businesses, allowing them to create Wi-Fi corridors that customers can use.

Competitor FON, has given away thousands of free routers. The company counts more than 450,000 users worldwide who have plugged in the device and agreed to share their wireless signal with neighbors and visitors.

By connecting to the FON network, users not only can help create a larger system of Wi-Fi hotspots, they can use other FON networks around the world. The company makes its money by selling routers for $29 and $39 and by charging visitors a small fee for using the network.

Are “free” ad-sponsored Wi-Fi networks viable? I’m using one right now.

MetroFi, contracted by the city of Portland to build a citywide network, has both a $19/month and a free (ad-supported) tier. I’ve been using their free service for about two months now. There are reliability problems, but “free” is just too good a deal to resist. A persistent banner is a price I’m willing to pay at home (but I’m cheap). MetroFi’s best application is probably mobile device access.

While Portland’s attempt to WiFi the entire city is stalling, the wireless at the PDX airport works like a charm, says Jaunted. PDX has free WiFi in 70 percent of its facilities, including some spots outside of secured areas. Jaunted rates the Best US Airports for WiFi.

Of course, Personal Telco’s free hotspots, set up all over the city by volunteers, are a preferred choice. They are reliable, since they’re generally inside coffee shops, and are always ad-free.

Virgin Mobile gives away free minutes if it’s subscribers watch ads online. T-Mobile offers free WiFi access for one year to anyone buying a couple of XO laptops.

Glenn Fleishman from WiFiNetNews says; Free Wi-Fi from Starbucks? Ha! Ain’t. Gunna. Happen.

My guess is that a “free” ad-sponsored Wifi service — and discounted voice — will be offered by T-Mobile within 6 months, perhaps in conjunction with their Google Phone.