Rich media ad firm Amicada signed its first publisher this week in an effort
that supporters of Web advertising are hoping pans out as a way to attract
traditional advertisers.
Fort Lee, N.J.-based Amicada signed Alley-based Web incentives firm
Blink.com to host ads using its streaming media spots. Amicada repurposes
advertisers’ existing TV spots for the Web, and rewards users for watching
the spots.
The company promises advertisers that users will attentively watch
full-screen, full-motion TV commercials on the Web. (The Amicada
application requires that users click on a button seconds after an ad
finishes playing, ensuring that users remain at the computer and watch it
fully.)
Similarly, the company promotes its ads to publishers because of the
potential to attract high-paying traditional clients.
Blink.com offers rewards to users who click on affiliates’ sites and sign
up for advertisers’ deals. It also offers to host users’ Web browser
bookmarks, allowing members to access them from any PC, and sells standard
banner ads to support the service.
“Because advertising is one of Blink’s revenue sources, we’re concerned
about the current advertising slowdown,” said Blink founder and chief
operating officer Ari Paparo. “Compared with current online advertising
techniques such as banners, animation and streaming video, Amicada’s
technology puts the oomph back into online advertising.”
Like other rich media firms, Amicada’s proposition is that traditional
advertisers will flock to its solution because it offers repurposed TV spots
(with acknowledged branding potential — at least compared to Web banners)
for cheaper than the cost of developing Web-specific ads.
“The agreement with Blink is an endorsement of Amicada’s approach and of
the emerging consensus that full-screen, full-motion video will become the
main medium of choice on the Internet for advertisers who wish to build
brands,” said Amicada president and chief executive E. Ted Prince. “It is
cheaper to use our approach than to use banners or animation and this
realization is going to revolutionize the world of online advertising.”
Already Amicada has signed Unilever to its client list, but declines to
discuss any other companies on board — though it said it also has at least
nine other “leading advertisers and their agencies” on its roster.
At any rate, the deal potentially will give Unilever access to the
eyeballs of Blink’s one million reported registered members, who view about
6 million pages per month.
