Rich media technology provider Eyeblaster has rolled out the latest version of its desktop campaign management platform, Eyeblaster 5.0, designed to make it easier for agencies, advertisers, and publishers to collaborate on rich media campaigns.
The new version boasts an array of upgrades is intended to bring efficiency to rich media ad campaigns by eliminating third parties from the administrative process. All of New York-based Eyeblaster’s 450 agencies and 1,000 publishers have been automatically upgraded to the new platform, which was initially launched in May 2001 and last upgraded this past July.
“More and larger campaigns, running on more sites with a variety of content creates a marketplace of extraordinary complexity,” said Gal Trifon, Eyeblaster’s chief executive. “The market demands scalability and this is exactly what we offer with Eyeblaster 5.0: more control, more efficiency, better delivery, and more data.”
In addition to a user interface redesign, Eyeblaster 5.0 defines users according to their roles — media planner, agency trafficker, creative designer, etc. — and caters options to their functions. Publishers can now define a “flight” — a certain impression volume within a set timeframe — that agencies can operate within to rotate ads, set up alternate ads for users, and disable ads.
The platform allows media planners a streamlined campaign setup process, which can be configured to alert the agency via e-mail with status of the campaign. Also, the approval process is built in, allowing agencies to submit an ad for publisher approval via e-mail.
“It gives publishers the control they’ve constantly been wanting,” said Tom Jenen, Eyeblaster’s director of marketing.
The platform allows users to choose from six rich media ad formats: floating ad, interstitial, commercial break, expandable banner, full-page overlay, and wallpaper ad.
Eyeblaster is among the leaders in the burgeoning rich media field, seeking to establish its platform as the tool of choice for managing rich media ads.
Research sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau has backed up contentions of rich media’s effectiveness, showing it much more successful than conventional, static formats.
With higher success rates comes higher CPMs for publishers, positioning rich media to grow exponentially in the future. According to Jupiter Research, which is owned by the parent company of this Web site, rich media ads will grow from 6 percent of total market share this year to 22 percent in 2007.
In September, Eyeblaster inked a deal with MSN to provide rich media ad formats in the ISP and Web publisher’s first foray into the rich media advertising, following earlier moves by Yahoo! and AOL.
