Streaming rich media startup Net-mercial Tuesday announced its intention
to enter the ad network space with an affiliate marketing program called
Jump.Space.
Clicking a link on a network member’s site will serve an interstitial,
streaming rich media ad to users, which plays while the next site loads.
The ads can incorporate interactive Flash or transactional elements.
Advertisers on the Jump.Space network will also have access to
Net-Mercial’s tools for tracking, targeting and optimization.
“Jump.Space ads have superior advertising power because they combine the
undivided attention of users, inspiring rich media messages and the
interactive tools necessary for instant action,” said Net-mercial Chief Executive Officer David
Lamb. “Advertisers finally have a method for getting the online results they
expect.”
Company execs hope the marketing network will foster the spread of
Net-mercial’s ads. The ads are currently sold by ad management and delivery
company AdForce, a CMGI company, and free
site host FortuneCity.com.
Advertisers using Net-Mercial’s interstitial include promotional site Netflip.com, automatic forms filler Gator and contest site Group Lotto. Auto manufacturer Chrysler, and online
currency company
well.
Net-Mercial’s ads currently run on ad network adtegrity.com‘s sites, on beenz.com and
multicultural portal netsperanto,
among other sites.
The network is the second product-availability announcement by the
company this month. Earlier it unveiled a direct e-mail variant of its rich
media interstitials.
Despite as of yet having no customers for its e-mail product, nor
participants in its marketing network, sources close to the company say it
is close to inking deals with several large content sites.
Furthermore, company officials say they are optimistic about what they
can offer clients.
“Average banner clickthrough is about 0.4 percent,” said Net-mercial VP
of Marketing Jeff Andrews. “We’re getting ten times that on average.”
Net-Mercial’s product is similar to that offered by
Unicast, which last week announced that
ad pepper networks would be offering
its services to clients in Europe.
