Press Release about Widgets as Ads

CLEARSPRING TO SERVE WIDGETS AS ADS

New Ad Format Extends Advertisers' Relationship with its Audience

NEW YORK, NY, ad:tech New York (Nov. 7, 2007) — Clearspring Technologies, the market leader in widget syndication and tracking, today announced the launch of Clearspring for Advertisers, a new service that delivers widgets as online ads. The new ad-served format enables marketers to replace standard-sized online banner ads with interactive, portable widgets.

Unlike banner ads, widgets are shareable Web applications or components that consumers can easily grab and post to their social networking site, personal start page or blog of their choice. Posted widgets retain their viral capability and can be shared time and again. This allows for the advertiser's message to spread across the Web, creates a direct channel for marketers to engage in continuous conversations with their audience and lets end users establish themselves as advocates for their favorite products, movies, TV shows and brands. Sony Pictures Entertainment, The CW Television Network, Comedy Central, DreamWorks Animation, and Warner Bros. have all recently used Clearspring for Advertisers.

Sony Pictures Entertainment was Clearspring's first partner to use ad widgets for two movie releases this year - Superbad and Resident Evil: Extinction. "By using ad widgets instead of standard-sized banners, we were able to extend our time with the consumer and their network of friends, as they made our ad widget part of their personal pages," said Dwight Caines, executive vice president, Worldwide Digital Marketing, Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The CW Television Network, also used Clearspring for Advertisers to launch an ad-widget campaign this year to build buzz among teens about the fall season premier of the Gossip Girl TV series. The day before the show premiered, thousands of fans had posted the Gossip Girl widget on their personal pages. These fans continue to promote Gossip Girl to their friends. The CW's use of ad widgets instead of standard-sized banners on sites such as People.com and MySpace, generated more than 65 million widget views during the campaign launch period, and continues to receive impressions.

Clearspring for Advertisers is fully integrated with the top ad-serving systems including DoubleClick and Mediaplex. Clearspring also offers a full set of analytics and reporting tools so advertisers can monitor activity as ad widgets traverse the Web and repurpose media placements in response to each widget's viral performance.

Clearspring publishes widgets that can be shared on multiple social networking sites, start pages and blogs like Friendster, TypePad, Blogger, iGoogle, Windows Live, Netvibes, Pageflakes, Webwag, and Freewebs, as well as on Facebook and MySpace. Clearspring provides advertisers the ability to convert ad widgets into fully compatible Facebook applications.

According to Hooman Radfar, founder and chief executive officer of Clearspring, "With Clearspring for Advertisers, everybody wins. Marketers can make one media buy and have the potential to increase impressions and get more bang for their media buck. Creative directors and producers unleash their ideas on a new platform for innovation, and the advertiser sustains a dialogue with the end user, who becomes an advocate for the brand."

Built for mission-critical campaigns, Clearspring's widget distribution service is used by the world's largest media companies and brand advertisers, including NBC Universal, Time Warner and the NBA. Clearspring for Advertisers is a scalable, reliable and fault- tolerant service, with its servers geographically distributed to support the world's most successful campaigns. For more information go to http://www.clearspring.com/advertising

About Clearspring

Clearspring is the market's leading widget syndication and tracking service, used by the world's largest media companies and advertisers, and independent widget developers. Clearspring helps publishers and marketers extend their reach to the leading social networks, start pages and blogs and to respond to growing consumer demand for a more personalized desktop, Web, and mobile experience. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., Clearspring offers a comprehensive set of widget creation, distribution, management and monetization services. For more information about Clearspring Technologies and how to use widgets in your business or to join the Clearspring developer community, please visit www.clearspring.com.

• Clearspring To Serve Widgets As Ads
  November 7, 2007
• Clearspring Announces Launchpad to Empower Developers
  October 29, 2007
• Clearspring and Freewebs Create Partnership
  July 18, 2007
• Clearspring and RockYou Create Partnership
  July 10, 2007
• NBC Universal Launches Widgets to Expand Distribution of Content on Digital Platforms
  June 6, 2007
• Clearspring Widgets Hit 3 Billion Mark
  May 2, 2007
• Clearspring Introduces Widget Syndication Services
  November 6, 2006

• Tear Down This Wall: Clearspring Blurs the Line Between Facebook and the Widget Ecosystem
  Sexy Widget
• MySpace Widget Explosion: Clearspring, MyCityMate, Pikipimp
  Mashable
• 8 Startups to Watch out for in 2007
  StartupSquad
• ClearSpring enters the widget space with a developer focus
  Read/WriteWeb
• Most Interesting Web 2.0 Company?
  VCMike's Blog
• Wrap-Up from Widgets Live
  GigaOM
• Clearspring to Track Widgets Across Netvibes, MySpace and More
  Mashable

Clearspring PR

Phone: Work 703.677.3999

Fax: Work 703.677.3648

Email: Contact Us

© 2008 Clearspring Technologies, Inc.

AOL unveils Spot Marketplace

In the following article AOL annouces a Spot Marketplace to complement PubAccess. The implecation is that remnant advertising products will become more efficient because advertisers can use the new spot marketplace to choose inventory on a performance basis - either cost-per-click or cost-per-action - across such AOL-branded sites like Moviefone, as well as the publisher sites in the Ad.com network.


By David Kaplan - Wed 23 Apr 2008 09:01 PM PST

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-aols-platform-a-answers-spray-and-pray-ad-sales-with-spot-market-system/

AOL’s (NYSE: TWX) Platform-A is unveiling Spot Marketplace, a service that aims to give advertisers a bit more selectivity when it comes to online placements, the company tells us. The new service is intended as a complement to its recently launched PubAccess inventory management tool for publishers in the Advertising.com network. Platform-A also hopes the new spot-buying service will help to separate the company from the “spray and pray” placement description that remnant ads sales are often derided by, since most advertisers have little choice over where their ads wind up in these systems. While this doesn’t offer the kind of specificity ad buys get on vertical ad networks, Spot Marketplace looks like it could narrow the field a bit for online marketers. Advertisers can use the new spot marketplace to choose inventory on a performance basis - either cost-per-click or cost-per-action - across such AOL-branded sites like Moviefone, as well as the publisher sites in the Ad.com network.

* AOL’s Platform-A Makes Its Pitch To Small Publishers With Advertising.com PubAccess Service

Social media news and information for April 22, 2008

Today MySpace announced The Community Builder platform for advertisers, an article was posted about ad networks that places the low end of display pricing at $4 CPM, and I’ve noted some social media and industry analysts that are being quoted in the media today.

Community ad program opens in beta: Separately, MySpace is testing a program designed to help advertisers create communities around their brands. Dubbed the Community Builder platform, the program has two tiers: Self-Service and Full-Service. Both versions give advertisers instant community updates via blogs and bulletins, as well as Hitbox analytics designed to tell them how effective the campaign is. Self-Service is basically aimed at advertisers who are familiar with MySpace and who have advanced design coding skills and can maintain their own site. Community Builder is powered by Brooklyn, NY-based web shop Deep Focus. Release

of producing a hit movie or TV show.

-- Reuters: Filmaka is aiming for global reach and is developing a local language site for India; it might create a similar site for Japan as well.

Posted in: Broadband, Entertainment, Media, Social Media
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The Gold Rush For Ad Nets is On; But Crowded Space Brings An End To Remnants Low Prices
By David Kaplan - Mon 21 Apr 2008 01:46 PM PST

A prolonged economic downturn could turn out to be a upturn for advertising networks, at least in the short term. But, as the space gets more crowded with companies selling remnant, or unsold inventory, the fortunes for many such ad nets could change. As the NYT illustrates, many ad networks that focus on remnant ad space charge as little as $4 CPMs versus the average $40 CPMs commanded by portals like Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) or MSN. Meanwhile, the suddenly trendy vertical ad nets offered by major media publishers dont offer the promise of cheap prices; instead, promising greater placement on top sites and like-minded affiliates.

The following CEOs will be speaking at EconSM:

Come listen to them at our EconSM conference on April 29th, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

Dalton Caldwell, Founder and CEO, imeem

Seth Goldstein, Co-founder and CEO, SocialMedia Networks

Keith Richman, Co-founder and CEO, Break.com

Kevin Rose, Founder and Chief Architect, Digg

Toni Schneider, CEO, Automattic

Moderator: Shawn Gold, CEO, Social Approach

Four prominent analysts in the internet / social media space:

Jeff Lindsay, Bernstein
Ross Sandler, RBC
Mark Mahaney, Citi
Mark May, Needham

Clearspring in the News

Technology | Online Ads Come of Age, or Maybe Not

AOL's Kevin Conroy has emphasized the need for compelling ad delivery. (By Rick Maiman -- Bloomberg News)
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 31, 2007; Page D01

The rise of social networks such as Facebook and wireless gadgets such as the iPhone has set off a small stampede of companies hoping to build on or replicate their success. Many are counting on advertising to pay the bills.

But will it work?

That's one of the big questions for 2008, local technology gurus say. Advertisers want results.

"Everyone thinks they're going to support their business with the advertising model," said Phil Bronner, a venture capitalist at Bethesda's Novak Biddle. "What people don't know about is how effective those things are."

So far, the best known local players have been busy building their platforms in anticipation that advertising dollars will follow.

Silver Spring-based Freewebs and McLean-based Clearspring, both makers of the little applications that sit on top of Web sites, are among the farthest along in the local Web 2.0 space. They're followed by a few smaller companies with experienced management, such as McLean's Mixx, a social news site founded by the former general manager of Yahoo News, and Columbia's CollectiveX, a site where people can create social networks.

Full text available at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123001769.html?sub=new&sid=ST2007123100485

Cloverfield Widget

Exclusive footage of film

Press about Clearspring's WAN (Widget Ad Network) Announcement

Here are the results of our recent PR efforts regarding The Widget Ad Network, SnaggableAds and our PointRoll partnership.

Widgets Gone Wild (Widgets get cover mention on Adweek and Full cover story on yesterday’s Mediaweek; attached as a pdf file)
Adweek
December 10, 2007
Byline: Rich Brunelli
http://www.adweek.com/aw/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003682974

“Now comes another turning point, as McLean, Va.-based Clearspring on Dec. 10 gears up to roll out the Widget Ad Network, enabling media companies to create ad-embedded widgets distributed via social-networking sites, desktops and mobile phones.”
--Adweek and Mediaweek

Online Ad World Gets Wider with Widgets
InternetNews.com
December 10, 2007
Byline: Clint Boulton
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2230179,00.asp

"Google is getting a new competitor. Widget maker Clearspring Technologies on Dec. 10 said it plans to launch an ad network to help its media publishing customers make money from their content."
--InternetNews.com

"Peggy Fry, senior vice president at Clearspring, said that while Google Gadget Ads are designed to run on the Google content network, Clearspring's widget ads will run on any blogs, start pages or social networks. The competition is likely to be friendly; Google and Clearspring are partners, and are working on how to make Clearspring's widgets run on Google's network."
--InternetNews.com

Clearspring Partners with PointRoll for Ads on your Widgets
Mashable
December 10, 2007
Byline: Kristin Nicole
http://mashable.com/2007/12/10/clearspring-ad-network-pointroll/

"In Clearspring’s evolution as a distribution tool, it’s become somewhat of a one-stop shop, so offering a way to analyze the performance for multiple widget formats and recommending the best formats or combination of formats for various types of websites would give Clearspring another edge."
--Mashable


Widget Syndicator Clearspring Launches Ad Network
Reuters
December 10, 2007
Byline: Eric Auchard
http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN1019024920071210

"Because the content in its syndicated widgets comes from recognized media brands, Clearspring says its service has distinct advantages for advertisers, compared with the "anything goes" ethic of much of the content created on the Web."
--Reuters


Clearspring launches widgets for Madison Avenue
VentureBeat
December 10, 2007
Byline: Julie Ruvulo
http://venturebeat.com/2007/12/10/clearspring-launches-widgets-for-madison-avenue/

“Clearspring earned its reputation as the market leader developing widgets for Big Media, and counts among its clients NBC (exclusively), Disney (recently launched over a dozen widgets for ESPN) and Turner.”
--VentureBeat

“Peggy Fry, a former vice president of sales at Netflix and AOL Time Warner, is well-positioned to head up the advertising effort for Clearspring, and several people I interviewed attested to Clearspring’s mindshare in the market.”
--VentureBeat


New service will insert ads into Web widgets
Clearspring launches network to help advertisers more easily target social network users
Computerworld
December 10, 2007
Byline: Heather Havenstein
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=development&articleId=9052098&taxonomyId=11&intsrc=kc_top

“Hooman Radfar, Clearspring's CEO and co-founder, noted that PointRoll is a dominant player in the rollover and expandable ad market. That, combined with the recent growth of consumer use of widgets -- 34% growth in the past two months, according to research firm comScore Inc. -- creates a ‘really powerful advertising communications platform,’ Radfar said. The two technologies will ‘make ads more interactive, having users be able to interact and stay longer with the ad than ever before,’ he added.”
--Computerworld

Clearspring Launches Widget Ad Network
Read Write Web
December 10, 2007
Byline: Josh Catone
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/clearspring_launches_widget_ad_network.php
“For smaller widget creators or those whose widgets are strictly content-based, selling in widget advertising may be a good way to monetize widgets, especially if ads are kept unobtrusive.”
--ReadWriteWeb

Clearspring Technologies & PointRoll Bring Rich Media to Widget Ads
Jack Myers.com
December 10, 2007
Byline: Jack Myers
http://www.jackmyers.com/commentary/media-biz-buzz/12309731.html
“Virgin Mobile, Blockbuster, Lionsgate Films and The Learning Channel have entered into a beta test agreement to distribute viral widget rich media ads through Fox TV (Futurama) and x17 online. The partners will be exploring different widget ad formats to define retention, grab rates, and interaction with the ads. Advertisers who want to reach the Web 2.0 audience can do it more effectively in widgets rather than banner ads, especially now that they are rich media enabled," said Peggy Fry, SVP Business Development.”
--JackMyers.com

Clearspring Launches Widget Ad Network With Major Partners
Digital Media Wire
December 10, 2007
Byline: Mark Hefflinger
http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/12/10/clearspring-launches-widget-ad-network-major-partners

“The company said the tool will allow publishers to monetize their digital content across social networking sites, start pages and blogs by creating ad networks to serve ads within widgets. Twelve advertising and publishing firms -- including 20th Century Fox Television, Blockbuster, The Huffington Post, Lionsgate Films, and the National Hockey League -- will use the ad network.”
--Digital Media Wire

The Widget Ad Network
Washington Post’s The WashBiz Blog
December 10, 2007
Byline: Dan Beyers
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/washbizblog/2007/12/the_widget_ad_network.html

"Clearspring Technologies is creating another way to deliver one company's ads to another's Web site or desktop. The DC startup said it has started the Widget Ad Network, which will allow people to not only serve up their content on social networking sites, start pages and blogs, but also their ads."
--Washington Post

Clearspring Forms Network to Send Ads to Widgets
E-Commerce Times
December 10, 2007
Byline: Katherine Noyes
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Clearspring-Forms-Network-to-Send-Ads-to-Widgets-60702.html?welcome=seen

“The overall trend behind the widget advertising phenomenon is to try to improve the level of engagement with consumers and the targetability of ads, Harry Wang, a research analyst with Parks Associates, told the E-Commerce Times. “The first step is to generate interest from consumers by giving them the applications to help them access their desired content easily, conveniently and quickly,” Wang explained. In that way, Clearspring’s service “may be the bridge connecting consumers with advertisers -- it’s a good step.”
--E-Commerce Times

“Advertising through widgets is “definitely a trend,” and makes a great deal of sense for publishers since it lets them monetize their content, Greg Sterling, founder and principal with Sterling Market Intelligence, told the E-Commerce Times.”
--E-Commerce Times

Clearspring Unveils Widget Ad Network
ClickZ
December 11, 2007
Byline: Fred Aun
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627843

“Advertisers and agencies are saying the distributed Web is on the rise and they want to reach that audience,” said Fry. She said the Clearspring platform enables widgets to be spread on 14 officially supported destinations, including Facebook, iGoogle, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces and Blogger.
--ClickZ

Clearspring + Pointroll = Ad layers for widgets
Widgetslab
December 10, 2007
Byline: Avatar
http://www.widgetslab.com/2007/12/10/clearspring-pointroll-ad-layers-for-widgets/


“Well, that didn’t take long. It seems like Clearspring is not going to let Google or anyone to have all the fun so they made a partnership with Pointroll to create an Ad network for widgets that can be placed as a clickable layer in the widgets as a way to monetize more of their offerings and offer users and co-developers a way to monetize themselves better.”
--Widgetslab

Stay tuned…




Independent Confirmation of Clearspring

From: Steve Winton
Sent: 26 October 2007 11:11
To: Anna Carlson
Subject: Clearspring Blog Post

I Can See Clearly Now…
I was recently handed the monumental task of comparing the major players in the wonderful world of widget platforms. No mean feat, I can assure you, this turned into a mammoth undertaking of epic proportions (well, that may be stretching it a tad ;-). This is new and (relatively) unchartered territory and, although undoubtedly a new and exciting area of social media to be involved in, this meant it was tricky to nail down and collate the huge volumes of data and information into something palatable and useful that would enable us to deliver a whole host of wonderful widgets (be they destined for the web or desktop) using the right platform for the right client, and for the right price. Phew!

OK, so who are the ‘major players’ in the widget platform arena at this point in time?

With the help of Ivan Pope, of Snipperoo fame, we were able to narrow it down to a few contenders for the crown:
Clearspring
Springwidgets
Widgetbox
I looked at a number of factors from a technical perspective, ranging from analytics, API richness, deployment options, parameter types, supported technologies (Flash, Flex, ActionScript 3, HTML), hosting capabilities, as well as ’softer’ considerations such as user experience, administrative ease, support responsiveness, and widget exposure (i.e. how many ‘hosts’ we can get our widgets onto, such as iGoogle, Pageflakes, Netvibes, Facebook etc.).

To spare you the gory details, allow me cut to the chase…

The winner is…

Clearspring! And here’s why…
Firstly, I’m really impressed with the definitions/terminology they have in place. They really seem to have thought through all this ‘widgety goodness stuff’ from a fresh perspective, and as a result, I feel they are pushing the envelope with what’s possible (for example, their concept of a widget ‘placement ID’ and widget placement awareness, is unique. What’s more, they will be exposing this to developers through an API shortly, which will make our widgets more flexible and able to do all manner of interesting things!).
I like the publishing process on this platform (both from a developer’s perspective and end-user perspective), the process was really clean and fuss-free. Plus, for privately hosted widgets (i.e. where a widget resides on a private space such as iGoogle) there’s no need to revisit the platform’s website just to change a parameter value, you can do it all right there on the page where the widget resides. Bonus!
Both HTML and Flash widgets are supported (for maximum exposure, stick to Flash widgets as certain sites, notably Facebook and MySpace, don’t allow any scripting in widgets and so simply don’t permit any HTML whatsoever).
They will be exposing more features to their (already well-documented) API in the coming weeks (I’ve been added to their beta-list and await an update in this respect with bated breath!).
I was also pleasantly surprised to receive responses to my questions on support forums! And, from a bona-fide Clearspring employee, no less! This is reassuring to say the least!
Hosting isn’t provided as part of the service (which, incidentally should be provided on a Utility Computing basis, but I digress…) but that could be regarded as a positive thing… no need to hang around wondering when your latest widget amends might finally make it onto the production server, you remain in control of publication at all times.
A tip of the hat in the direction of Widgetbox is appropriate at this point, if only for the fully-fledged Facebook apps you are able to create from your widgets in a few simple clicks using this platform, they really make this a painless process. However, at the end of the day, the sum of Clearspring’s well-thought through concepts, forum support and APIs were the clincher for me!

So, hats off to you Clearspring, for creating what looks like a very promising service, and I hope to be working with you very soon!




Social media goodness. Translated. Created. Delivered.

Steve Winton
Developer
+44 (0)1273 648310
steve@nixonmcinnes.co.uk

21-22 Old Steine t. 0845 345 3462 www.nixonmcinnes.co.uk
Brighton BN1 1EL f. 0845 345 3463

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