Pontiflex, a fast-growing online lead-generation firm, believes it has a solution for monetizing mobile apps. Based on the $100 CPMs the company has been getting, it appears they may be onto something.
About six months ago, the Brooklyn, N.Y.–based company rolled out Pontiflex AppLeads, a product designed to allow app developers large and small to implement advertising. Like Pontiflex’s Web-based ad products, AppLeads are designed to help advertisers entice users to opt in—to receive offers, sign up for rewards and receive more information, among other things.
So far, the company has signed up more than 200 advertisers, with “thousands more in the queue,” said Pontiflex CEO, Zephrin Lasker. The list includes brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and TigerDirect (mostly performance advertisers).
According to Lasker, AppLeads has been garnering $70 to $100 CPMs for Pontiflex. He attributes that premium pricing partially to lack of waste—since AppLeads are entirely opt-in—and the engagement the ads deliver.
“If somebody wants to interact with these mobile sign-up ads, it’s likely they are really engaged,” he said.
Plus, the in-app ad space has yet to become overcrowded, with Apple’s iAd being one of the few mass alternatives. “In the case of AppLeads, you don’t need an agency or $1 million.”
Indeed, AppLeads are aimed at the low-hanging fruit in mobile advertising; Lasker likens the product to Google AdWords. Developers can implement AppLeads by simply adding a bit of Pontiflex-supplied code—a process that can take just a half hour.
And now, Pontiflex has added a feature that allows developers to capture e-mail addresses from an interested user, which can help developers get a better sense of who is actually downloading their apps.
Apps such as Pregnancy Countdown on the iPhone and Useless/Useful Facts on the Android platform have installed AppLeads ads—sometimes pulling in $5,000 to $10,000 each month. “That’s a lot better than most banner networks,” said Lasker.
