Mobile advertising network AdMob today revealed just how heavily invested it is in the future of iPhone advertising. It revealed four new types of advertising unit that planners will be able to purchase through the network. These new units should be available from early July.
AdMob has been offering iPhone ads since last year, both on mobile sites and in applications. The four new units being offered are Mobile Social Networking, Search, Multi-Panel Banner and Scrolling Canvas. Mobile Social Networking units are dispersed through popular social networks on iPhone, including Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Flickr. Search units integrate a search function directly into a banner ad, so that users can search your site from the ad itself. “Multi-Panel Banner” is just a fancy way of saying “rich media ad” – these display ads can offer animation and multiple calls-to-action. A Scrolling Canvas unit is an animated display.
AdMob has also announced an SDK for iPhone 3.0, to help app developers better integrate ads into their applications. This SDK will be released on Friday, giving developers a good month or so to get used to it before the new ad units become available.
From the release:
“Mobile advertising is rapidly maturing, and we believe the iPhone is leading the industry forward. Advertisers are excited to connect with consumers in new ways on the iPhone through social and rich media ad units that deliver increased impact and engagement,” said Jason Spero, Vice President and General Manager, North America, AdMob. “AdMob is helping application developers build a business model by making it easy for them to instantly monetize their iPhone applications. All the hard work by developers to create great applications is a major driving force behind the massive growth in consumer usage of applications.”
What we think?
It’s impossible to fault AdMobs tactics and timing here. Having the SDK widely dispersed ahead of time will give interested publishers time to get ready for iPhone 3.0 and the new units. This kind of thinking will lead to the new AdMob ads being in place in time for the launch. The press release itself was a bit over the top – two of the “new” ad units are pretty much just glorified display ads, but I do like the idea of integrating a search box into your ad.
