Big Bang Media Unveils Reward-Oriented Targeted Ad Network

Start-up ad network Big Bang Media on Wednesday took the wraps off its new ad model, which combines the features of an ad network with that of a loyalty program.

Under Big Bang’s model, for which it hasn’t yet announced any advertisers or network members, users would register and fill out a questionnaire with more than 200 fields of demographic information. When they visit a member Web site, they rack up points that can be added to frequent flier mile programs or donated to charity.

In beta tests on sites like Parent Time, Juno, and Amazon.com, the company says it got a 24 percent click-through rate.

“Web sites that rely on ad revenues are facing increasingly lower click-through rates, and their advertisers are facing increasingly higher conversion costs,” says Paul Angles, chief executive officer of Big Bang.

“Big Bang provides a solution for dramatically increasing click-through rates at a fraction of the cost.”

Big Bang hasn’t yet announced what kind of CPM it would charge, but the targeted audience it hopes to deliver would probably justify higher-than-usual prices. The company says its technology lets advertisers customize ads to be delivered to particular targets, and, because of the information collected, Big Bang says it can deliver detailed reports on the audiences for particular Web sites.