JumpTap Launches Performance-Based Mobile Ad Network

Mobile ad seller JumpTap has launched a new performance-based mobile ad network for search and display placements.

Called TapMatch, the new network lets advertisers place and manage graphical banner and paid search ads together. Search ads may appear on AOL and Ask.com mobile search results, while display ads may appear on JumpTap’s existing site partners. Compared with the company’s premium ad network, which offers exclusive placements and brand metrics, TapMatch is targeted to advertisers looking for buyers near the bottom of the funnel, closer to purchase.

Using a self-serve auction, advertisers can adjust pricing based on JumpTap’s matching technology, which alerts them to the number of potential matches a keyword or ad insertion can expect on a given day. Ad buyers can target placements by keyword, context, device type, or carrier.

JumpTap is not the first company to offer a performance-based pricing model for mobile. Google, AdMob, and Millennial Media all offer similar approaches. However compared with some of those competitors, JumpTap offers ad buyers a high degree of transparency and control. When targeting contextually, marketers can opt out of a particular channel or site category — for instance social media pages. AdMob also supports category opt-outs.

WirelessDeveloper Agency (WDA), a Michigan-based mobile agency, has worked with JumpTap for close to a year, while also using mobile ad networks such as Millennial Media, AdMob, AOL’s Third Screen Media, Quattro, Buzz City, and Google. It has already used the performance-based network on behalf of clients such as Maxim and Turner Broadcasting.

“I think JumpTap is working a little harder at the channel concept, although AdMob has [that] too,” said Brennan Hayden, VP at WDA. “One of the things I like about JumpTap is that they do have a good handle on being able to evolve their platform without a lot of disruption to their network.”