AdWhirl, the startup that lets iPhone developers tap into multiple ad networks, has raised a cool $1 million in seed funding from Foundation Capital, with several angel investors participating. Launched in April, AdWhirl solves a simple problem for iPhone developers. As the number of ad networks available for iPhone apps has increased since the launch of the app store, developers were having a tough time switching between different ad networks. And after switching, developers have to issue updates to their apps, which can take days or weeks to make it through Apple’s approval process.
AdWhirl allows developers to switch between different ad networks on the fly without having to submit a new application to Apple. The service has support for five different ad networks, including AdMob, Quattro Wireless, Videoegg, and Jumptap (with Millenial Media and Google’s Adsense coming soon). In the past two months, AdWhirl (which launched under the name AdRollo) has 1,000 publishers using its publishers and has helped deliver more than one billion ads each per month to iPhone and iPod Touch users through free applications.
AdWhirl, which is available to developers for free, offers developers a platform where they rotate between ad networks and specify how often they’d like their ads to appear in their application. Developers can also set up AdWhirl to automatically switch between all available ad networks, optimizing CPM rates to ensure that their apps are generating as much revenue as possible (it can also fill an ad unit when the current network runs out of inventory, which can be a problem on popular applications). Developers can also create customized advertisements and include these in their package.
iPhone developers stand to make a good amount of cash from delivering these ads. Yam says that applications actually tend to serve 3-5 impressions each time a customer interacts with them, with even higher figures for some especially engaging applications. AdWhirl recently released a report that said that applications that crack the top 100 in the free apps list make $400-$5000 a day – a wide range to be sure, but even at the low end that works out to around $12,000 a month. Among these top apps, AdWhirl is reporting a notable $1.90 eCPM and 2.6% CTR.
Sam Yam and Ra Roath, co-founders of AdWhirl say that they are seeing a lot of developers using the platform to cross promote ads for other apps to help boost their ranks on the apps list. Yam says that there is potential to connect developers together as a collaborative community to further this cross promotion to help each other out. AdWhirl will use the funds to expand out to other potentially lucrative platforms for mobile devices such as Android, Blackberry, and Palm Pre.
Congrats guys!
This got me thinking as to the possible monetization ideas for Wave.
cool!!
cool kind of like Pubmatic for mobile.
now you just need to get decent CPM rates…….
We looked at mobilising some of our content recently and decided to pass as the rates being paid by these networks are CPC crap.
Cheers,
Dean
This is really stupid. And, FYI, there is no way they’re doing that number of ads or CPM.
We use these guys for our popular whiteboard app on the iPhone – an ease to setup and their developer support is top notch.
Just $1 Million For Dynamic Ad Platform For The iPhone…
Their numbers and payouts sound extremely off base. and their customer service is non-existent – I dont understand where the value prop is, if they wont even email or reply to developer questions! If anyone from the company cares, please email me at tuttiwalas at yahoo dot com, as I wanted to use your service, but couldn’t get in touch with anyone!
Mark,
I just searched through all our support emails we’ve ever received and I can’t seem to find anything from tuttiwalas at yahoo dot com. We work extremely hard at helping out our developers with customer service and would love to assist you with whatever issues you might be facing.
And the numbers and payouts can be verified across both the developers in the report and annecdotally with the top apps in the appstore. To be honest, the quoted eCPMs are actually underreports, since they’re the reported #s AFTER ad networks take a cut. At a 60/40 split in favor of the publishers, you can almost double those eCPMs.
This only works when everyone has the same low CPM banners – might I add they launch you right out of the App (eject!) if you tap on said banner….
Why would an App developer want that for their users ?
Great product! Has made developing SO much faster and easier! And great customer service — the guys got back to me right away on a question I had.
I used their service and I’m out. I recommend TapJoy..
TechCrunch.. pay attention.. look at http://www.tapjoy.com
Avi, you’re the same guy who was ragging on our service before you used it when we launched
Are you sure you don’t have any affiliation to TapJoy? Here’s the link to when you were writing all those negative comments on our launch:
http://www.tech...phone/#comments
Nope, actually I’m a solid iPhone Developer. Go Figure, your product is already outdated by TapJoy.com Not sure why I want to waste my time with adwhirl, when there’s http://www.tapjoy.com who doesn’t have any funding and has a better product.
wonder why no one wants to fund tapjoy…