After a short period of near-mandatory private beta, Bellevue, WA-based BigDoor Media is today introducing the public beta of its website and mobile app monetization software solution.
In addition, the upstart is announcing that it has raised early-stage funding ($250k) from Seattle’s Founder Co-op and a dozen angel investors, many of which are local Internet/tech CEOs.
The whole idea behind BigDoor is that online monetization can be improved through technology, enabling publishers to get more money out of website visitors, game players, etc. by catering custom offers to them rather than traditional display and text advertising – contextually delivered or not. The company markets a so-called ‘Offer Platform’, a private label solution that publishers can integrate with an existing site or application with just a single line of code that can be delivered within 24 hours in most cases according to BigDoor.
Publishers can use the tool to determine how their users interact with existing offers, and control the look and feel of the experience to complement their website and/or mobile application. BigDoor claims its technology can guarantee ad rates above the $1.50 to $2.00 eCPM range for most publishers.
BigDoor Media was founded by CEO Keith Smith and Jeff Malek. Notably, these two men previously started Zango (formerly ePIPO, 180solutions and Hotbar) back in the nineties, a venture that was and still is associated heavily with spyware and adware. The company ran into trouble with the FTC, and was forced to close its doors mainly because of those issues. The story is neatly chronicled here by Computerworld and on Xbiz.
The founders openly acknowledge the associations in the ‘About Us’ section, admitting that in the last decade they’ve made “countless mistakes”, and in this lengthy but must-read blog-post. Their past didn’t stop investors from financing the company, so it wouldn’t be fair for us to crucify BigDoor Media beforehand because of it either.
If you’re a publisher or advertiser and try out the public beta, let us know what your experience with the startup’s solution is.
good news for publishers.
http://peopleve...ts.blogspot.com
Wow, another Big opportunity for publishers.
I hate php4
i hate php4 !
I LOVE PHP
Cuts cost of development by 75% or more
Google using Java for example on many projects such as Android is a epic mistake of costly proportions.
Sure, you are the one smart ass and know better what Google should do.
@Robin – when you say upstart do you mean startup?
Upstart has negative connotations – certainly where I’m from…
I wonder if the advertisers featured on their list of publisher sites know users are being incentivized to take specific actions on their ads. Seems like a raw deal for advertisers.
It does sound a lot like Offerpal & Peanut Labs but for all kinds of sites.
Is it just me or do you also think that a company who has received $250,000 could do a little better than a $25 Wordpress theme?
http://themefor...-and-blog/40433
I am a little concerned that this style of advertisement is not fine for anyone in the long run. Users are compelled to participate in advertisers offers and website owners are loosing people to not wanting to pay/participate. At least with something with adsense, you are not turning away potential visitors. We will have to see where this goes.