AOL's Platform-A Guarantees Ad Rates For Bebo, Facebook

Michael Learmonth | June 30, 2008 12:18 PM

So far, advertising on social networks has been a big disappointment to all involved. But AOL's Platform-A still believes.

The advertising arm of AOL (TWX) is offering a guaranteed 40-cent CPM (cost per 1,000 ad impressions) for Bebo and Facebook application developers that off their ad inventory through Advertising.com's WIDGNET ad network. AOL promises to pay that rate for the first three visits for each unique user. (Typical ad network CPMs are closer to the 10-cent range.)

Why do it? Well, corporate sibling Bebo -- acquired for $850 million in March -- certainly needs the dough. And Facebook's many app developers can help Advertising.com build out its widget ad network, which it launched earlier this year.

Bebo opened its API to third-party developers earlier this year and AOL says that more than 4,000 apps are available within the service. Bebo also plans to integrate with Google's (GOOG) OpenSocial initiative in the coming month.

Among the app developers already selling inventory through Platform-A include RockYou, Scrabulous and Fotoflexer. AOL's deal is for U.S. visitors only, but the company says it plans to expand the offer to European Bebo and Facebook app developers later this summer.

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8 Comments

Ker-ching! (not) said:

Jun. 30, 3:06 PM

FaceBook users are already wearying of these applications which mostly fall into the only-momentarily-diverting & then quickly-become-tiresome category. For AOL to now take a big run at this, including direct further financial risk piled on top of their desperate overpayment for Bebo, now that the bloom is already off the rose with app-frenzy, is therefore par for the course for AOL. When AOL bought Bebo did they have no more focused logic about what they were going to do with it than (1) combine it with AIM & ICQ and (2) 'open up' in the hope that a gazillion developers will provide the 'content', which had already not worked for them with OpenAIM, whilst garanteeing app. developers CPM's if necessary?

Marty said:

Jun. 30, 7:30 PM

No AOL had a real plan for Bebo. The plan was to ask the person who just sold them Bebo for way too much to then tell them what to do with it, and with AIM & ICQ, by putting her in charge of all of them.

Prediction – advertisers won’t find that BT ads on social network apps and widgets give them a convincingly better ROI than they’re getting now.

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