- Designed for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, & iPod)

- Built into Apple’s OS

- An ad let’s you stay in the application while it’s still running

- Implements rich media

- Apple sells and hosts the ads

- 60% of Ad Revenues go to developers

What does this mean for Google’s acquisition of AdMob and other third-party advertising networks?

The unveiling of iAd potentially moves the mobile advertising industry forward because it creates a highly competitive market. This makes the acquisition of AdMob, another third party mobile advertising network, more acceptable to regulators trying to halt it because there are less chances of Google monopolizing the market now.

At the same time this could be Apple’s attempt at pushing AdMob (or other ad networks) out of the iPhone specific mobile advertising industry. According to Apple it will still allow “third party” advertisers to serve ads within apple apps. However, there is a new developers agreement, which states that “The use of third party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited.” AdMob would be hindered by this new policy reducing choice for developers who want to include ads on iPhones. The policy takes away any advantage that a developer or third party advertiser would have at collecting data on how users interact with the in-apps ads. The only real way that app developers can advertise on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, & iPod) and collect usage data would be to opt in for iAd services.

Another thing to note about Apple’s iAd is that it hurts Adobe because it requires developers to program code in HTML5 to deliver the advertising content. This is another huge blow for Adobe because Apple devices do not support Adobe Flash, and the launch of iAd means they most likely won’t in the future even though Flash is currently the standard for much of the rich media ads on the web and mobile devices.

Ultimately, it opens up advertisers’ doors to Apple users in new ways. Even though iAd could push away mobile advertising networks like AdMob that would want to put ads on Apple devices, not all mobile users use the iPhone. This will still allow AdMob to tailor their services to non-iPhone users and other mobile devices.

So, what is affiliate marketing? It is a service that uses one highly trafficked Web site to drive traffic to another. Affiliate networks earn commissions by driving traffic to a business’ Web site. A good example is Amazon.com, which uses affiliate partners to display Amazon.com advertisements, therefore driving increased traffic to Amazon.com.

The affiliate networks are valuable as they broker, manage, monitor and report on the advertiser and publisher relationship.  A publisher is defined as someone who has a Web site and wants to sell advertising space on it.  An advertiser is in the market to buy the aforementioned advertising space.

In a broader sense, affiliate marketing creates a virtual sales force for advertisers, generating more conversions, and allows the affiliates to profit off of their network of Web site’s.

There are various types of affiliate marketing and each enables the affiliates, advertisers and consumers alike to all reap the benefits of this tactic.

Search affiliates earn profits in the arbitrage between media spend on the search engines and the commissions paid by advertisers.  In other words, they earn commissions for every sale/lead they generate for an advertiser and then reinvest some of that profit into costs for maintaining a paid search campaign and/or SEO activities. Search affiliates make it possible for the advertiser to occupy more than one position in search results via paid and/or natural search.

Coupon affiliates provide their members with instant rebates and savings via coupon, promotion codes or exclusive offers.  Advertisers use the affiliate network as a means to distribute discounts that incentivize users to visit their sites. When an affiliate posts coupon codes they receive a commission every time someone uses that code.

Cause-related affiliates pledge some portion of the commissions they earn from advertisers to a particular cause instead of collecting commissions for themselves. For instance, SchoolPop.com donates a portion of the commissions they acquire through purchases and leads to schools of their consumers’ choosing.

Loyalty affiliates offer cash or a cash alternative that is earned when members complete a desired action for the advertiser (purchase or lead). Often when receiving a cash alternative, consumers accumulate points which can be accrued over time and redeemed for gift cards or other items of value. A good example of this is frequent flyer miles. From here, loyalty affiliates receive a commission from the retailer once the conversion takes place.

Regardless of the type, affiliate marketing has many benefits. For starters, affiliate marketing is a win-win for both advertisers and the affiliates themselves. As we have previously mentioned, if an affiliate marketing campaign is managed properly – advertisers will receive incremental leads/sales, affiliates/publishers will get paid for generating the leads and the affiliate network will receive a commission off of each transaction they broker.  Additionally, affiliates often offer many advantages to the consumer, creating incentive and money savings. When implemented correctly, affiliates benefit all parties involved.

If you are interested in learning more about what affiliate marketing can do for you, contact Rise Interactive. Rise takes advantage of long-lasting relationships with the affiliate networks to gain premium exposure and optimal media rates, managing the process from start to finish.