Adobe Just Made Medialets Its Mobile Ad Server

Erick Schonfeld

Erick Schonfeld is a technology journalist and the executive producer of DEMO. He is also a partner at bMuse, a product incubator in New York City. Schonfeld is the former Editor in Chief of TechCrunch. At TechCrunch, he oversaw the editorial content of the site, helped to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produced TCTV shows, and wrote daily... → Learn More

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

For all the angst about the lack of Flash on Apple’s iPads and iPhones, most of the discussion seems to center around video. But a bigger impact by far is on display advertising, which tends to be done mostly in Flash. Adobe needs non-Flash alternatives for tablets and smartphones, particularly for people who design display ads.

Today, Adobe announced that it is integrating Medialets’ mobile ad platform into its own creative suite. Designers will be able to insert Medialets ads into InDesign layouts and then serve them on mobile apps. The reason this is notable is that Medialets essentially will become the de facto plug-in mobile ad server for Adobe. Medialets’ technology works with iOS devices and will also work with Flash in Adobe AIR apps. It powers the ads in The Daily iPad app, for example, a position it won over Apple’s own iAds.

Mobile display advertising is still very nascent, especially in apps. Even Apple is having trouble getting advertisers to renew their advertising contracts, so much so that it recently had to reduce the minimum amount for an iAds campaign from $1 million to $500,000. Steve Jobs can sell a $1 million mobile ad campaign, but his junior sales people can’t.

Also, Apple charges differently, taling a percentage of an app’s ad revenues instead of charging a flat fee. Getting built into Adobe’s suite is a huge deal for Medialets, which can use all the help it can get in going up against Apple, Google, and other large mobile advertising platforms.

Company: Medialets
Website: medialets.com
Launch Date: June 1, 2008
Funding: $28.4M

Medialets is the most widely deployed rich media ad platform for mobile. Our Technology Medialets’ mobile rich media platform enables brands and agencies to create high-impact ads that take advantage of all of the features and hardware capabilities of iPhone, iPad and Android devices while empowering publishers and ad networks to sell more ad inventory at higher CPMs. Medialets’ unique cross-platform solution enables advertisers to run a single set of ad creatives across an exceptionally broad range of mobile properties and...

→ Learn more
Company: Adobe Systems
Website: adobe.com
Launch Date: December 1982
IPO: NASDAQ:ADBE

Adobe Systems Incorporated is a diversified software company. The Company offers a line of business and mobile software and services used by professionals, designers, knowledge workers, high-end consumers, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, developers and enterprises for creating, managing, delivering and engaging with compelling content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. Adobe distributes its products through a network of distributors and dealers, value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and OEMs, direct to end...

→ Learn more

http://www.medialets.com/