Glam Media Launches Rich Media Ad Creation Platform, GlamSplash

Glam Media, one of the largest publishing and advertising networks on the Web, is launching a new rich media ad creation platform for advertisers, called GlamSplash. According to Glam, the new canvas allows brand advertisers to deliver the effectiveness of the ’30-second’ TV spot across Glam’s properties.

For background, Glam’s various publishing verticals have a reach of 200 million unique monthly visitors globally, and is particularly popular amongst female audiences. Glam Media has more than 2,500 publishers organized across multiple vertical categories online including Glam.com for Women, Glam Entertainment for Adults, Brash.com for Men and Bliss.com for health and wellness. Glam also announced the acquisition of Ning in September.

Glam operates a web-based ad serving platform, Glam Adapt, as well as a recently launched mobile ad platform, GlamMobile. Previously, the company served rich media ads through these ad-serving platforms, but with GlamSplash, agencies can now both build and deliver rich media ads throughout Glam properties.

GlamSplash’s ad campaigns run across many platforms, including desktop, mobile, and tablets. The canvas allows advertisers to include featured videos, moving images, and quality editorial created by brands. Advertisers can include GlamVideo, an in-stream, in-display and in-mobile video ad platform; optimize with HTML5; and integrate social sharing features within the ad unit.

A number of brands are already using GlamSplash as the holiday shopping season approaches, including Timberland and BestBuy.

It’s no secret that Glam is gearing up for an IPO in 2012 (the company has also hit $100 million in annual revenue). However, until the Ning acquisition closes, which is expected to close in the next few weeks, the IPO process is at a standstill.