Until now. A source tell us that ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) has acquired mobile advertising network Greystripe for $75 million in cash.

Greystripe has raised $18.1 million in funding to date over four rounds. They have a direct sales force that sells rich mobile ads directly to brands, and are on pace to bring in $25 million – $30 million in revenue this year, with about $6 million in gross profit.

Update (25 April 2011): ValueClick has formally confirmed the acquisition of Greystripe, which is said to serve media impressions to over 30 million users through more than 3,500 application titles and mobile websites across all major mobile platforms. Under the terms of the transaction, ValueClick paid approximately $70 million in cash, and Greystripe’s management team and employee base have been retained by ValueClick.

There are still a number of independent startups in this space looking to be acquired or even have a public offering. 4INFO is among the strongest, and focuses on the platform (app) side of the business over the sales side.

JumpTap recently raised $20 million and has raised a total of nearly $90 million to date. Millennial Media is said to be considering an IPO in the near future.

Greystripe’s Lightening technology transcodes Flash authored ads as HTML5 to mobile devices that do not support Flash Player (such as the iPhone and iPad); these ads will be supported in both applications and on the mobile web. There’s no work for the advertisers or publishers; Greystripe says the transition from Flash to HTML5 is seamless. And Greystripe’s technology for Apple’s Safari web browser allows real-time transcoding of Flash authored creative work to HTML5.

In spite of Apple’s lack of support for Flash Ads on iPhones and iPads, 30 million iOS users saw billions of ad impressions created using Adobe Flash from major brand advertisers that use Greystripe’s technology, says the network. Brands like Buick, Corona, Axe and Burger King, delivered over 300 Flash-based mobile advertising campaigns in 2010 and the company projects 1200 such campaigns in 2011 or 100 Flash-based campaigns per month.

The company is currently generating several million dollars a month already on just flash-converted mobile ads and expects 300 percent growth in this revenue in 2011. Based on our estimates, this could range between $35 million and $40 million in 2011 revenue for Greystripe.

While Greystripe doesn’t have the reach that networks like AdMob, iAd, or Millennial Media has, the mobile ad network been able to raise an impressive amount of VC funding and even got a $2 million infusion from NBC. It should be interesting to see what 2011 brings for the smaller network. Perhaps a possible acquisition?

Greystripe has already partnered with a number of advertisers, such as Sprint and Dove, and publishers, including CollegeHumor, Evite and Dictionary.com, to beta test the mobile web offering and are claiming to see strong results in terms of CTRs and CPMs.

For Greystripe’s rich media ads on the mobile web, the network is seeing a 1.31 percent CTR, compared to a 0.84 percent CTR for an average mobile web ad. Greystripe CEO Michael Chang also says that CTR’s are increased by an increase in size and above the fold placement on the mobile web.

Ads available on the mobile web include Greystripe’s interactive Immersion Ads and iAd-like Expandable ads. At launch, Greystripe will support these rich media ad formats on Android and iPhone devices, and static ads on BlackBerry devices.

There’s no doubt that as the use of smartphones increase, the mobile web will become more of a desirable platform for advertisers to reach consumers. In fact, some think that mobile web advertising will be more effective than in-app advertising. Chang says that he wants Greystripe to be ahead of the curve in offering both advertisers and publishers a comprehensive platform to reach consumers.

The mobile ad network arena is a competitive space, filled with tech giants like Apple and Google, as well as large independent networks like Millennial Media. For Greystripe, the mobile web offering also presents the opportunity to attract advertisers who want to reach audiences across the mobile web, iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. And for publishers, Greystripe says that serving ads via their network can be lucrative. The company says a number of application publishers in the Greystripe network have consistently earned more than $100,000 per month.

Greystripe has been able to raise an impressive amount of VC funding and even got a $2 million infusion from NBC. The startup is one of the remaining independent mobile ad networks that hasn’t been swallowed up by a huge technology company; so it should be interesting to see if the company will eventually be acquired. Rumor has it that RIM is shopping around for an ad network.

Greystripe is also announcing today that it has updated its iPhone Advertising SDK for compatibility with Apple’s iOS4 Platform. The company says that it updated the SDK “over the air,” which means that app developers don’t need to pull their app out of the store, add the code, and resubmit to Apple. So publisher ads will work seamlessly with any apps served on the new OS.

Greysripe is certainly milking its Apple-ad network approval for all it is worth. In a release, the company said that “Developers new to Greystripe can be confident that their applications, with the Greystripe SDK integrated; will move quickly through Apple’s approval process. On average, applications including Greystripe’s SDK take less than one week for approval from Apple.” So now the ad network is also promising a speedy approval process for applications as well.

Of course, things could change for Greystripe and other independent ad networks if the FTC cracks down on Apple’s iAd policies, which is rumored to be in an investigatory phase. If the FTC does make a serious case out of Apple’s iAd policies, AdMob could once again become a powerful competitor in terms of iPhone in-app advertising.

Some independent networks have been quick to commend Apple. Yesterday, Greystripe issued a statement on its blog expressing its pleasure at the turn of events. “We are pleased that Apple’s new terms and conditions explicitly allow independent ad networks, like Greystripe, to operate on the iPhone and iPad platforms,” writes marketing director Dane Holewinski. “It confirms the value of 3rd party ad networks that enable developers to earn great revenue with their applications.” Greystripe CEO Michael Chang commented to us, “the new terms and conditions provide an advantage for independent mobile ad networks to secure their share of the rapidly expanding market.”

In the long run, however, the picture may not be all rosy for these independent ad networks. Following Google’s whopping $750 million acquisition of competitor AdMob and Apple’s $275 million pickup of Quattro Wireless, Greystripe, Millennial, Jumptap and others must have been salivating at the thought of similarly huge exits.

But the new terms put these networks in an awkward position. If they are acquired by a company, the acquirer can’t be a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple. So that rules out Microsoft, any telecommunications company (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon), Nokia, HP (because of the Palm acquisition), and RIM. So what does this leave? Yahoo, AOL and media companies, including News Corp, Comcast and others. The clause essentially limits the pool of giants who can actually buy one of the remaining mobile ad networks and still serve ads on iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

This is all assuming that Apple enforces the rules uniformly and makes no exceptions. Ultimately Apple can decide to let whoever they want serve ads on their devices. But if they do make an exception, the likelihood that Apple would allow a Microsoft-owned company to serve ads is small if Google isn’t allowed to do the same.

Microsoft could very well buy an independent network, and sacrifice the ability to advertise on the iPhone. Similar to Google, Microsoft has their own OS, and can work to build up that product and serve ads. But Ad networks also have to consider the financial risk of being excluded from the ad ecosystem for iPhone apps. In terms of usage, Apple has about 28 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, according to recent stats from Nielsen. While Android ad impressions are on the rise, the Apple OS is the dominant platform. According to Millennial’s April stats, the Apple OS took a 62% share of Smartphone impressions. And the mobile advertising market is a billion dollar market and is only expected to grow by leaps and bounds over the next few years.

The other twist to this is the FTC’s rumored interest in the debacle. Apple’s policy seems to block specifically Google-AdMob, but of course the excluded list could grow longer if Microsoft or another tech company bought an independent ad network.

In the end, it looks like Apple’s policy could hurt both Google and the independent ad networks at the same time.

Photo credit/Flickr/Brian Hillegras

Greystripe’s technology now transcodes Flash authored ads as HTML5 to mobile devices that do not support Flash Player (such as the iPhone and iPad); these ads will be supported in both applications and on the mobile web. There’s no work for the advertisers or publishers; Greystripe says the transition from Flash to HTML5 is seamless. Greystripe’s new technology for Apple’s Safari web browser will allow real-time transcoding of Flash authored creative work to HTML5.

Greystripe has been allowing advertisers to use Flash-like technologies in their iPhone and iPad advertisements for some time now. The network essentially takes ads created using Flash and transcodes them to run on the iPhone and now the iPad. The technology changes the nature of the Flash ads on the front end but the rich media ad behaves the same way. With this partnership, Gresytripe is working with Adobe directly to be able to allow advertisers and developers to be able to target devices that do not support Flash by transcoding ads to HTML5.

And Adobe, who has also recently embraced HTML5, is probably wise to help ad startups like Greystripe be able to offer the ability to switch from Flash to a supported rich media format. But it should be interesting to see how Greystripe and other independent mobile ad networks manage to compete with Google’s AdMob and Apple’s iAd networks.

Banner ads tend to take up a smaller portion of the app real estate and some developers actually prefer the banners to full screen. In the case of the banners, Greystripe is launching two versions. One is a static (non moving banner) and the second is a rich media version that when you click on it, starts to animate and roll down into a full screen experience. Like all Greystripe ad formats, the new banner ads provide a variety of click-to-options that do not require the user to leave the application, including click-to-web, click-to-buy, click-to-map and more. Following this release of iPhone banners, the Company also plans to roll out its banner ad formats across all major mobile platforms, with Android support in the next few months.

Greytripe has been known for its full screen rich media ads that essentially bring Flash ads to the iPhone, claiming to currently hold 75 percent of the full screen rich media mobile market, serving over one billion of these impressions so far this year. And over the past month, Greystripe has seen a 200% month of month increase in campaign bookings for its full screen rich media ads. According to the ad network, full screen iFlash custom ads produce 2-5% CTRs on average, with 15-30 seconds of user engagement. The company expects the same levels of interaction with its click-to-full screen rich media banner ad format.

So why the the addition of new formats for Greystripe? Perhaps the ad network is anticipating competition from Apple’s iAd advertisements and is looking to expand its advertising offerings. Greystripe claims that its expandable-to-full screen format has some similarities to Apple’s iAd format but will use Greystripe’s proprietary iFlash technology deliver ads to the iPhone as HTML5.

Despite the threat from competitor AdMob and now Apple, Greystripe has continued to make its rich media ad offerings more appealing and attractive to both developers and advertisers by extending support to various devices and even launching a guaranteed CPM program. And the ad network just announced an iPad SDK.

Advertisers who develop Flash advertising campaigns using Adobe tools and workflowswill now be able to develop their own creatives for a fraction of the cost it would take to code ads in HTML5. According to Adobe, over 90 percent of creative professionals have Adobe software on their desktops. Greystripe also offers a full range of creative services.

Banner formats are a complement to Greystripe’s full range of full screen ad formats. The company holds 75% market share of the full screen rich media mobile market, serving over one billion of these impressions so far this year. comScore Inc. reports Greystripe’s full screen iFlash custom ads produce 2-5% CTRs on average, with 15-30+ seconds of user engagement. The company expects the same high levels of interaction with its click-to-full screen rich media banner ad format.

Greystripe has been allowing advertisers to use Flash-like technologies in their iPhone advertisements for some time now. The network essentially takes ads created using Flash and transcodes them to run on the iPhone and now the iPad. The technology changes the nature of the Flash ads on the front end but the rich media ad behaves the same way. Greystripe claims that its “iFlash” ads see higher clickthrough rates than even online campaigns, with average CTRs above 1%. And Greystripe says that its mobile iFlash ads increase awareness of a brand and intent to purchase, watch or recommend a particular brand. Brands using Greystripe’s mobile ads include HP, Burger King, Axe, Dunlop and LeapFrog.

But the real question is if advertisers see better CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) with Greystripe’s ads than its competitors, such as AdMob or Quattro Wireless. To our knowledge, Greystripe’s CPMs fall into the same range as AdMob’s.

But Greystripe has continued to make its rich media ad offerings more appealing and attractive to both developers and advertisers by extending support to various devices and even launching a guaranteed CPM program. The company also partnered with Tribal Fusion to enable online ads to fit on iPhones seamlessly.

It’s unclear how Google’s acquisition of AdMob and Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless will effect the other ad networks in the space. If anything, these networks will now have to compete with two of the largest companies in the world. But Greystripe, which received a $2 million infusion from NBC last year, could see its stock go up if its pseudo-Flash ads seem to perform well on the iPad

The Ovi Store is the centralized application shop for programs fit for Nokia devices that the Finnish mobile device giant launched in May 2009. Greystripe offers rich media ads through its ad network, and has seen considerable success with its iPhone platform, and recently launched support for Android to ride the tidal wave of growth for the device. Greystripe maintains that its rich media full-screen ads generate higher click through rates and are able to generate better revenue to its publishers.

Greystripe has created an automated self service web-based portal for developers to ad enable their Java/Symbian apps. Developers can upload all of their fully developed mobile app ports, while the ad client is automatically merged with their application. Greystripe’s ad network will display pre- and post-roll full-screen ads within the app. Currently, Greystripe supports over 1,400 Java handset models, in addition to iPhone and Android. Greystripe will also migrate 1,200 Java titles on its consumer mobile gaming store GameJump into the Ovi App Store.

Greystripe has continues to make its ad offerings more appealing and attractive to both developers and advertisers by extending support to various devices and even launching a guaranteed CPM program. The company also partnered with Tribal Fusion to enable online ads to fit on iPhones.

It’s unclear how Google’s acquisition of AdMob and Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless will effect the other ad networks in the space. If anything, these networks will now have to compete with two of the largest companies in the world. But Greystripe, which recently received a $2 million infusion from NBC, is wise to continue to innovate and expand its reach and should be able to hold its own.

Mobile ad network Greystripe recently partnered with ad placement service Tribal Fusion to allow online ads to run on iPhones, diminishing the need for mobile specific ad formats. The partnership allows online ads to run on iPhones, eliminating additional mobile campaign creative production and dealing with an additional mobile advertising vendor. And of course, online ad budgets tend to be higher than mobile ad budgets, so Greystripe says this saves companies money.

Greystripe, which extended the ads to over five hundred online to mobile campaigns, says that advertisers are seeing 10-20 times higher performance with the mobile-online ad compared to the same online campaigns with average click through rates above one percent.

The mobile ad network maintains that its rich media, Flash full-screen ads generate higher click through rates and are able to generate better revenue to its publishers. With the Tribal Fusion program, Greystripe takes online Flash ads and transcodes them to make them fit on iPhones. Although Greystripe claims its rates are higher, we’ve heard they are on par with AdMob’s rates. That being said, the program does make it easier for ads to travel seamlessly from web-based to mobile platforms.

It’s important to note that one of the leaders in the ad network space, AdMob, was recently acquired by Google, leaving many of its competitors scrambling to compete with one of the largest companies in the world. Greystripe has been actively working to innovate its offerings over the past year; and has even received an $2 million infusion from NBC Universal.

Mobile advertising network Greystripe is rolling out its ad formats for the Android this morning, offering Android app developers with an an Android SDK and an opportunity to monetize their applications. Greystripe, which has delivered ads into over 300 million ad-supported games and applications on the iPhone and Java platform, says that with the success of its ads on iPhone apps, it makes sense to expand to the growing Android market.

Greystripe’s Android SDK supports pre-roll, interstitial and post-roll inventory. A few developers are already using Greystripe’s Android ads including the Casual Games Network, Adam Schmelzle, and Jump Games. It should be interesting to see how the dust settles following the recent acquisition by Google of competitor AdMob. While it seems doubtful that Google would close the ad market off for Android, the fact remains that Google develops and produces the Android OS and AdMob has Android-specific ads on its network.

The recent acquisition has left other ad networks scrambling to make their offerings more attractive. Greystripe recently launched a guaranteed download program and introduced a guaranteed CPC program. Google has high hopes for AdMob and it should certainly continue to be the leader of the pack in the future. AdMob also launched ad formats for Palm WebOS recently.

That being said, Greystripe has been able to raise an impressive amount of VC funding and even got a $2 million infusion from NBC. Greystripe maintains that its rich media full-screen ads generate higher click through rates and are able to generate better revenue to its publishers. Although Greystripe claims its rates are higher, we’ve heard they are on par with AdMob’s rates.

There continue to be conflicting views as to whether iPhone developers actually make money from ads on the iPhone. One issue is that free app developers who advertise in games end up paying on a CPC basis, in which the click takes the visitor to the App Store. But often times the actual download doesn’t take place, so the developer is left paying for clicks that don’t produce conversions, says mobile game advertising network Greystripe. Now the network is changing its ad network economics around to help developers mitigate this issue.

Greystripe is offering a $0.99 per download program available today to guarantee iPhone application developers downloads of their free apps. Of course, this comes with a catch. Greystripe is offering download program to publishers who spend a minimum of $10,000 and is being offered on a limited basis to the first 200 developers who apply. The first 100 qualifying developers who email techcrunch@greystripe.com will gain instant access to the program.

Greystripe’s says that its rich media full-screen ads generate higher click through rates and are able to generate better revenue to its publishers. Based on this, the network thinks it can run a pay per download program that works for its publishers and advertisers. Greystripe also recently introduced a guaranteed CPC program. Although Greystripe claims its rates are higher, we’ve heard they are on par with AdMob’s rates.

It’s important to note that with Google’s acquisition of AdMob, other mobile ad networks may be left scrambling. Greystripe is not only aiming to make their network for attractive, but is also trying to provide an incentive for developers who are using other ad networks to switch over. Google has high hopes for AdMob and it should certainly continue to be the leader of the pack in the future. That being said, Greystripe has been able to raised several rounds of VC funding and even got a $2 million infusion from NBC. It should be interesting to see how the smaller ad networks like Greystripe, Videogg and others fare against Google-owned AdMob.

A few months ago, we wrote about mobile ad network Greystripe’s study that placed “iPhone moms” (mothers of young children who own iPhones) as one of the new and growing mobile advertising demographics on the street. In August, Greystripe claimed that iPhone moms made up 29.5% of all iPhone users. Today, the ad network is releasing a follow-up report which offers detailed behavioral characteristics of moms in their iPhone ad network. Similar to the “soccer moms” demographic, iPhone moms are a consumer segment that has vast potential for advertisers and app developers.

The report shows several interesting patterns. For example, over 59% of iPhone moms surveyed say they let their children use their iPhone. And 41% of moms who own iPhons download apps specifically for their children to use.

Shopping is another key use of the iPhone for moms. Close to 60% of iPhone moms depend on their phone to locate the nearest store around them while 41.94% of moms use the iPhone to keep track of shopping lists. Other shopping activities include comparison shopping, (39.43%) downloading coupons (19%) or keeping track of items on sale (22.94%).

When it comes to actually shopping at the grocery store, a little over half of iPhone moms use their phones at the grocery store, with 40.14% using it as a shopping list tool and 22.58% using it as a recipe resource at the store.

Unsurprisingly, close to 90% of moms who have iPhones use it for personal entertainment which includes listening to music, browsing the Internet or using entertainment apps. Email comes in at a close second place with over 79.57% of iPhone moms surveyed using their phone for checking messages. And it seems that many moms use the device as an organizational tool with over 64% of iPhone moms using their phones to manage their calendar and schedule, which is 9% higher than the rest of the iPhone community as a whole.

Moms are looking to the iPhone and other smartphones as both a valuable organizational tool and an entertainment portal, making the iPhone a valuable advertising platform. While Greystripe says that this demographic have tended to be late adopters, I’m not so sure if this is true considering the rapid growth of “Mommy bloggers” over the past few years. There’s a blog that’s devoted to iPhone Moms and offers recommendations for kid and baby-friendly iPhone apps for moms to download.

Greystripe, the mobile brand and game advertising network has secured $2 million in an extended series C funding round from General Electric and NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund. The startup originally raised $5.5 million in the series C round in March from Disney’s Steamboat Ventures, Incubic Venture Capital and Monitor Ventures.

Greystripe has raised a total of $17.6 million in funding since the company’s launch in 2006. Greystripe’s Founder and CEO Michael Chang tells us that the most recent funding will be used to expand the company’s sales team and efforts to work with publishers. Greystripe capitalized on strong growth in its mobile content distribution and monetization business, particularly with the iPhone.

Greystripe recently started to integrate mobile-centric ad campaigns with industry-accepted online media buying software. This integration allows for ad agencies to easily add mobile ads with one click and also allows for Flash advertisements to appear on the iPhone (a proprietary technology that Greystripe developed). Ads can be used for both online and mobile purposes.

Greystripe is trying to integrate mobile ad campaigns into online ad budgets as part of a greater brand strategy. Greystripe has partnered with several brands and companies, including Kia, Axe Unilever, Jeep, Paramount Pictures, and JC Penney to leverage the mobile ad market. According to Greystripe, Unilever Axe saw a 15% brand lift. Greystripe also partnered with Universal Pictures (owned by NBC Universal) for an iPhone ad campaign the movie, “A Perfect Getaway,” which was distributed by studio. Greystripe says that 8% of users who viewed the entire ad experience clicking through to view the trailer. Competitors to Greystripe include VideoEgg and AdMob, which recently acquired AdWhirl.

According to a recent study done by mobile ad network Greystripe, there’s a relatively new mobile advertising demographic on the street: iPhone moms. Similar to the “soccer moms” demographic, iPhone moms could be a new consumer segment that has vast potential for advertisers and app developers. Greystripe says that “iPhone moms,” which constitute women (with children) who own iPhones, currently make up 29.5% of all iPhone users.

Greystripe says that in the past, “soccer moms” has not been a group that advertisers
could reach through mobile applications because they tended to be late adopters. I’m not so sure about this assertion, considering the rapid growth of “Mommy bloggers” over the past few years. But as the iPhone becomes central to moms to manage finances, family budgets, to-do lists and vacations, it’s sure to become a valuable and portable personal computer and too for the Mommy demographic. There’s even a blog that’s popped up devoted to iPhone Moms. And Moms use the iPhone not just for themselves, but to download kid-friendly apps for their children to use.

The ad report surveyed a group of iPhone moms as part of their quarterly Advertising Insights Report, and has collected statics on the demographics and preferences of moms in their ad network. Some of the stats may be intriguing to both advertisers and app developers. For example, on average, 96.2% of moms who own iPhones are involved in household purchase decisions, showing the purchasing power fo this particular demographic. Of iPhone moms with four or more children, 92.3% own a gaming console compared to 50% of iPhone moms with one child and 69.9% of iPhone Moms surveyed own a Nintendo Wii.

It appears that Blackberrys and other smartphones are other phones are becoming increasingly popular amongst the mommy demographic as well.

Google is moving into the mobile ad market with AdSense for mobile apps. Over the past few months, Google has been testing both text and graphical ads with ten mobile app developers, including Shazam and Urbanspoon. Today it is opening the private beta to more developers who meet certain criteria.

These are contextual ads for iPhone and Android apps. They can be targeted by “applications, locations, categories, or keywords,” according to Google’s Mobile AdSense information page. To qualify for the public beta, the apps must be free and generate at least 100,000 pageviews per day. The program is only for iPhone or Android apps. Developers must be ready to go live with the ads in four weeks and participate for three months.

Developers with 100,000 pageviews a day is still a limited set of the top free apps, but Google is serious about competing in this market. Mobile ad startups such as AdMob and Greystripe are now officially in Google’s direct line of fire.

Google is keeping things small right now to test out different ways to target ads inside apps, but it can pull out the big guns any time it wants. It already has more advertisers than any startup ad network and thus has a clear advantage when it comes to filling up mobile ad inventory. Although it is separate now, when marketers can check mobile apps as part of their overall AdSense campaigns, there should be a lot more bidding for those mobile ad spots within iPhone and Android apps, and those mobile ad rates should go up as a consequence.

Mobile app developers are going to sign up whichever ad network can give them the highest CPMs, and will swap out the ones which can’t keep up. Already, we are seeing some jostling for position among the mobile ad network startups. AdMob just kicked out AdWhirl from showing ads within its platform. I wonder if AdMob will allow Mobile AdSense ads on its network.

Update: AdMob responds that it will work with any mobile app developer on a non-exclusive basis and that developers which have established a direct relationship with AdMob can work with competing ad networks.

There have been questions as to whether iPhone developers can make significant revenue from ads on the iPhone, mainly because the supply of advertisers can’t keep up with the demand for iPhone apps. Others say that developers actually can make quite a bit from ads on free apps. Mobile game advertising network Greystripe is in that camp and it is launching a new CPM Protection Program designed to guarantee ad revenue to iPhone app developers.

Greystripe says that the various mobile ad networks, including competitor AdMob, are undercutting each others’ CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) when competing for advertising dollars, thus leaving iPhone app developers with lower CPMs overall. Greystripe’s CPM Protection Program offers to beat any other ad networks’ eCPM by at least 25% for 60 days.

Greystripe claims that their rates are higher because of their rich media ad formats that use a Flash ad format, giving advertisers more creative options when it comes to developing interactive ads. Another explanation for Greystripe’s higher CPMs is that they are trying to buy market share.

Greystripe’s eCPMs come in at around $1.50 to $2.00, which the company says is higher than the average CPM delivered by other networks. In a guest post written by an iPhone developer on TechCrunch, the developer reported CPMs of $0.23 with ads powered by AdMob. But this data is anecdotal and based on one developer’s circumstance. I find it hard to imagine that the CPM of $0.23 is an average for AdMob. We contacted AdMob to see what their average eCPMs are and they fall into a similar range as Greystripe’s: $1.00-2.00.

It’s clear that Greystripe is trying to provide an incentive for developers who are using other ad networks to switch over (the program requires that developers have used another ad network). But the issue with switching ad networks is that developers have to change the code of ads and then reapply in the App Store, which we all know can be a hassle. Also, while Greystripe promises to lock in ad rates for developers for 60 days, it’s unclear what happens following that time period to rates. Once the 60 days are up, eCPMs could fall dramatically.

It’s definitely interesting to see Greystripe’s approach to competing against mobile ad platforms like AdMob, Videoegg and others. Widely popular and well-funded AdMob is a formidable competitor in the space.

Photo credit/Flickr/WilliamHook

Mobile game advertising network Greystripe secured $5.5 million in Series C funding led by Incubic Venture Capital, Steamboat Ventures and Monitor Ventures. The company previously received a total of $10.1 million in Series A and B funding, with the same investors participating. Greystripe develops “advergames,” mobile ads that have game-like characteristics designed to increase the chances of consumers clicking on them. Greystripe has delivered 180 million ad-supported game and app downloads to date.

Greystripe has capitalized on strong growth in its mobile content distribution and monetization business, particularly with the iPhone. Greystripe is now trying to integrate mobile-centric ad campaigns with industry-accepted online media buying software. This unified integration allows for ad agencies to easily add mobile ads with one click and also allows for Flash advertisementsto appear on the iPhone (a technology that Greystripe developed). Ads can be used for both online and mobile purposes.

Greystripe is trying to integrate mobile ad campaigns into online ad budgets. Greystripe says its recent mobile ad campaign with Unilever Axe (which came out of Axe’s online ad budget) saw a 15% brand lift. The company says that despite growth in the mobile ad market, many brands are still hesitant to reach out to mobile advertising. They hope that the integration of mobile and online advertising for both monetary purposes and in implementation will boost mobile ad sales.

Other mobile ad networks that have iPhone specific applications, like AdMob, have received a vote of confidence through VC funding recently. AdMob has seen similar success in iPhone mobile ads, with the company serving 250 million ads last year.

Here’s a screenshot of a Greystripe advertisement but you can find a sample here:

Mobile game ad network Greystripe has hit 140 million ad-supported game downloads thanks to iPhone users. In the fourth quarter of 2008 alone, it supported 30 million downloads. All of these ad-supported and Greystripe says that over 50 percent of ad impressions are from iPhone games. The ads themselves have game-like characteristics designed to increase the chances of consumers clicking on them and playing with them, hence “advergames.”

Last summer, TechCrunch reported that Greystripe turned its attention to the iPhone, and is subsequently seeing an increase in downloads and ad impressions. In fact, Greystripe’s Top 10 Total Games (by ad impression) are all iPhone games. In December, the company created its own version of Adobe Flash for the iPhone, which Apple currently prohibits on the iPhone, that would allow advertisers to use rich media flash ads. The company is making the iPhone market a “priority for the foreseeable future,” finding that the device is a much more successful ad platform for gaming than Java devices.

Greystripe is not the first ad network to see potential in the iPhone-other mobile ad networks have followed suite. TechCrunch reported last November that ad network Videoegg extended its ads to the iPhone. Other iPhone ad networks include : AdMob, Medialets, and PinchMedia.

Some of Greystripes top games on the iPhone include 21 Pro, Blackjack, Cookie Bonus Solitaire, Origami Rose, and Powerboat Racing. None of these are top game apps in the iTunes Store, however.

Greystripe also distributes ad-supported free games and applications through its consumer site GameJump, as well as through the iPhone App Store in iTunes. The company inserts ads into more than 900 game titles from 100 publishers that can be downloaded onto mobile phones. Advertisers on Greystripe’s iPhone and Java games including New Line Cinema, Burger King, Jeep, Speedy Oil Change, Dunlop, Xbox, Leap Frog and Axe.

The current iPhone App Store revenue share model – a 70/30 split for the sale of apps, generally in the $0.99-$9.99 range – doesn’t exactly reward developers for producing addictive games. Greystripe, an advertising network for mobile games, has stepped in to compensate developers for every time their games are played, not just for when those games are initially sold.

Greystripe has actually been distributing free games and applications for about 1,400 handset models since 2006, mainly through its consumer site GameJump. The site offers mobile gamers a catalog of 800 games from 120 game publishers that can be downloaded directly to phones through mobile browsers. GameJump has experienced 75 million downloads so far, a big jump since last summer when they reached 14 million.

Now the company is turning its attention to the iPhone by providing developers with pre-, interstitial and post-roll ads from advertisers like Best Buy, eBay, Yahoo!, New Line Cinema, the US Army, Wal-Mart and Subway. Greystripe claims it will deliver a 10.1% click-through rate (CTR) when other mobile advertisers are averaging a 1-2% CTR.

To begin competing in a competitive mobile ad market, Greystripe is offering iPhone developers 100% of their in-game ad revenue until they reach $10,000. If you’re an iPhone developer, you can register for the network here.

Other iPhone ad networks include: AppLoop, a recently launched location-based iPhone ad network; AdMob, a browser-based ad network with iPhone-specific advertisements that has served almost 250 million ads; and new-comer Medialets.