Lifestreet, which raised $66 million in capital as Facebook’s biggest in-app advertiser last year, is expanding to mobile platforms.
After processing about $150 million in ad payments out to roughly 3,500 Facebook developers, they’re adding a new self-service portal for mobile developers to handle display ads inside of their apps.
It’s basically extending the product Lifestreet already offers on the Facebook platform, with performance-based ads that earn revenue on a cost-per-install, cost-per-acquisition or cost-per-engagement basis. They have their own in-house agency that helps with creatives as well. Lifestreet, which started back in 2005, grew up with the Facebook platform by running an ad network inside third-party Facebook apps. But now, much of Facebook’s developer ecosystem has moved where the money and users have gone — to Android and iOS. Facebook’s platform revenues continue to grow, but a lot of the momentum is in mobile apps.
Lifestreet says it has a unique RevJet monetization engine, which breaks ads down into their text and graphical components. With those different pieces, they can mix and match them until the find the highest overall performing unit. They also work with other ad serving platforms like MoPub, Google AdMob and Burstly. Other companies like Marin Software and TBG also help with testing hundreds or thousands of different creative combinations on behalf of advertisers.
Lifestreet says they process ad revenue and handle payments within 15 days, which they say is twice as fast as the industry standard of 30 days. They’ve been testing it out with an initial beta involving about 50 different developers and are now opening it more widely.