Issue Date: February 14, 2012

Online ad platform looks to keep readers in their 'content zone'

Mik Strøyberg

Director of consumer engagement and U.S. sales,

Issuu

It is yet another twist in online advertising, this one designed to keep website visitors from bolting to other Internet destinations. Issuu AdPages, which debuted late last year, does not redirect users to other websites; but, rather, opens a full-spread digital advertising promotion in the format of a print ad. Advertisers pay when someone clicks on and reads the ad.

Issuu, which publishes online magazines, catalogs and newspapers, has more than 50 million monthly users and delivers 3.2 billion advertising impressions per month. Mik Strøyberg, director of consumer engagement and U.S. sales at Issuu, spoke with Digital Directions about the company's technology.

Digital Directions: How does the AdPages technology work?

Mik Strøyberg:We have defined all of the content on our website and when you, as a publisher, upload your (content), you get the possibility to promote it to clusters, or the vertical markets that are the most relevant to your audiences. AdPages is part of the overall document that is being uploaded; publishers don't have to install anything. Because your publication has already created the ads, you don't have to do anything else. What we've learned is that because it's not a display ad but because you're reading something, you're going to spend twice as much time on the (advertiser's) website.

The big difference between (our technology) and display ads is that we keep readers in their content zone, so every time readers click on (an ad) they want to get more content. A display ad gets displayed, whereas AdPages gets under the reader's skin and enables them to get closer to the content, which creates more loyal customers.

DD: How does the technology enhance business publishers' online advertising campaigns?...

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