News

We can do better than banner ads says W3i as rebrands and relaunches as NativeX

New platform to acquire and monetise users

We can do better than banner ads says W3i as rebrands and relaunches as NativeX
Reflecting how the mobile monetisation business is developing, US outfit W3i is rebranding as NativeX.

"Standard display ad units are fine but rates are low. The revenue that developers get is a function of the value of the service for advertisers, and we want to drive up value and revenue," explains SVP of new products and co-founder Rob Weber.

"Native ad units provide more value and are more compelling."

Expand your horizons

As part of the rebrand, the company is rolling out its new NativeX Platform, which it says will enable more targeted and innovative advertising.

The cross-platform mobile and web platform is based around custom native ad units, and fueled by a global offer exchange system so developers can more effectively acquire and monetise users, both incentivised and non-incentivised.



Weber says that in testing the new units (as shown above) have seen click-through rates of between 10-20 percent compared to 1-2 percent for traditional banners.

Full service

Also adding smartness into the mix are what he calls 'deeper predictive analytics'.

"This provides more control for developers so if they don't want to, they don't have to manually deal with their inventory. It will optimise it automatically," he says.

It's part of NativeX App Services, which offers components such as cloud-based analytics, payment and push notifications.

"It's the infrastructure to power apps," Weber says. "Using NativeX, our developers will make a lot more money than they did."

Trip business fantastic

The launch builds on the success of the company's previous operations, which grew 350 percent across iOS and Android in 2012, powering a lifetime total of over 1 billion app downloads across 105 million monthly active users.

Clients include developers and publishers such as GREE, Bulkypix, Pocket Gamer, Imangi Studios, NimbleBit and SkyVu. 

Based in Minnesota, the 165-strong outfit also recently opened a San Francisco office. And it's added EA and Digital Chocolate founder Trip Hawkins as an advisor to its board of directors.

"Native advertising is the future, and I am thrilled to get involved with this forward-thinking company," commented Hawkins.

"Every major publisher on mobile and web has their eye on native advertising right now. NativeX is proving that we as an industry can do better than banner ads."

You can find out more details at the NativeX website.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.