It might look like Apple will crush competing iPhone and iPad advertising companies with its iAd program, but startups arena4‚¬a4„t giving up. Toronto company mDialog is trying to stand out by offering greater interactivity, which might make ads genuinely useful. Today ita4‚¬a4„s unveiling its latest improvement &8212' support for what the company calls a4‚¬Ain-stream appsa4‚¬¯.
You could be watching a 30-second video advertising a car, then tap a button to find the nearest dealership. All the activity happens within the ad, so the video pauses while you look for a dealership, then it resumes once youa4‚¬a4„re done. (You might not care about continuing the ad itself, but you were probably watching another video when the ad popped up, so this integration reduces overall disruption.)
mDialog already announced a4‚¬Ainteractive overlaysa4‚¬¯ for its ads, but a company spokesman told me that todaya4‚¬a4„s announcement goes further, with a4‚¬Ainteractive apps within the overlays themselves.a4‚¬¯
That description made my head hurt, but the idea is that mDialog is providing even more interactive features to advertisers. For example, during mDialoga4‚¬a4„s demonstration in April, it allowed users to tap a button and enter their email address as a way to sign up for a car test drive. With the new in-stream apps, mDialog can actually access your iPada4‚¬a4„s GPS capabilities to identify where you are, then open a Google Map showing all the nearest car dealerships.
The company has raised $3.15M from angel investors. You can see a sample ad, as well as mDialoga4‚¬a4„s tools for creating the ad, in the video below.
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Companies: mDialog
Companies: mDialog
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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