NeoEdge Networks is a
Silicon
Valley
based technology and in-game advertising company
that enables casual game publishers and
developers to deliver television-like commercials within their
products - frequently in the context of free-to-consumer casual
game play. NeoEdge currently powers advertising for a
variety of game publishers including Yahoo. NeoEdge has provided
services to game publishers in other areas - it pioneered both
peer-to-peer game distribution (to
reduce costs of distributing games) and
in-game advertising (to help increase
consumer game play and monetization).
Introduction
NeoEdge is focused on providing the best advertising and consumer
experience inside online
casual games.
The company has helped revolutionize the casual game industry by
providing a platform for game developers, publishers and portal
partners to derive long-term revenue. The online video advertising
platform provides advertisers a medium that reaches a key
demographic (adults over 18 years of age) with
television-like commercials in an engaged environment that casual
gamers have accepted in exchange for free game play.
History
NeoEdge was originally founded in 2002 by
Steven Woods,
Jeromy
Carriere, Kelly Slough, Dave Simons, and Michael Babiak, former
Netscape and
America Online entrepreneurs, under the
corporate name "Kinitos". While at
Quack.com the founders created the first
consumer-based Voice Portal, acquired by America Online in 2000. In
2007,
Atari co-founder
Nolan Bushnell, a noted game visionary,
joined the NeoEdge board as Chairman.
Under the Kinitos brand, the company was a key
Microsoft partner in their
Smart Client efforts. Smart Clients were a
Microsoft initiative to help companies deliver a new class of
Web 2.0 Internet services. These services
were intended to help companies deliver consumer services that
transcended traditional browsers - helping to provide downloadable
application-style capabilities to consumer and enterprise companies
without the past problems associated with installed applications.
Downloadable games with embedded web services are one class of such
solutions, the MostFun.com Game Player, owned by NeoEdge, is one
example of such an application - others include all manner of
browser extensions and plugins, or downloadable web services
applications like
instant
messaging,
Google Earth,
Bittorrent,
iTunes, and many others.
In 2005, Kinitos reorganized to focus specifically on supporting
game developers and distributors to deliver ad-enabled game play to
consumers as an alternative to traditional "try and buy" models.
NeoEdge became a leader in changing the current business model of
the casual game industry. According to the Casual Game Association,
200 Million people worldwide play casual games every month. The
industry struggled as a “hits” based business with a “Try and Buy”
business model made long-term revenue generation difficult.
Products and Services
NeoEdge has changed the business of casual games and helped the
long tail of the casual game industry. These changes have created
additional revenue streams for game publishers and portals through
the use of patent-pending technology that places ad inventory into
multiple insertion slots within casual games.NeoEdge offers
consumer-facing portals a menu of services including
advertising-enabled games, detailed back-end metrics, the ability
to ad-enable games under license, advertising sales, and games in
the 700+ NeoEdge game catalog.
NeoARM
NeoEdge provides game publishers with a seamless integration of
video advertising into their games, both in an online and
downloadable environment, helping to improve both their
ROI and
conversion rates.
NeoARM is effective for both new games and back catalog
games, and is integrated in a manner that protects the game's
intellectual property with industry standard
Digital Rights Management.
NeoAds
As an open ad network,
NeoAds provides digital rights
management in an effort to reassure publishers. At the same time,
it deals in advertising rights management, creating advertising
inventory, and distributing revenue to partners based on
clicks and
impressions via
ads embedded in a game’s
pre-roll and
interstitial.
NeoConversation
The nature of casual game play combined with the adult female
demographic provides a unique and compelling platform for daily,
weekly, and monthly two-way communication. NeoEdge uses casual game
play to interact with consumers about a range of topics from
advertising messages, ad creative, brand uplift,
brand awareness studies and current event
opinions.
NeoMom
In December 2008, NeoEdge announced
NeoMom, a research
tool designed to continuously measure the preferences of women
between 25 and 54 years of age.
NeoMom leverages the
trusted relationship between NeoEdge and its casual gaming
community to develop an ongoing database of consumer habits and
purchase decision making. Players will be surveyed with quick polls
and “poll of the week” type of questions, which can appear in any
slot during the game experience (pre-, mid-, and post-roll)
depending on the type of question and currently running video ads.
NeoEdge has announced to share its data with current and potential
new advertisers to help make better informed decisions and to
optimize their online campaigns.
Funding
NeoEdge is
funded by Toronto
-based
Jefferson Partners[357687] and Boston
-based VIMAC
Ventures LLC[357688].
Awards
NeoEdge has won a variety of awards. The two most significant
awards were awarded in 2009. In January, NeoEdge was selected to
the 2009 OnMedia 100 List. NeoEdge also co-won the category of
"Digital Publishers". The OnMedia 100 Award is given based on
factors such as growth and market opportunities, innovation
potential, and customer satisfaction. It is generally given to
privately-owned emerging technology companies. Winners were
selected based on nominations by journalists and industry insiders
as well as investors and bankers.
In May 2009, NeoEdge was selected as a winner of the
Red Herring 100 North America Award.
Awards are given out based on companies' potential for dramatic
growth and all aspects of business, such as quality of management,
business model, financial performance, technology innovation,
global strategy execution, and ecosystem integration. Over 1,000
private companies were nominated for the award. 200 finalists
underwent rigorous evaluation by Red Herring's editorial
staff.
References
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