LocalAdXchange: 80% Fill, 10% CTR

At the AD:TECH conference earlier this week I was able to sit down briefly with LocalAdXchange‘s Craig Hagopian. The company was formerly V-Enable and in the mobile directory assistance business. But the recession and some other now fortuitous circumstances forced the business to change its model and the company is now a profitable local ads provider. It doesn’t sell ads directly; rather it sits between ad sales on the one side and distribution on the other. It also seeks to optimize ads for maximum performance and CPMs to publisher partners and scores all adds accordingly. Its partners include SuperMedia, AT&T Interactive, 4Info, JumpTap, Multiplied Media and a number of others. LocalAdXchange does a few things outside of mobile but it’s predominantly a mobile network. Other local-mobile ad networks include Where, CityGrid, LSN and Google of course. Most mobile ad networks serve geotargeted inventory but don’t specialize in this area or have the capacity to provide high levels of fill with quality local ad inventory. CityGrid is an exception to that generalization and also operates on the PC side. Hagopian told me LocalAdXchange can provide 80% fill rates and sees roughly 10% CTRs on ads. Of those ads that consumers respond to, roughly half generate a phone call, according to Hagopian. LocalAdXchange serves both PPC and PPCall ads to its partners. Many studies and surveys now have established the appeal and greater efficiacy of LBS advertising on mobile devices vs. other ad categories. —- Correction: LocalAdXchange does have direct advertiser relationships, though most ads come through partners.