Following up today on the recent and significant tie-up between JumpTap and Pinch Media, an analytics and advertising company for iPhone applications (which MSG covered here). The two companies have launched an ad network allowing developers to monetize their iPhone App Store applications. I contacted Paran Johar, JumpTap Chief Marketing Officer, for details about the deal – and got that and more: A progress report on JumpTap’s search advertising platform. Special thanks to Paran for the exclusive briefing, and to Julie Ginches, JumpTap’s new Director of Marketing Communications, for setting it up on short notice.

I’m excited about having the inside track on JumpTap’s new strategy, but I must also respect Paran’s request not to name the “product” or provide too much detail. Fortunately, the new partnership with Pinch Media gives some clear indications of where all this is going, so I’ll start there.

Pinch Media provides an analytics and advertising package which is used to date by some 300 developers making apps for the iPhone. As Paran sees it, the deal – which provides JumpTap exclusive access to the inventory – is about providing those application developers “access to advertisers, agencies and brands.” JumpTap will sell it to advertisers and “target those ads based on the data we get passed through the [Pinch] analytics package.”

Paran is bullish about iPhone, and sees other platforms and opportunities where JumpTap could bring its network of advertisers in for a cut of the action. “We think the iPhone is a massive opportunity and that’s why we did this deal….But we see applications as content, and that hits our core competency right square in the center. Anytime we can monetize content – widget content, game content, voice content, mobile content – we are interested and will prioritize based on the opportunity.”

And here’s the part where we have a glimpse of JumpTap’s wider ambitions. “This content (widgets/apps) is essentially part of a broader page that is being served up, and that’s where our search engine can work with the context of that page and go beyond search to provide contextual targeting [for the advertising].” Read between the lines, and Paran’s statement speaks volumes about JumpTap’s new direction and determination. “It’s all about using the right information at the right time to select the right ad.”

Granted, contextual targeting was part of JumpTap’s messaging from the start. But back then it had to do with delivering more relevant search results to user queries. Today when JumpTap talks about contextual targeting, it is still very much about the user experience, but it also refers to the quality of search advertising.

Put another way, the end-game is about making sure the user appreciates both the search results and the display advertising that accompanies them. To achieve this, JumpTap has quietly and cleverly reshuffled its capabilities mix.

Paran tells me that a big part of the mix is the way JumpTap has refined its ranking and rating of search results. By way of background, these results come from a variety of sources including the operator portal, the Internet, and the mobile Web, as well as JumpTap’s own indexes of made-for-mobile content – content it has crawled, tested and, in some cases, optimized for mobile device. The combination of algorithms and human editorial input enables JumpTap to feature relevant mobile Web content prominently in the results, as the slide below shows.

In fact, this jives with the mobile search road test conducted by Mobile Commerce Ltd, which MSG reported here. Once again we can see for ourselves that retrofitted Web search solutions (think Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) typically deliver relevant results for the Web and rubbish for the mobile Web.

This is primarily due to the structure of the mobile Web and the unstructured nature of most of the data in it. There is no cross-linking data to power PageRank algorithms, and figuring out what a mobile site is about let alone indexing what is on offer, is a mammoth task.

JumpTap’s corporate DNA (as a white-label made-for-mobile search engine) clearly has some advantages.

As the example above shows, JumpTap is capable of delivering mobile Web results that users will likely appreciate. (To be clear, I will reserve final judgment until Peggy Albright and I have completed our tests of mobile search engines and published our results.)

Another ace in JumpTap’s hand (and in the hand of white-label mobile search providers in general) is its close relationships with its partner carriers. Why? Because white-label mobile search represents a safe bet to operators concerned that branded search companies – who are also portal providers with a wider agenda – could eat their lunch.

The collaborative rather than competitive nature of the carrier relationship provides JumpTap with deep insight into contextual information (user location, mobile plan, billing records, as well as segmentation and profile information). BTW: JumpTap would not confirm recent rumors that it has closed just such a deal with the largest U.S. carrier … so watch this space.

Connect the dots – as JumpTap has – and you have reams of data to plug the gaps in even the most ambitious real-time and predictive models. In the case of JumpTap, that’s a combination of the user demographic profile, the real-time context of the user (what are they looking at now and where are they), and the key behavioral data points (accumulated understanding of user patterns real-time and over time).

Paran tells me the next step is to bake this into new releases, new product and new messaging to the marketplace. “We’ve talked about search, operator deals and our mobile ad network in terms of the partners we’ve signed up. The next thing we’re going to talk about is the mobile ad network and the monetization engine that actually targets the ads. All the pieces fit together, and at the core it’s about taking inputs to develop a user profile to serve a relevant ad.” Expect the formal announcement soon.

So are we seeing a new JumpTap? Let’s just say we are seeing a new and sharper focus on making display advertising as relevant to search terms and user behavior as the results set.

Does this make JumpTap an ad network or a white-label mobile search provider? Clearly, its roots are in mobile search and its future is in targeted results (and targeted display ads are now a part of that results set). As Paran put it: “The market’s evolving, and part of that evolution was the display component of advertising. We responded by launching our mobile ad network toward the end of last year.” The next level is the “integration of display in search” to do a better job of providing a relevant experience. “The less the ad is an ad, and the more it becomes a value exchange with the consumer,  the more it is content.”

Research reports – as well as my regular exchanges with Ogilvy’s Jonathan MacDonald – tell us that relevancy is the must-have ingredient in search advertising 2.0. Unfortunately, I have yet to be impressed by the match between search queries and ads. However, that could be linked to the fact that it is early days and no where – not even in mobile – have we achieved the Nirvana of presenting genuinely useful ads to users on an individual basis. And – to be honest – micro-segmentation isn’t the end-game for ad agencies and brands to begin with. They are all about reach, so there is naturally (and always) a trade-off of sorts.

Other topics Paran addressed in the briefing also deserve a mention.

OWNERSHIP: Paran put me straight on rumors I’ve been hearing that that WPP had gained a majority share of at least 40 percent in JumpTap. To be clear, and I appreciate the frank response, WPP are a minority investor. “They are a strategic partner of ours, but no where close to 40 percent.”

CLIENTS: On the publisher side, Paran tells me “two to three big publisher announcements” are imminent. On the advertiser side, JumpTap has signed several deals and is currently “working through [the channels] to be able to publicize some of them soon.” JumpTap also now counts 17 mobile operator customers. The most recent addition is U.S. Cellular. The agreement will give users “one-click access to the Web,” helping them find both on- and off-deck content. Beyond on and off portal search, U.S. Cellular users can access news, sports, flight updates, white pages, chat services, maps and directions through JumpTap’s vertical categories. The ad side of the equation is also a big part of the announcement (and all of JumpTap’s carrier deals for that matter.) As the press release puts it, it’s all about drawing from operator “data and usage information to ensure only the most relevant search results are delivered, as well as provide more effective ad targeting for advertisers.”

FEDERATED SEARCH: Definitions of federated search vary widely. We decided to think of federation as the blending of results from various sources (search engines, content providers, information destinations) according to mobile operator business rules. If we go with that, then JumpTap, like its peers, is moving in that direction. “For us, federation means one set of results from one search box, and from the very beginning, we focused on [having] one search box. If you go to one of our carrier partners, you will see the one search box. You may see certain verticals exposed beneath that search box just to help and aid in the user education and awareness about the search experience, but it really begins with that. And then yes, at the most basic level, it is going out and working with other partners and then a seamless aggregation into search results.”

Why is one search box essential? “We believe that over time, the user wants a very simple search experience. They don’t necessarily care about who’s federating to whom. It’s really about providing the results they’re looking for, and that includes not just the on-deck content and the partners we’re working with. That’s specifically why we created a search engine that will go out and crawl the unstructured mobile Web so we can pull in any website – we don’t have to rely on a carrier’s off-deck partnerships to pull in XML feeds.” The end-game is about indexing and exposing data of all types everywhere. “We really make sure we’re an unstructured index.”

ONE WEB: Is it one Web or two (mobile & Internet)? Well, how about three? It could even be more. In any case, Paran observes that the iPhone has most definitely created another Web of iPhone enabled sites (technically not WAP sites, hence a new Web). “The key is really developing mobile experiences that are relevant to whatever connectivity and/or handset the individual has, and that’s also the challenge that’s holding back the mobile industry right now.” What is the challenge to mobile search? It makes algorithmic search an even greater nightmare. “And that’s something we addressed in our search to index from the very beginning: A unique way to bring together the relevancy of all of these sites and how they are interconnected, because as you correctly pointed out, the mobile Web still has a lot of islands out there.”

STATS: Peggy Albright will have more interesting stats in her post. (She and I have interviewed all the major players for our Mobile Search Performance Report set for release in the fall.) In the meantime, Paran did share a few more numbers that speak volumes (literally) about search usage and behavior. Since January 2007 to date, one carrier shows a “jump in coverage from 77 percent to 92 percent.” Paran attributes the rise to “the organic growth of the mobile Web and better user education.” As he put it: “Users are beginning to understand a lot more about how they search for information and how they interact with the results.

The same U.S. operator saw searches per user in that same time period go from “7.3 searches per user up to 10.6 searches per user per month.” In addition, the number of searches increased by 530 percent (aggregate searches). “The number of unique search users increased 370 percent, indicating greater penetration into that carriers data plan base. The subscriber base of users who have a data plan accounts for more searches, more search terms, and more searches per user.”

CPM & CTR: JumpTap is keenly focused on “getting the most targeted results and the highest CPMs for our publishing partners.” Paran sees a wide range of CPMs. It varies by sector, seriousness and strategy. Some are going mobile for the sake of being there and others treat it as a serious business. “If you want to convert traffic into subscribers for whatever your site offers, then that’s a very different business strategy from saying “hey, give me the traffic and I’m just going to engage in some arbitrage here, where I’m turning around and selling some CPM’s on my side and it’s all being funded by customer/subscriber acquisition through a CPC campaign.” We see people doing both.”JumpTap sees much higher CPMs for companies recently. “When we talk to advertisers, we’re hearing it’s two to three times more because of the targeting and the effectiveness.” JumpTap also sees “advertisers getting 10X in terms of click-through rates. It really does come down to being able to target at the keyword level.” The example he offers: If a user browses through sports, and the only level you can target to is “sports”, then that is not enough. “If someone is a big Red Sox fan, then you don’t want to show them a Yankees ad.”

PINCH MEDIA: Greg Yardley, Pinch Media CEO, joined the call for a few minutes to give me his side of the partnership. In brief: The tie-up with JumpTap is all about “giving the developers in our network economy of scale quickly.” Even if the developer starts out small [with an app for small audiences] they can be combined with inventory from big brands.” Greg told me that developers are most excited about the doing location-based targeting. “This [approach to] targeting fits best within an application that is already location-aware.” What’s next? Greg is looking at other platforms [beyond iPhone] and “will like to see JumpTap involved in the future in other application platforms.” It’s tough to say what the next platform will be. For now, Pinch will focus on refining its advertising and analytics products for the iPhone. “We’ve got some exciting revisions coming down the pike.”

Disclaimer: JumpTap is an MSG supporter.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Content Discovery, Local Search, Location-based services, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Research, Mobile Search, Personalization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.