AOL is upping the ante in an effort to get more application developers on Facebook and Bebo using its WIDGNET advertising network. The company has announced that it will be offering developers a “guaranteed CPM” on ads served across their applications.
While on the surface this sounds like a great thing for developers that will allow them to accurately forecast their revenue, the devil is in the details. According to AOL, “The guaranteed CPM rates will apply to the first three impressions for each unique U.S. visitor who visits an approved developer’s application.”
Of course, it’s not all just a marketing gimmick from AOL. Since they now own Bebo and have massive advertiser reach with Platform-A, they are in a position to both push application usage on one hand and sell inventory on the other. And while there are dozens of ad networks for application developers already in operation, few if any have the scale of AOL.