DISQUS

VentureBeat: 4Info surprises with SMS ad results — raises $10M more

  • jonathan · 2 years ago
    Hold the phone..."4Info uses bulk SMS to deliver the text alerts (which now contain advertising), so it doesn’t have to pay operators for the service.” As standard rate, they don’t split revenue with carriers, but what about paying the connection aggregator for per message charges? Why do you think a $50 CPM is justified, because of the value of mobile advertising?
  • Matt Marshall · 2 years ago
    I do think $50 is high, but if advertisers are paying it, they must be seeing the value. I tried to explain the targeting capabilities above. When you think about it, an SMS ad will take over the entire phone (thus assuring attention to the advertiser), and it can do so at specific times. Denny's can run an ad about breakfast specials in the morning, and only in the morning, to people who are the go....
  • Ajay · 2 years ago
    Real question is if you are paying connection aggregator around 3 to 5 cents per message then where your cost is also 5 cents per message (text alert or not...unless you are using email id, which would be blocked) so there is no profit. Key is finding out what they are paying to these connection aggregators. If they manage to get the deal around 2 cents per message (i think this cost differs per carrier) then it does makes a huge profit.
  • Monika · 2 years ago
    4Info is doing a great job in leading the way of SMS. Zaw Thet and his team are working hard and it shows. I am so proud of the 4Info team with all they have accomplished. With every great team there is a great leader; Mr. Thet does an amazing job in leading this company to and beyond any expectations and I’m not the only one who has taken notice. Gannett, Tribune Company and Sand Hill Capital are among the companies that have thrived on all the hard work and late hours that the team of 4Info. Keep up the great work!
  • Robert May · 2 years ago
    Ajay's math is right, though SMS aggregators will become disaggregated and these prices will drop. However, $50/CPM for a text ad is likely to be from an advertiser's test budget. Once they move to their media buy budget (and avails of SMS ads balloon), expect these CPMs to drop.

    "deliver video via SMS???" Does this mean WAP push (which uses SMS transport for notification), EMS, or??
  • Phil · 2 years ago
    4Info has a lot of good free content alerts, but they also offer a lot of premium message content ($3.99 per month). A lot of this paid content can be found elsewhere for free.

    Phil
  • text advertising · 1 year ago
    Ajay, they might be useing the sms to email gateway, thus saveing $$. But you guys are right, advertising is how they make their $$
  • click · 1 year ago
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