JumpTap Adds New York Office in Growing Mobile Search Market
The mobile search world paints a slightly different picture of the distribution of search providers. Yes, we have the big guns as the dominant forces in the mobile search marketplace. But many of the carriers view the big search companies as rivals, and have opted to partner with lesser known companies such as JumpTap, Medio, InfoSpace, and FAST.
These companies provide carriers with their own white labeled search engine, which offer generous revenue sharing models to the mobile carriers. Mobile carriers are looking beyond their flat rate monthly data plans to bolster revenue, and JumpTap is offering their carrier partners just that. JumpTap collects behavioral data provided by the carrier to serve ads that are most relevant to searchers. These highly targeted ads are likely to generate high click-throughs. A win-win solution for the carrier, JumpTap, the advertiser, and the searcher.
This model has allowed JumpTap to secure relationships with partners include Boost Mobile, Alltel Wireless, Rogers Wireless, Fido , Virgin Mobile USA, Bell Canada , Telefonica, and TeliaSonera. On the content syndication side – JumpTap has partnered with both NBC – Universal, and FOX. The reach is approximately 140 million mobile subscribers.
What makes the JumpTap search experience different than it’s competitors? JumpTap is unique in that it only indexes sites that are optimized for the mobile web. The company boasts the largest pure mobile search index. Mobile searchers will not be delivered sites developed in Flash, for example, which cannot be viewed on the great majority of handsets.
We asked what makes the mobile search experience different than traditional web search. “Mobile search is completely different. You are not likely to do research for a term paper via your mobile device. Queries are more likely to be fall into categories such as entertainment, games, restaurants, shopping. Mobile search intent is completely different”, said Eric Brown, Manager of Ad Operations at JumpTap.
Another JumpTap enthusiast told us – “Mobile is so important, because for many individuals, particularly in emerging countries, it’s their only gatway to the web. It’s the only medium for them to harness the power of a search”.
A guest of the event, Adam Broitman – a blogger on the subject of emerging media shared with us his thoughts. “JumpTap’s realization that the mobile phone is slowly becoming the remote control for our entire life could not be more timely. The mobile web needs companies like JumpTap in order to help further the mobile web, and I could not have been happier to have been in attendance at the celebration of their arrival in New York City.”