A few months ago AdPerk asked its pioneering user community for feedback on the AdPerk experience and many of you were generous enough to contribute your time. We wanted to thank you for your participation — your input is influential in shaping our company.

In addition to our gratitude, we wanted to share what is on the horizon for AdPerk, as well as a summary of what we heard from you:

1. AdPerk Community
What you said: You’re curious to learn about the companies participating in AdPerk’s video library and are ready to share this information with friends and family members.
What you’ll see: Be on the lookout for a “refer-a-friend” functionality so you can share the experience with your personal networks.

2. Attraction to AdPerk
What you said: AdPerk is fun, entertaining and the rewards are meaningful – you’d just like to see more!
What you’ll see: If you haven’t already heard, we just launched Skiing Magazine this week and have more publishers launching soon. Also, check back frequently as we’re working with retailers and specific brands on other exciting offers.

3. Fulfillment Time
What you said: It can take a long time to receive your first issue.
What you’ll see: The process is largely dependent on the fulfillment houses of each magazine so we’re working very closely with our publishing partners to streamline the process and improve the turn-around time.

The AdPerk team is extremely excited about what lies ahead for us and our community. We recognize that time is valuable and choice is crucial and are continually working to create an environment where you can actively participate in the information process. We hope to see you on AdPerk soon!

Our latest reward offering, Alternative Medicine Magazine, is now live on AdPerk! Alternative Medicine guides and inspires its readers to make informed decisions about their health and well-being. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Also, if you haven’t already, take a look at the “coming soon” section of our homepage. We have some exciting new titles in the pipeline, so check back often.

Randy Kilgore’s Media Post article does a great job dispelling what might be myths and biased interpretations of online video strategies nowadays. For example, in the words of Kilgore: “Do 30-second ads ‘really’ outperform 15-second ads? Is creating original Web advertising ‘really’ the only way to go?” And this bombshell, “While our creative cohorts may undervalue the power of pre-roll, or even loathe the format altogether, most of the recent data suggests that it’s a powerful and effective ad format.”

His article implores that studies and their conclusions be taken with a grain of salt—reminding us that a logical approach to the numbers is necessary in order to make an accurate evaluation of what will work best. A very good point in light of the hype and speculation around the next big wave of marketing technology.

But it left me wondering where the innovations and forward-think approaches fit into the discussion. If online video is the next big thing, what about “outside the box” solutions? Rather than pitting run-of-the-mill approaches against each other to support certain rationales, shouldn’t we focus a portion of our attention on new avenues in our evaluations?

Hey folks - Our apologies but while adding Popular Science to the AdPerk platform we were forced to remove all previous registration data from our system. This means that returning users, who registered with our system for the Dwell offer, will need to establish a new AdPerk account when logging back in. This is a one-time issue and won’t be the case as we add publishers and partners going forward.

If you registered with AdPerk for the Popular Science offer, your information will remain the same.

Thanks for understanding

Just finished reading Advertising Age’s take on Disney’s acquisition of Club Penguin for $350 Million. No biggie—Disney apparently likes the Club Penguin numbers: 700,000 paid subscribers (about $6 per month) comprised primarily of kids aged 6 to 14. Perfect, in fact. But wait, what’s this—Club Penguin presently has no advertising? Penguin’s co-founders stayed away from the advertising aimed at kids as a “safety decision.” But even the article pokes fun at the safety concern in light of the Disney deal, which is all but certain to catapult the site into ad-central. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing—so long as the integrity of the advertising is consistent with all things Disney.

As I’ve discussed before perhaps the advertising model will bring down (or even eliminate) the subscription pricing model. But something dawns on me… kids aged 6-14 don’t have credit cards. Which is yet another reason why the open source media approach (i.e., pay with your time, not with your money) is so powerful. Or, and even better yet, a third-party solution (I’m just going to say it, a partner like AdPerk) would keep the site ad-free for the user while bringing down subscription cost and increasing users.

Is there a difference between Disney flooding the site with ads rather than allowing kids to earn credits for “free” subscriptions through a platform like AdPerk? Who, if anyone, ends up the “big bad wolf” in this scenario? From my perspective, AdPerk’s opt-in, reward-based advertising model is far less invasive but I’m curious what you think.

After reading Kate Bulkley’s From Subscription To Free article in The Guardian this week, I couldn’t help but scratch my head.

According to the article, it’s now news that ad supported sites are the best business model. More than that, the article discusses the mass abandonment of the online subscription model in favor of this newfangled idea of letting ads support the site so that users pay nothing. CNN, The Economist, and even The Wall Street Journal are cited among those who have apparently seen the light and implemented the novel approach.

But wait a minute. If content is now supported by advertisers, doesn’t that naturally mean that advertisements have infiltrated (or at least increased their infiltration of) the almighty content? Aren’t there people out there who would gladly have continued paying for the ad-free (or at least nearer to ad-free) content sans interruption after interruption?

So pick your poison: get dinged online with the subscription fee, or get the content for free and get dinged with an onslaught of demographically-correct but banal attempts to capture your attention.

The industry needs a new model that bridges the gap between fee to free, where everyone benefits: un-intruded content for the user and a reward for those who choose to pay with their time; revenue for the publisher to support the site; and a unique one-on-one environment for the advertiser to engage an enthusiastic audience. The missing ingredient to the traditional ad-supported model is offering consumers the ability to go ad-free with the content in return for participating in the ad consumption process on their own terms. As marketers begin to respect their audiences by offering choice and rewards, a higher ROI should follow.

E-Commerce Times publishes an article today that captures several ideas that are near and dear to our hearts:
* Online video advertising is increasing – the current ratio of television to Internet advertising is shifting to the Web.
* Advertisers are gun-shy about advertising in areas they can’t control, e.g. YouTube, and want a low-risk environment to showcase their ads.
* Repurposing television ads and pushing them at consumers in the traditional model isn’t effective. Consumers are demanding a different type of content and they want to be approached in a respectful manner.

It seems to us that marketers are looking for a new type of ad network. We think we can rise to the occasion

Today we unveiled a partnership with Popular Science that allows users to earn a free annual subscription (12 issues) of Popular Science magazine plus a free digital version of the current issue. And, similar to our first offer with Dwell magazine, all you need to do to earn the reward is watch videos of your choice.

Check out our Web site to take advantage of the offer! We think it’s pretty cool, what do you think?

An AdAge artice highlights interesting data from TiVo that attempts to explain how advertisers can craft ads that will make viewers less apt to fast-forward through them with a digital-video recorder. The data, however, identifies two contrasting approaches and mostly points out that traditional television advertising has become more and more of a guessing game — with marketers hoping to connect with viewers who happen to be watching a particular show, rather than those who are in the purchasing market or interested in a specific advertisement.

As a Tivo user myself, I often fast-forward through commercials because I simply don’t want the interruption to my programming. Even if the commercials were more on target for my individual tastes I would probably still skip the ads.

If a marketer can offset the cost of media that the consumer would otherwise have to pay for (say magazines) the dynamic is very different. In this scenario, the user is sponsored directly and able to pay with advertising first and then receive the media. This is a conscious decision on the part of the user to pay with their time, attention, or both. The big difference in this model is that control and choice are used to the marketer’s advantage, rather than the traditional television commercial approach where control and choice become a disadvantage (i.e. consumers fast-forwarding through ads entirely).

If you bring a collection of advertisers together that will sponsor the user directly in exchange for the cost of the media everyone wins. The advertiser gets an audience who is demographically relevant, opted in with their time and chosen that advertiser over all others. That is making a true and meaningful connection.

As more and more people zap through commercials, we’re certain to see a shift in the advertising approach. Which way do you think it will go?

It’s great when industry experts take notice of what you’re doing – it’s even better when they think it’s cool.

Now that AdPerk has been officially live for a few weeks, we wanted to share some of the news coverage we’ve received so far. On June 21, New York Times writer Louise Story posted her take on the AdPerk platform. Later in the week shelter blogs, including Modern Flat, and tech blogs like Tech Crusade also posted the news. We’re working on a section of our Web site that highlights all of the other bloggers helping to spread the word and will let you know when it’s up.

Matt Kinsman of Folio Magazine, one of the most important (if not the most important) publications for the publishing industry, also ran a piece on the AdPerk launch, explaining the benefits on the publishing side. If you’re wondering what’s in it for the publisher, his article sums it up nicely. Thanks Matt!

Last but not least, notorious tech journalist Rafe Needleman posted an article on Webware calling AdPerk a “a good deal for all parties” and recapped the user experience with the following:

“Users get content they likely are already interested in (if you’re reading Dwell, chances are you have an interest in high-end appliances). They also get a nice payback on their time: a free subscription extension for 2 minutes of watching videos you like is not bad. Also, there’s no onerous step to earn the credits.”

We’re very excited to get such positive comments from Rafe given his knowledge of technology and experience in the publishing industry.

So to that end, we’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to check out AdPerk – not just members of the media. As always, we’re interested to hear what you think about the coverage or the site itself.