The partnership enables Northcliffe to provide digital advertising services for local business advertisers in a highly efficient way using Localstars' automated advertising technologies. The service will operate across Northcliffe's 400 hyperlocal and regional web sites operating under the thisis and localpeople brands.
The partnership is enabling Northcliffe to change the model for selling digital advertising to SMEs. Localstars' technology is used to create an advert for an SME before a sales call is even made. A link is then sent to the prospective advertiser showing them the advert embedded into the website it will actually appear on.
“The new service from Localstars allows us to offer high impact, interactive rich media ads at prices that are right for SME advertisers on our sites. In recent sales campaigns for the ads, we’ve seen astounding conversion rates, with one in six advertisers deciding to buy a rich media campaign once they’ve seen a sample ad – and 90 per cent of those who’ve bought, have never even purchased a digital display ad before, bringing new small businesses to the advantage of online advertising,” said Lee Williams, General Manager - Local Media, at Northcliffe Digital, which has over 5m unique visitors per month to its local web sites.
The Localstars advertising platform includes a library of thousands of rich media ad templates which can be fully customised by adding or changing images, text, fonts, colours and other ad components. Once an ad is made it can be easily shared as a solo advert or in the context of the website it will appear in. An advert can be subsequently either edited, approved or sent directly to the ad server, enabling the advert to go live instantaneously.
“We’re helping Northcliffe Digital to grow digital sales by giving them a fast, cost effective way of delivering powerful rich media ads that are affordable to small business advertisers” explained Chris Bunyan (pictured), Managing Director of Localstars. “This both enables Northcliffe to grow revenues faster and get more local businesses reaching their highly targeted local online local audiences."
Northcliffe Digital initially trialled the new rich media ad service on selected sites, including those in Lincoln, Bristol, and Gloucester, before rolling it out to the entire network. This service builds on an earlier agreement from in 2011, in which the publisher outsourced the production of video ads to Localstars.
About Localstars
Localstars says: “Established in 2008, Localstars, the digital and video advertising specialist, has a simple vision – to deliver high quality, geographically targeted online video and digital advertising campaigns at affordable prices. The company helps publishers achieve online video advertising income without major investment or risk and makes affordable online video advertising campaigns accessible to small businesses as well as large brands who want to target local audiences. Its rich media ad builder software enables regional publishers and directory sites to cost-effectively offer compelling rich media display ad campaigns to advertisers of all sizes.
Localstars is a media software business headquartered in London. It was recently shortlisted for the Orange Innovation Award. The company is privately funded.”
