We are so happy to have had the opportunity to be part of Asia’s largest and most influential mobile industry event last week! For five years, GMIC has been at the forefront of the mobile Internet industry, focusing on global markets and emerging technologies.

Our team joined over 10,000 industry professionals and executives at this huge event and exhibited in the very popular app space arena which aligned our company very well with many app developers and advertisers who were present at this conference. The LeadBolt Team was busy as always at our booth continuously engaging with hundreds of interested attendees at the conference and even caught up face-to-face with some of our existing partners as well.

We established new business relationships and potential partnerships at this event which will indeed bring about a positive impact on our current advertiser and publisher base.

We hope to see you at the next conference venue coming up if you did not manage to see us this time around in Beijing.

We are proud to announce that LeadBolt has been selected as a finalist for Red Herring’s Top 100 North America award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures in a particular business region.

Red Herring has been selecting the most exciting and promising start-ups since 1996. Finalists are still evaluated individually from a large pool of hundreds of candidates based across North America. More than twenty criteria underlie the scoring and process which results in the list of finalists often showcasing the best performing and prominent companies of that year.

Finalist selections for the 2013 edition of the Red Herring 100 North America award from each region were reviewed in a rigorous 3-step process that looks at all aspects of the company.

It is great to be recognized and awarded once again for our continuous effort to always ensure that our advertisers and publishers have access to revolutionary ad serving technologies that increase ROI.

Learn more about Red Herring’s Top 100 North America Award on their website here.

LeadBolt continually strives to deliver ongoing excellence in ad serving and we have done it again with the release of this latest version of the Android SDK v5.00. With the new multiple resolution support and full customization to publisher requirements with click-to-build simplicity, this has indeed set a new standard for the mobile ad serving industry.

We are thrilled to be releasing v5.00 of our Publisher Android SDK which includes a range of exciting updates that will definitely deliver even better results from your apps through our wide range of advanced ad formats!

This updated publisher SDK for Android (v5.00) features the following new additions and updates which will surely help you earn even more from your apps with us.

1. One Unified Customizable SDK
2. Inbuilt Multiple Resolution Support for Ads
3. Performance Enhancements

 
Here are the details…

A Unified & Customizable SDK
The choice of SDK packages has been simplified and publishers can now customize a single SDK to suit their needs. This allows publishers to build a custom SDK including only the desired ad formats. When building the SDK (on the SDK download page), publishers will have the following options to include in the customized SDK: Quick Start Ads (all ad formats) – default option, Display Ads, Notification Ads, Icon Ads.

Multiple-Resolution Support for Quick Start Ads and Display Ads
This new and updated Android SDK allows publishers to support multiple device resolutions easily. The SDK will detect the device screen size and display the most suitable ad size, to ensure optimal display. Publishers will be able to enter additional sections IDs (Medium, Large and Extra Large screens) to automatically support higher resolution device resolutions.

For Quick Start Ads, these section IDs are also included in the manifest following requests from developers.  For more information, please read both the Quick Start Ad and the SDK documentation guide in the HELP/FAQs section of the publisher portal.

Performance Enhancements
The latest version of the Android SDK contains performance enhancements which deliver a better user experience for end users and improve ad performance.

How To Get Started
You can now download/update to the latest version of the Android SDK (v5.00) by visiting the ‘Help/ FAQs’ tab then clicking on the ‘App Developer SDKs’ tab in your publisher portal. Please read the updated PDF documentation included to migrate to the new SDK version seamlessly.

Login to your Publisher Account and download the latest version of our Android SDK now!

We all understand the importance and benefits of monetizing the entire App Usage Cycle.

Monetize when users enter and exit your app
This is why LeadBolt has created NEW Entry and Exit Ad templates to increase your overall ad performance when users first enter your app and when they exit them.

LeadBolt provides developers with the widest range of advanced ad types and tools to achieve the most from their apps at every stage of this cycle. By utilizing entry and exit ads, alongside display ads during app usage, allows developers to monetize the full app usage cycle.

Simple ‘3 Step’ integration
A very easy to follow, 3 simple steps, Entry & Exit ad integration guide is available in the Publisher Portal, and can be found in the ‘HELP/FAQs’ section, under the ‘App Developer SDKs’ tab.

Start adding the new Entry and Exit ads to your apps now by logging into your publisher account, clicking on the ‘App Ad (SDK)’ section and choosing the ‘Entry – Exit’ section tab.

Customize for even better returns!
Developers are also able to customize the standard marketing text on the ad templates and change it from “Thanks for installing!” to something else if preferred. This added functionality enables developers to make the ad unit’s message contextually more relevant to their app which might enhance ad performance even further.

Great News! With the recent release of our latest iOS SDK and due to popular demand, we have updated our iOS support information for PhoneGap.

LeadBolt’s ad formats have always been compatible with PhoneGap, however with our new easy to follow instructions (available in the publisher portal help section), adding LeadBolt to your iOS PhoneGap app is easier than ever before!

Integrating LeadBolt ads into PhoneGap apps for iOS does not require any additional libraries and can be achieved with a few simple changes to the standard SDK integration methods. Android developers using PhoneGap can also integrate the LeadBolt ad SDK by downloading our Android PhoneGap library and following the included integration guide.

You can get the full instructions on integrating LeadBolt into iOS and Android PhoneGap apps from the App Developer Framework section of the Help tab in the LeadBolt publisher portal.

Login to your Publisher Account now to get started!

Alongside the new iOS SDK, we’re very thrilled to announce the release of a Unity3D compatibility library for iOS which has been designed to work seamlessly with the Unity platform for publishers!  This is now available in the LeadBolt Publisher portal, under “App Developer Frameworks” in the Help section.

The Unity compatibility library allows iOS developers using the Unity3D game engine to integrate the LeadBolt SDK (using the latest version) and take advantage of all iOS compatible SDK powered ad formats available such as Advanced Overlays, App Wall, Interstitials, Audio Ads, In-App Alerts, Notifications, Video Ads and Capture Forms.

LeadBolt is committed to ensuring as many developers as possible are able to utilize our ad serving technologies and realize the full potential of monetizing their app user base.

The availability of this new SDK to Unity3D publishers on iOS aligns with our Unity3D framework support for Android and iOS Unity3d publishers will now able to achieve even more revenue from their apps with our wide range of advanced ad formats and experience the full monetizing potential of our network.

How To Get Started
You can now download the Unity3D compatibility library by visiting the ‘Help/ FAQs’ tab then clicking on the ‘App Developer Frameworks’ tab in your publisher portal.

Login to your Publisher Account and download the Unity compatibility library for iOS now!

At LeadBolt, we continuously strive to ensure that our publishers are always equipped with the most advanced tools to effectively monetize their apps. We’ve done this again and are announcing the release of our latest iOS SDK v3.01 – now available for download in your Publisher Portal.

This release also addresses Apple’s announcement that from May 1^st 2013, any app which accesses UDID will be rejected when submitted to the App Store. This latest update to the SDK ensures that apps are compliant with Apple’s guidelines by eliminating this dependency.

This updated publisher SDK for iOS (v3.01) features the following new additions which will surely help you achieve even more from your iOS apps!

1. Improved User Experience for Display Ads
Display ad formats have been improved to provide a better user experience. Once a display ad is clicked, the content will be loaded in the background before being displayed to the user, providing a seamless and smooth transition including loading progression indication.

2. A Unified SDK
Previously, two SDKs were available – one with UDID and IFA/IDFA tracking combined and one with IFA/IDFA tracking only.  Since Apple has announced that from May 1st 2013, any app which accesses UDID will be rejected when submitted to the App Store, the SDK with UDID tracking will no longer be available and UDID has been excluded from this unified SDK. If you are currently using a previous version of the SDK which accesses UDID, you should update to the latest version.

3. Performance & Memory Enhancements
We have also taken this opportunity to add in more performance and memory enhancements with this SDK, plus some unity3D specific changes to further increase overall advertising performance for publishers and ensure your LeadBolt ad experience is awesome!

How To Get Started
You can now download/update to the latest version of the iPhone SDK by visiting the ‘Help/ FAQs’ tab then clicking on the ‘App Developer SDKs’ tab in your publisher portal. Please read the updated PDF documentation included to migrate to the new SDK version seamlessly.

Login to your Publisher Account and download the latest version of our iPhone SDK now!

A record breaking 23,000 industry professionals attended last week’s conference in San Francisco’s Moscone Center and the LeadBolt Team was more than happy to be part of all the action!

The 2013 conference kicked off with two days of tutorials and summits focused on specific emerging platforms and topics, including a newly introduced Free to Play Design & Business Summit, the Smartphone & Tablet Games Summit, and the Independent Games Summit.

We joined more than 350 exhibitors on the busy GDC Expo floor with our booth very well positioned close to the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Pavilion and GDC Play showcase area, which hosted more than 70 emerging developers showcasing their titles to investors, distributors and the public.

We successfully established new business relationships and potential partnerships at this event which will surely bring about a positive impact on our current advertiser and publisher base.

We hope to see you at the next conference venue coming up if you did not manage to see us this time around.

We will be exhibiting at the world’s largest and longest running professionals-only game industry event this month in San Francisco. This highly anticipated event will be taking place from 25-29 March 2013 in and we’d love to see you there at Booth #242!

Two GDC conference passes are up for grabs (worth $250) which will give you access to the main expo hall, independent games festival, game career seminar and more!

Refer as many friends as you can and you could win a pass to GDC!
To enter, simply get as many app developers or advertisers you can to sign up and go live using your special app developer referral link which can be found on your dashboard of our Publisher Portal!

All you need to do is as follows to enter:

1. Share your special App Developer Referral link with all of your friends through Facebook, Twitter,  email or anywhere else you feel is best to promote LeadBolt.
2. Referred publishers must go live and get impressions with one or more of our ad types on their app by Wednesday, 20 March 2013. Referred advertisers must have made a deposit and launched a campaign by Wednesday, 20 March 2013.
3. Please send an email to kate (at) leadbolt (dot) com and let us that you have referred friends to LeadBolt by Wednesday, 20 March 2013.
4. The top two entrants with the most number of referred publishers / advertiser who have gone live will win a GDC pass.

Please send an email to kate (at) leadbolt (dot) com by Wednesday, 20 March 2013 letting us know you have referred friends to LeadBolt and include the following details – your Full Name, Company Name, Email Address, Phone Number and Publisher ID.

For more information about the Game Developers Conference, please visit their website here – http://www.gdconf.com/

Entries close on Wednesday, 20^th March 2013 at 11.59:59pm PST. Winners of GDC passes will be notified by email to the email address provided by Thursday, 21^st March 2013. Please note, only a pass to GDC is being supplied as a prize. There is no travel, accommodation or other component to the prize.

With more than 70,000 attendees and 1,700 exhibitors at this year’s World Mobile Congress, it reflects the global demand for all things mobile. More than 720 million smartphones were sold last year and over 35 billion apps were downloaded just from Apple and Google.

Our booth was positioned in the App Planet, which was located in one of the eight halls and outdoor spaces at Fira Gran Via, Barcelona. We were surrounded by other app-specific exhibitors showcasing their products as thousands of visitors from the app community came through our stand. As a result, the LeadBolt team was busier than ever engaging with app developers and advertisers throughout the day.

Between the GSMA Pavilion in Congress Square, the GSMA Connected City, and several initiatives pavilions in Halls 7 and 8.1, the GSMA highlighted important initiatives benefiting the industry, including Mobile Cloud, Mobile Money and Green Technology. Also highlighted were the trends and expected growth in the industry. These include:

• Mobile subscriptions are expected to grow from 3.2 billion in 2012 to 3.9 billion in 2017. A large chunk of this growth will be from developing economies in Africa and growth markets in Asia.
• The huge expected growth in data consumption will put pressure on governments to encourage a fast roll out of LTE.

All this is good news for the App economy.

Given these projections, it is no wonder that the people we met were upbeat about the future of our industry and were very keen to establish new business relationships which will translate into future benefits for our current advertiser and developer base.

Be sure to catch up with us at the upcoming Game Developers Conference in San Francisco if you did not manage to visit us at our booth this time around.