App Trailers Gives You Gift Cards For Watching App Videos

Mobile advertising startup AppRedeem has just launched App Trailers, a new product that rewards you for viewing videos about mobile apps. The service, available here from the iTunes App Store, doesn’t use the same model as typical incentivized install programs do today. Instead, users are given points for watching a trailer, then are provided with the option to download the app at the end of the video. Only if a users taps “yes” is the advertiser charged.

Says AppReedem, these types of installs will be more valuable to the advertiser because the user is indicating that they actually want to install and try that app. Users get the same number of points whether or not they choose to installs, so they’re really only downloading apps they’re interested in – there’s no bonus for tapping “yes.”

Each video listed in the app is worth 10 points, but users can get 25 points for registering their email or inviting friends to try the service.

Rewards include a $1 Amazon gift card (100 points), a $5 REI gift card (500 points), $10 gift cards from Crate&Barrel, Fandango or Macy’s (1,000 points) and $25 gift cards from Nike, Nordstrom or Pottery Barn (2,500 points).

Given how long it would take you to accumulate enough points to earn the top-level rewards, it’s clear this app is best suited to those who have a lot of free time on your hands. (Perhaps those without an Angry Bird addiction?)

That said, App Trailers is certainly a unique take on driving app installs in an increasingly overcrowded app marketplace. And who know? You might even discover a new app to try when the service ramps up a bit. Currently, there are videos for a number of popular apps, including Priceline, Groupon, LivingSocial, SkyGrid, PingMe, Blendr and others. The only problem? Apparently you don’t get any points for having all those apps already installed on your phone. Bummer.

You can try App Trailers for yourself from here.

AppReedem raised $700,000 from SV Angel and Blue Run Ventures in June. It also has an AppReedem-branded app on Android here.

AppRedeem is an early-stage, high-growth promotion and advertising platform that drives mobile application engagement. World-class firms – Gilt Groupe, Groupon, and others – use AppRedeem today to fuel their mobile growth.

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Adobe Gives Up On Apple, Works Around iOS’ Flash Video Limitations

Chris Velazco is a mobile enthusiast and writer who studied English and Marketing at Rutgers University. Once upon a time, he was the news intern for MobileCrunch, and in between posts, he worked in wireless sales at Best Buy. After graduating, he returned to the new TechCrunch to as a full-time mobile writer. He counts advertising, running, musical theater,... ? Learn More

Ardent iOS supporters have been clamoring for true Flash support for years, and with the announcement of their new version of Flash Media Server, Adobe completely fails to deliver. Instead, they’ve managed to update their media server with a way to get streaming Flash video running on Apple’s myriad iOS devices.

Alas, while you can’t start working through your backlog of artsy Flash games, Flash Media Server 4.5 allows content producers to easily to get their Flash content onto iOS devices without any additional headache.

While older versions of the media server served up video streams in the F4F format, the update has added support for the HTTP Live Streaming format, which iPads and the like can handle just fine.

The media server system, according to ZDNet, detects the device’s level of Flash-capability and will switch over to using the HLS format when it sees an iOS device. It’s actually pretty ironic: in order to make Flash video streaming work, the new version of Media Server actually has to un-Flash the content and wrap it in another, more iOS-friendly container.

While it isn’t the Holy Grail of iOS Flash support, it’s a solution that works, and will make life easier for those in the unenviable position of managing live video streams. Hopefully Adobe has a team sequestered in a bunker working getting actual Flash support working now that they’ve managed to cross “streaming video” off the list.

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Tweaking The Algorithm: Google Gives A Small Peek Behind The Curtains

Jason Kincaid currently works as a writer at TechCrunch. He grew up in Danville, California and later relocated to UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he studied biology with a minor in ‘Society and Genetics’. You can reach him at jkincaidtc@gmail.com (he has other addresses too, so don’t worry if you have a different one). ? Learn More

One of the most common complaints critics (and competitors) have against Google is that the company — despite its numerous open products and initiatives — is very secretive about the countless algorithms that power its crown jewels, Google Search. In other words, search is a black box. Google’s argument has generally been that it needs to be this way — if it told everyone exactly how the algorithm worked, then it would be much easier to game, and search results would suffer.

In any case there’s plenty of mystery around Search, which is why the video posted today to the Google blog is so interesting: Google has given a quick video walk-through detailing how its engineers gradually adjust the algorithm, which — according to the video — gets tweaked more than 500 times per year.

The video is only four minutes long and is worth watching in its entirely, but here’s a quick rundown on how a change to search goes live:

First, Google engineers identify a set of “motivating searches” that aren’t working as well as Google would like them to.Next, engineers try to identify various signals (Google doesn’t really get into what these signals entail) that could be used to better answer that query.These new results are then rated by a trained worker that isn’t a Google employee.Next, the results are pushed live to a small number of users.An analyst is then assigned to objectively look at the change and how it’s performing in tests.And finally, the proposed change is presented to the search quality team, which either approves or denies it.

The video also goes into a quick anecdote about what Google calls ‘Full Page Replacement’. This refers to the times Google looks at your query, decides you’ve misspelled it, and then presents the results for the correct spelling, rather than just suggesting the proper spelling and displaying the results for the misspelled results. To test this, Google looked at how many times users explicitly clicked on the link for the results for their original query (which Google believed was misspelled) — Google decided that so long as this ‘escape hatch’ was only clicked 1 in 50 times, it was a good change. And it passed the test.

Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of...

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Monetate Gives Control Of Consumer Experience Back To Marketers With New Testing And Targeting Tools

Rip Empson is a writer at TechCrunch. He’s not here to make friends, he’s here to WIN, and don’t you forget it. You can reach him at rip[at]techcrunch[dot]com ? Learn More

Earlier this month, Monetate, the platform that provides marketers with testing and targeting services for their websites, announced that it had closed a $15 million series B funding round, led by OpenView Venture Partners, which added to the $5.1 million series A round the company raised back in December from First Round Capital and FLOODGATE. With over $20 million in the bank, Monetate has been developing a new platform that gives marketers greater control over messaging and promotions on their websites as well as testing, targeting, and personalization tools.

As we reported a few weeks ago, the coolest part about Monetate’s platform is that it can be installed using a single line of code. The startup’s newest version of its cloud-based platform enables marketers to integrate customized content and features between the eCommerce server and the site visitor’s browser.

“One of the unfulfilled promises from the early days of eCommerce was that marketers would be able to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time”, says Monetate CEO David Brussin. “With Monetate, we have inserted a new level of agility into the eCommerce marketing experience, providing marketers with the ability to make educated campaign decisions that will directly contribute to increased conversion”.

What’s more, as marketers and marketing teams are so often on the go, Monetate 11 allows its customers to test, target, and personalize their websites on the iPad, giving users that extra layer of mobile functionality. Another bonus: All current Monetate users will be automatically upgraded to the new version of its platform.

Monetate 11, like its predecessors, aims to cut out the IT middleman by giving control of creating and measuring marketing campaigns and serving customized user experiences back to marketers. They simply enter the “who, what, when, why” of the campaign into the Monetate dashboard, and the platform takes care of the rest, offering users the ability to take advantage of campaign cloning, tagging, and filtering.

Marketers will also be able to do automatic A/B testing against a control group, tracking the results in realtime, so that marketers can quickly see the impact their new campaigns will have. Users will also have the added benefit of new targeting options, including geotargeting to tailor messages and promotions to a visitor’s specific location, weather-based targeting, and behavioral targeting.

Monetate customers will also now be able to test and deploy their own HTML and JavaScript, target recommendations based on complex business rules, and access all the data they need about traffic segments and purchasing patterns to make informed decisions about the promotions, messages, and other content they deliver to consumers through its analytics and reporting features.

Monetate is really a no-brainer for eTailers and eCommerce marketers. It’s a great solution, and along with an infusion of new capital, the startup’s new version may very well have legs. After all, its platform has already attracted brands like Petco, Urban Outfitters, Sports Authority, QVC, Casual Male, Dick’s Sporting Goods, to use its targeting and testing services on their eCommerce platforms — and Brussin told us that the company has added hundreds of millions in collective revenue to these businesses, removing the need for businesses to hire specialized teams and decrease bounce rates and shopping cart abandonment.

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