TeleNav Debuts Navigation-Based Ads

Televav-B

Location-based services provider TeleNav Tuesday unveiled an ad platform for its mobile navigation app that promises to drive users right to the doorways of nearby businesses. TeleNav, whose GPS-based app allows smartphone users to get turn-by-turn driving directions, will now add a sponsored listing to the top of search results.

Someone searching for "pizza,' for instance, might see an ad for the nearest pizza joint based on their location and any other criteria they include in the query. By clicking on the ad, a user will be able to get more information, special offers or coupons, a menu and options such as calling the restaurant, as well as seeing its location, and receiving turn-by-turn directions to the address.

What sets TeleNav's ad offering apart from that of other navigation and LBS competitors is its ability to literally drive consumers right to a local business by providing directions to their mobile device, according to Ky Tang, the company's marketing director. "At the end of the day, the main question is 'how many people did I bring into my store,' and that's where we come into play to bridge that gap," he said.

Along with the new location-based ad system comes a new metric, the "drive-to" rate, reflecting the proportion of users that requested driving directions after clicking on an ad. In testing of the platform with a portion of TeleNav's 17 million users in the last year, Tang said the ads have garnered a 3.8% click-through-rate, and among those clicked, a 24% drive-to rate.

Pushing up conversion rates is the ability to serve ads that reach people at what Tang calls the "point of need," when they're looking for a nearby restaurant, hotel or other place to get to quickly.

TeleNav says its ad solution encompasses 500,000 small business advertisers that it has brought into the system through partnerships with ad networks and local ad providers which it declined to name because of non-disclosure agreements. "We have a vast database of local ads available and sophisticated algorithms allow us to optimize the most appropriate ad to display," said Tang.

The ads are appear both on TeleNav's branded app as well as on white-label versions of its software offered by AT&T, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. In addition to charging advertisers on a standard impression-based model, the company is also offering options based on pay-per-call, pay-per-drive, or other user actions.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based TeleNav says users view more than 42 million business search pages each month while in the car and receive turn-by-turn directions to these businesses. After going public in May for $8 a share, the company's stock closed Tuesday at $5.25.

Despite its new ad model, TeleNav still faces stiff competition in the location services space from major tech players like Google, Nokia and Microsoft, GPS provider such as Garmin and TomTom, and mobile social startups including Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla.

Next story loading loading..