• by May 7, 2008

Enter the "PrinterStitial." Denver-based startup Format Dynamics has perhaps invented a whole new ad category by developing a service that inserts ads into printouts of Web pages, combining the "advantages of online ads with the power of traditional print ads."

Using 18 months of actual "PrinterStitial" results from early publisher adopters combined with data from market researcher MetaFacts, Format Dynamics estimates that U.S. consumers print 61 billion Web pages annually--creating what the company's CEO Ethan Holien calls a previously "untapped market opportunity, with scale and legs."

Publishers already on board with PrinterStitials include 72 newspapers of the MediaNews Group, including The Denver Post, as well as Rand McNally, The Houston Chronicle, CNET, Career Builder, and the Orange County Register.

When consumers make printouts from Web pages enabled with Format Dynamics' "CleanPrint," the technology dynamically reformats the pages to be more appealing to both consumers and advertisers--including text, photos, charts and ads--while completely eliminating such Web-centric features as navigation bars. The PrinterStitials can either be print-friendly versions of ads already on the Web page or completely separate "print ads."

Depending on the online publisher, PrinterStitials are either sold by the sites themselves or by Format Dynamics, Holien said. The company's staff now numbers 14--including a presence in San Francisco and New York--and it is talking to vertical ad networks, as well as "advertisers and agencies when appropriate." One ad network already on board is Travel Ad Network, via the Rand McNally site. Ad revenues are shared between Format Dynamics and publisher sites.

While PrinterStitial sales are largely targeted toward the digital buying community, Holien noted that publishers already "versed with print," such as newspapers, can also sell existing print advertisers. Their pitch: "This is print advertising, but you can target it three ways (behaviorally, contextually, geographical). You don't have to buy just a circulation number."

The company has developed a companion analytical tool, PrintTracker, which measures all printing of PrinterStitial ads directly from browsers, providing publishers and advertisers with data and metrics on printing behavior. Previous printing data only measured the minority of pages printed from "printer-friendly" buttons, Holien said. "Most publishers right now don't understand how much printing is occurring," he added.

In their media kit, the Orange County Register and ocregister.com stress how engaged users are with pages they print out. "When users print online content, it's because they intend to re-read, hold onto or pass along the information on the page," the kit advises. "Now your ad can appear on those hard copies, giving you the opportunity to create a lasting brand association and an incentive to win their business." The paper's stated ad rate for PrinterStitials is $1,300 monthly.

"It's new inventory that publishers can monetize, and an opportunity for advertisers to plug in ads," said analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.

Users who print Web pages can offer advertisers "more qualified leads," Sterling added. "We know in general that people do online research and buy in local stores, and a majority of purchases have an online component," he said. Now, FormatDyamics' technology combines that empirical information "with the anecdotal info that people show up in stores with pages in hand."

Format Dynamics also offers a rich media product, Click4Print, that sends requested collateral material related to online ads--such as coupons or brochures--directly to a consumer's printer when a button within the ad is clicked. The company's Web site says this adds "the power of print to any onscreen ad" while extending "existing online campaigns into the hands of users."

Format Dynamics, which has raised $4.4 million in first-round venture capital, notes in its demos that both CleanPrint and Click4Print provide the opportunity for "truly integrated online/offline advertising."