• by Mark Walsh , February 3, 2009

Aiming to boost ad revenue, RockYou is adding new video ad formats to its widget ad network that spans social networking and video sites including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup said it developed the video ads for widgets in response to advertiser demand for a centralized way to deliver video ads across a range of social media platforms without having to customize ads for each.

RockYou, whose applications boast more than 130 million users worldwide, promises it can deliver as many as 10 million video views per day in IAB-standard units including the 300 x 250 in-page video ad. The company's popular Super Wall app for sharing content on Facebook alone has 35.7 million installs and 16.2 monthly users.

Over the next six months, RockYou will focus on selling video ads to automotive, entertainment and gaming marketers that are most likely to use rich media ad campaigns, said Lisa Marino, general manager for automotive at RockYou. The company began offering auto classified ads in related applications last year such as SpeedRacing, targeting in-market car buyers.

Providing marketers with the ability to target users by affinity groups, demographic and income information and other profile data is an increasing focus for RockYou as it attempts to lure advertisers with strong return on investment. "Keying on performance is the way we're getting traditional brands who haven't figured out social media to begin advertising with us," said Marino.

RockYou in November raised $17 million in financing from the Softbank Group to fund expansion into the Asian market. The company has raised $65 million in venture capital in total to date.