Kontera Synapse Delivers Superior Relevance and Proven Results.

Kontera is proud to announce the launch of Kontera Synapse – our new In-Text relevance engine, which brings the next generation of ad relevancy and audience engagement to our advertisers, publishers, and end users.

Kontera Synapse makes the most relevant associations for end-users, by identifying their topics of interest and predicting intent. For advertisers, Kontera Synapse massively aggregates and engages the most qualified audience from across the web. The technology has been shown by comScore, to deliver five times greater advertiser performance than traditional display advertising.

The Breakthrough Innovations of Kontera Synapse:

• Topical Targeting: Rather than just use a fixed keyword list like In-Text technologies relied on in the past, Kontera Synapse is able to identify 1000’s of concepts and expanded phrases that are relevant to the topics of interest of any advertiser’s target audience. This provides advertisers with greater campaign scale and selection of phrases and keywords that are more engaging to consumers and deliver a more qualified audience. End users also benefit from ad content that mirrors their intent.
• Dynamic ‘A/B’ optimization: Kontera Synapse tests different topics and monitors how users interact with each page on the Kontera’s network in real-time. The In-Text phrases with which end users interact more represent users’ interests. In this way intent is determined through “the voice of the users”.
• Phrase Discovery and Exploration: Kontera Synapse automatically identifies and tracks the trending of new phrases, as they appear across the network. Those phrases are cross linked to relevant topics and entities (people, places, etc.).
• Comprehensive brand safety controls: Kontera Synapse includes a full suite of brand safety capabilities. Advertisers benefit from Kontera’s knowledge of sensitive topics and keywords within each category. In addition, specific ‘avoid’ lists can be defined for an advertiser or specific campaigns. These controls ensure that advertisers are not proximate to content that is harmful to their brand.

comScore, the leading internet marketing research firm, recently completed a three month comprehensive study confirming the effectiveness of Kontera In-Text ads.

When comparing the behavior of consumers exposed to Kontera In-Text ads to those that were not exposed to them — and to the comScore norms for display advertising — comScore’s findings prove that:

• Kontera In-Text ads delivers 5 Times greater Brand Awareness lift than Traditional Display Ads
• Consumers are 5 times more likely to search online for the promoted products after viewing the ad on the Kontera network, and 2.5 times more likely to visit the product’s website.
• Kontera In-Text ads increase Product Purchase Intent by 68%
• Exceptional message recall – 2.5 times the norm.

In addition, comScore also found that Kontera was a favorite among end users. With the Synapse engine ensuring relevancy and tight linkage to the user intent, consumers view Kontera In-Text ads as one of the cleaner, less cluttering and more relevant ad-formats.

To learn more about the comprehensive comScore study, please visit our comScore results page.

Kontera Synapse is the culmination of an intensive R&D investment throughout the past two years. We’re very excited to see the extraordinary results this new engine provides, and view  the comScore  research as a powerful validation – a testament to Kontera’s In-Text solutions and their effectiveness for both advertisers, publishers and end-users alike.

Just wanted to share with our readers that in their August issue, Website Magazine ranks Kontera Top 50 Ad Networks,and the #1 among the In-Text ad networks.

This is yet another testament to the continued growth of the Kontera network – now over 140 million unique users per month– and to the vote of confidence from our advertisers and publishers partners worldwide.

Check out the Website Magazine article (Download PDF)

With 140 million monthly unique users on the Kontera network, and our rapidly growing business in the United States, expansion of the European market is the natural next step.

Kontera’s publisher network already operates at significant scale within the European market. Our European Publishers and advertisers are taking advantage of Kontera analyzing web pages and offering advertising in all major European languages.

During the past year, European demand for Kontera, both by brand advertisers, ad agencies and publishers, has been through the roof, as an entirely new continent is becoming exposed to Kontera’s unique semantic technology and brand engagement solutions.

Throughout the second quarter of 2010 we rapidly expanded the Kontera European team and our U.K. office to meet the market demand that we are seeing in the region. Our London office, led by Nitzan Yaniv, Kontera’s Europe’s Commercial Director, grew, with recent hires including Peter White to lead Agency Relations and multiple new Account Managers.

We want to thank our European advertisers and publishers for welcoming us into the market so enthusiastically. We’re seeing a genuine excitement around Kontera’s solutions and the audience the Kontera Network delivers – and we are eager to expand those even further!

As our network continuously grows, and more employees are joining the company, it’s time to expand offline as well!

Kontera’s Eastern Region’s flagship New York office has recently packed up and moved to its brand new spacious location on 22 West 19^th Street.

Now located on one of the best and most colorful neighborhoods in the buzzing metropolis, in the heart of the Chelsea neighborhood, the new office is just a few blocks north of Union Square, south of Midtown, and within walking distance to the world famous Washington Square Park … not to mention down the street from former Cheers’ star Ted Danson who lives nearby (but even Danson knows that the In-Text leader is the true New York Celebrity ).

The team’s response to our new space has been outstanding. Enjoying everything from the luxuries of newly built offices and multiple  conference rooms to choose from, to simple niceties such as boutiques on every corner, the trendiest night life spots, and a cupcake truck around the corner, the team has blossomed in the new location.

With a 40 seat wide open trading floor-like layout, the new office space encourages colorful dialogue, shouting matches and the occasional game of catch between ADs AM and Sales.  We are also in the midst of planning a welcome to Union Square party, open to our agency clients – so be on the lookout for your invite!

While business continues to develop, and the company’s growth is reaching new levels, our other offices worldwide are also upgrading their work environment- as our San Francisco office literally brought the walls down as they expanded their office space, and our Israeli office will be moving to a new, larger, office next month!

To celebrate the big move, several visitors joined the rest of the office in a night out at a local tapas bar for cocktails and appetizers.

Already hard at work in the new office.

More publishers choose Kontera than any other In-Text network, taking advantage of our superior semantic technology and exclusive high-paying ad inventory to monetize their websites.

And now, the best In-Text network has gotten even better: As of May 3, 2010, Kontera is lowering the minimum payout threshold for publishers from $100 to $50! This literally cuts in half the time it takes our publishers to take home their revenue share.

The lowered $50 payout minimum is applicable across all payment methods, including Check, PayPal, Wire Transfer or ACH.

New publishers enjoy the $50 payout minimum by default. Existing publishers who wish to take advantage of the new payment threshold can update their payout minimum to $50 by visiting the Payout Method page in their Publisher Center.

Payment terms are Net 30, so if you reach at least $50 in your April account balance you would be paid that amount come June 1st. If you want these changes to take effect for the June 1st billing cycle, you should update your Payment threshold by May 15th. Any updates made after the 15th to an account’s payment details will take effect two billing cycles later.

This $50 payment threshold initiative is just the first in a series of exciting changes  Kontera  is unveiling in the next couple of months to show our publishers just how much we value their partnership.

Stay tuned for more good things to come!