Whether you watched it or not, the 2010 Oscars came and left and needless to say, they did so in style.  We wanted to take a minute to share the top clicked keywords relating to entertainment on the Kontera network – with our very own red carpet spin.

Fashion-forward phrases like gowns, haircuts, red carpets, glamor, and celebrity styles were hot on the network, as publishers were busy critiquing and posting about how the celebs were clothed and made up in preparation for the big event.

Some favorite actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Mischa Barton generated the most amount of interest on our network, and movie keywords such as anime and comedy have been extremely popular film genres among users.  Movie wise; oldies still prevail as Speed and Titanic are still amongst the favorites (and Sandra Bullock even went home with a statue!), alongside the more recent critically acclaimed “The Hurt Locker” and Cameron’s Avatar hype.

Lastly, in preparation for the Academy Awards, publishers were writing and readers were catching up on 3D movies (specifically UP by Disney-Pixar which took the Oscar for best animated film), home theatre systems, decorating tips, and quick and easy appetizers in preparation for their Oscar viewing get togethers. Be sure to stay tuned to our Top Clicked Keywords Posts to keep up with what’s hot and clickable on our network.

At the recent iMedia Brand Summit in Las Vegas, we announced our newest ad family: Freedom Ads.

Freedom Ads offer Kontera’s large brand advertisers a unique way of capturing the consumers’ eye and imagination, while delivering record-high engagement, brand response rates, and CTRs.

Freedom Ad units are highly-relevant rich-media in-text ads that appear in the actual form of the product they advertise – thus bringing these products to life through an engaging out-of-the-box experience.

For example, when advertising its newest mobile phone and its video capabilities, Samsung chose to have the ad itself shaped like the actual mobile device, simulating its capability to stream live video coverage of the Winter Olympics. Consumers immediately experience the Samsung phone, its unique product design and video capabilities. The ad also conveys the Olympic experience and associates the Samsung brand with the Olympic spirit.

There are two types of Freedom Ads; the Product Freedom Unit, and the Brand Freedom Unit.

The Product Freedom Unit delivers an elegant, instantly recognizable visual depiction of the advertiser’s product, directly from within a highly relevant key phrase. Product Freedom units employ a clean design, and are ideal for product focused advertisers like Consumer Packaged Goods, Automotive, Apparel, Beauty, Consumer Electronics, and Retail.

The Brand Freedom Unit brings to life elements of the brand that are instantly recognizable, and it delivers a unique and holistic brand experience through tasteful interaction that engages, educates, and delights the consumer.

In a survey conducted among 15 brands and agency teams who launched campaigns using the new Freedom Ads, all of them replied that they would use the Freedom Unit again! This great advertiser reception is indicative of positive consumer results, and it is translating into a positive financial impact for Kontera’s publishers.

Other advertisers that have used the new Freedom Ads include FedEx, Adobe, the Republic of Ireland and Curel. See these campaigns and experience the Freedom Ads for yourself on our demonstration page.

You can also check out some of our additional Freedom Ads resources:

• The Official Kontera Press Release
• Freedom Ads Covered on MediaPost
• Download the PowerPoint presentation presented at iMedia Brand Summit
• See this and other Ad types in The Kontera Ad Gallery
• Watch the short video interview with Ammiel Kamon, Kontera’s EVP marketing, given at the iMedia Brand Summit about the future of in-text advertising

You want to make money from your website without the risk of driving your traffic away.  Kontera has the In-Text advertising solution that pledges to:

• Not clutter your pages.
• Not trash your text.
• Bring your readers the relevancy that they deserve.
• Showcase brands that mean business.
• Keep the network clean in order to welcome big brands-meaning unique high paying advertisements.
• Maintain tight integration between your content and your users’ intent delivering record high CTR.
• Provide value to users and publishers.
• Serve fewer links per page while delivering strong campaign performance. (Also check out mediapost.com)
• Offer you a sustainable revenue stream that you can bank on.
• Bring you the premier In-Text Advertising experience.

Our unbeatable contextual technology delivers results without compromising on quality and your users.

You may already know that the year you were born is considered the year of the rat, ox, or horse according to the ancient Chinese zodiac.  What you probably didn’t know yet, is that at Kontera, we’ve proclaimed 2010 as the year of relevancy.

What does this mean for our partners?  Well, it’s pretty simple, higher relevancy means that:

• Publishers don’t sell out their users to irrelevant ad exposure and are not hurting their users’ experience. Happy users mean increased traffic, time on site, and loyalty.
• Higher CTR – as you get paid by the click, more clicks means more money for your website
• Advertisers don’t have ads served to users who aren’t interested, thus getting high conversion on their campaign

Essentially everyone profits!

Relevancy is a mark at Kontera that we take very seriously.  Our relevancy efforts start at the “story-level” targeting where we interpret the meaning of the page then matching it with contextual ads that are the most relevant ones.

One measure of relevancy is in the form of a metric called CTR.  CTR or click through rate is a frequency ratio between the number of times an ad is viewed and the number of times it gets clicked on.  Experts agree that as the net becomes increasingly more built up, advertising campaigns that were formerly effective may not hold effectiveness.   In fact, recent statistics indicate that classic banner ads carry a mere .07% CTR rate bringing further understanding to the rise in the phrase “banner blindness”.  In contrast, ads on the Kontera network are characterized by starting click through rates that exceed 10% with some campaigns reaching upwards of 14% (!).

CTR is just one measure of a publisher’s ad performance, but is one of the most honest ways to gauge user satisfaction and interest.  Many publishers  find that after testing with other In-Text ad networks, their user experience suffers and many users desert their site due to the low relevancy threshold so be sure not to compromise when it comes to relevancy.

The next time you read your zodiac sign at your local Chinese restaurant, be sure to remember 2010 as not only the year of the tiger but also as Kontera’s commitment to relevancy.

TechCrunch and Kontera bring Holiday Spirit to the Bay Area with a Private Screening of Avatar.

The popcorn is on us!

Kontera has partnered with TechCrunch to bring a little Holiday joy to the local startup community and to help raise funds for two great causes, the UCSF Foundation and Malaria No More. TechCrunch has organized a private screening of one of the most anticipated films of the year, Avatar.

Local TechCrunch readers have the opportunity to be among the first to see James Cameron’s latest creation compliments of TechCrunch. On your way into the theater, stop by the concession stand for a complimentary bag of popcorn and a cold drink on Kontera, then put on your 3D glasses, sit back and enjoy the show.

For more information on ticket availability check out TechCrunch.  In the spirit of the holidays, TechCrunch is requesting a $5 donation per ticket to help support either the UCSF Foundation or Malaria No More (your choice).

Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing you at the Metreon.