Scripps Networks, the National Hockey League, Cox Media Group, InvestingChannel and Martini Media have signed on as the first users of Crowd Science's new Citrus platform, which was formally launched Oct. 3 at the 2011 IAB MIXX Conference & Expo in New York.
The new data-generating platform provides audience research, segmentation, targeting, and ad campaign effectiveness tools and relies on the publisher's own online data rather than third-party suppliers.
"Publishers are in desperate need of solutions that help them monetize more of their valuable audience," noted Corey Leibow, Crowd Science CEO in a statement. "Citrus gives publishers back ownership of their audience data so they can increase ad sales and grow CPMs. In turn, their advertisers are able to find more of the valued segments they seek and improve campaign performance."
Crowd Science believes that the new platform will allow users to turn low-value run-of-site ad inventory into premium publisher-branded segments and that Citrus provides improved control and compliance with industry standards.
In announcing the new platform and its first charter users, the company also noted that early Beta usage from Citrus users found increases "in the number of identifiable high-value audience segments of 10% to 50% when compared with standard ad targeting or third party segmentation solutions. In some instances, Citrus generated lift as high as 300% to 500%, depending on the segment."
