Campaigns will have a new tool to help them place mobile ads before the legions of voters who remain glued to their smartphones. Jumptap, a mobile ad distributor, has announced a partnership with two firms to provide its clients with a deep well of targeting data.
Until recently, Jumptap used data provided by its client campaigns in its mobile ad distribution. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, for instance, hired the firm to help drum up turnout in recent primaries. It provided Jumptap with zip codes where dense pockets of supporters lived. The firm then targeted banner and rich media ads on those voters’ browsers based on their website visits.
Now, Jumptap has partnered with i360 and Catalist to provide additional data sources. “Working with campaigns, we can either use their data or bring our own to the table,” says Jumptap Founder Jorey Ramer. Catalist provides a source of progressive data while i360 brings a wealth of conservative contacts.
To get access, though, campaigns and advocacy groups will have to pay a premium. “Yes there’s a premium,” Ramer admits, “but there’s also an improvement in performance.” Jumptap measures performance based on clickthrough rates.
Campaign strategists are aware that mobile web browsing is on the rise — by some estimates a third of the country now uses a smartphone — and will be a major avenue by which to reach voters in 2012 and beyond.
“Mobile is a huge, and until recently, often untapped opportunity for reaching American voters,” Harold Ickes, president of Catalist, said in a statement on the partnership. “There is no better time than in an election year to leverage the power of political data and targeting.”