Jangl launches large new monetization strategy, hints at VoIP on the iPhone

Venture Beat — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:00:52 -0800

Jangl, the online calling service, has launched a new way to monetize its operations with a platform they are calling the Mobile Media Initiative.

While Jangl had some success relatively early on in its lifespan teaming up with paid dating sites such as Match.com, the explosion of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo has allowed the company to spread its services to an entirely new crowd. Their more recent partnership with the top-ranked dating site Plentyoffish.com is well on its way to being their most successful one yet, Jangl chief executive Michael Cerda told us.

Of course, its also been harder to monetize on these sites that are free — which the social networks and Plentyoffish.com both are. The Mobile Media Initiative hopes to change that by fostering partnerships with advertising companies to offer a unique blend of quick pre-roll advertisements on VoIP calls and inserting short text advertisements at the bottom of text messages sent over Jangl.

The company promises that these pre-roll audio ads on calls will be very short, and should simply take up the time while the number you are dialing is ringing. Likewise, the text-based ads inserted into text messages will be limited to 30 characters at the very bottom of a message.

The company has announced a new site wholly separate from Jangl.com at Janglmedia.com which will give advertisers, developers, and partners more information about their platform.

Jangl’s first two partners in this Mobile Media Initiative endeavor are Pudding Media, a company that has built a platform for ad-supported calls, and Ogilvy’s Digital Innovation Group, which is an advertising and communications agency.

The company told us that they see this Mobile Media Initiative as the next step in its evolution process. “This is really becoming more of a media company”, Cerda said.

While they also acknowledge the steps Google recently took towards their field with the limited relaunch of GrandCentral (our coverage), they do not see it as too much of a threat because the two companies are going about things differently. Whereas Jangl’s numbers are quickly used and recycled, GrandCentral gives users a more static number to use. “It can become just as sticky as a real number”, Cerda said while emphasizing that this may lead to the same hesitation people have in giving out their own personal numbers on the web now.

As for Google’s integration of GrandCentral with their blogging application Blogger, Cerda noted that they’ve already learned that “bloggers didn’t want to talk on the phone with their audience”.

Jangl hopes this new mobile media initiative will also further differentiate themselves from rivals Jaxtr (our coverage) and Jajah — which recently joined forces with Jangl in November (our coverage).

With more information about Apple’s software development kit (SDK) due out in a few hours, I couldn’t help but ask about the possibility of seeing a VoIP Jangl application on the iPhone in the future. In a very coy way I got back, “I think we’ll have some news in the future”, followed by a whisper of “iJangl”.

The Pleasanton, CA-based Jangl has raised $9 million in funding over two rounds since 2005 from firms including Cardinal Venture Partners, Storm Ventures and Labrador Ventures.

See more of our previous coverage on Jangl here.

The Industry Standard - Jangl launches large new monetization strategy, hints at VoIP on the iPhone - Comments

Jangl launches large new monetization strategy, hints at VoIP on the iPhone