Applifier introduces video trailers for social games

Gaming developers can now work together to cross-promote games on Facebook, build usership numbers

The innovative and aggressive cross-promotion team of Facebook developers called Applifier are ready to build better advertising than just well-placed banner ads, they are looking at video advertising for Facebook.

Applifier announced Wednesday that it was rolling out an ad network called Impact, that will debut on Facebook this month with King.com, Gaia Online and Song Pop games.

Impact will give developers the venue to display 30- to 60-second game trailers from within a Facebook game at key moments in the user experience. 

Previously, Applifier focused on placing banner ads across different games to help avid players discover new games, and now they want to further entice with trailers and other short videos. Impact will accomplish these trailer/commercials by embedding ads within social games and, if the gamer clicks on an ad, he or she gets a reward in the form of a virtual good within the game. But they must watch the whole ad to get the reward.

With social gaming, the idea of accomplishing an ad-related task is not new, but doing so for other games is pretty revolutionary and affordable, since you are working in virtual currency which, essentially is free.

But this doesn't mean that you will be bombarded with videos every time you are playing a game. Applifier’s policy mandates that Impact video ads are opt-in only and just given extra incentive with the rewards -- which will also be tailored so that they are offered when users are most likely going to want them, like when they fail a level. 

The video ads can be tailored to the most engaged users (for the best monetizing results), or at those  losing interest in a particular game (so they are more likely to be in search of a new games).

There are a fair number of others trying to make their name in cross-promotion and game advertising such as Trail Pay, RockYou, and App Savvy, but Applifier stands out because it is focused on showing ads of social games to the customers of other social games rather than other games or applications.

Big groups like Zynga have the dollars and Facebook connections to get their games promoted across platforms and across its large catalog of games, but smaller developers really need a leg up to compete. Applifier offers that opportunity to promote a new game to the user-base that would most likely be interested at a rate that is attainable for the little guy. 

Founded in 2010, Applifier has raised capital from MHS Capital, PROfounders, Tekes, Lifeline Ventures and angel investors David Gardner, Jyri Engeström and Lars Stenfeldt Hansen. 

Applifier reaches more than 150 million monthly active users on Facebook.

It was just last year that Applifier entered the mobile market with game discovery tactics, but it looks like the company is gearing up for some innovative attempts to help game developers take control of their advertising and not feel like slaves to the top 10 and top 25 charts on Facebook and mobile stores.