SwipeCrypto: Blockchain Mobile Lock Screen Advertising Transforming Attention Economics

If you happen to read this article, there is a very high chance you are reading this on your mobile. Increased smartphone penetration and stronger coverage of mobile network around the world, have fueled growth opportunities for marketers where mobile becoming central to the advertising strategy.

While the opportunity is tremendous, it is undeniable that the present mobile advertising solution is not living up to the expectation of mobile-first advertising experience.

• Mobile websites and most mobile applications typically display advertisementson the side or as banner ads, where users’ true attention cannot be captured. This is further worsened by the inherent limitation of mobile devices small form-factor.
• Ad Fraud is another major issue in the mobile & digital advertising space. Malicious click-bots and fake traffic have cost advertisers $6.5 billion globally in 2017, according to a report from Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and White Ops (a cyber security firm which exposed the “Methbot” operation).
• In the era of duopoly by way of Google and Facebook controlling almost 60% of the global digital advertising, advertisers are hoping for the emergence of legitimate third players to help keep prices in check, and by delivering more effective brand exposure.

Introducing SwipeCrypto

SwipeCrypto — a Singapore-based adtech startup, believes it is able to solve the efficiency & transparency issue in mobile advertising through the combination of lockscreen advertising and blockchain technology.

SwipeCrypto is essentially a supply-side-platform (SSP) enabling multiple publishers with mobile lockscreen advertisement, powered by transparency of blockchain technology. Any app publishers can embed SwipeCrypto lockscreen SDK to monetize their lockscreen and increase active usage. Founded since May 2016, SwipeRich lockscreen — the backbone solution of SwipeCrypto ads delivery technology, is currently serving more than 10 million impressions per month in Philippines and Indonesia. Campaign transactions data will be recorded at blockchain ledger for advertisers’ audit, enabling transparency and accountability to address ad-fraud issue troubling today’s digital advertising space.

Can Lock Screen Advertising Improve Mobile Attention Economics?

The average smartphone user unlocks their smartphone 80 times -100 times per day. Lock screen is the first mobile impression that users engage before everything else, and hence capturing maximum users’ attention. Various research to date strongly suggests that the same ad performs differently based on the “form factor” the consumer views it on. Full-screen advertisement delivered to the lock screen has proven itself to be the most effective form-factor to capture user attention where we can expect approximately 10x higher click-through-rate (CTR) compared to industry typical mobile banner ads.

How Blockchain comes into play?

Blockchain is the fundamental technology that enable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. In a nutshell it is a ledger that operates in a decentralized system, and the underlying technology works on a trust protocol. As data is stored in decentralized manner across all the computing nodes, blockchain inherently allows immutability where you can’t change the blockchain — and for data purposes, not one person or entity can re-write or destroy it.

As advertisers struggle to counter digital ad-fraud, blockchain technology holds the potential to address this issue. Through individual user’s unique identity and digital signature, it could accurately record the user’s ad engagement behavior in a decentralized blockchain ledger. The industry can then gain the trust of advertisers by ensuring that quality traffic is delivered and metrics accurately reflect the target audience’s behavior instead of worrying about fake/fraudulent traffic.

SwipeCrypto Ethereum-based ERC20 token is used as micro-payment rewards to publishers and users for engaging with lockscreen advertisements. The more a user view and engage with the lockscreen advertisements, the more SwipeCrypto tokens he/she can earn. These SwipeCrypto reward tokens can be used to purchase in-app digital contents, or exchange with Ethereum crypto-currencies to be stored in their wallets.

Seriously, what does this mean to Advertisers?

Blockchain is here to stay, and every industry including mobile advertising will face blockchain disruption that will transform the way industry works. Ad-tech blockchain developments today are initial steps towards a more transparent and effective mobile advertising industry. Advertisers need to focus on how blockchain technology’s transparency, decentralization and immutability can help address ad-fraud and accountability issues in the industry. Only through industry collaboration can we create a blockchain solution that live up to the vision of what mobile advertising could be.