Search and Advertising Experts Join Forces to Launch Turn™, the World’s First Automatic Targeting Ad Network

Search and Advertising Experts Join Forces to Launch Turn™, the World’s First Automatic Targeting Ad Network

Turn’s Revolutionary Technology and Bidded Cost Per Action (CPA) Pricing Deliver Amazing Simplicity, Dramatically Better Relevance and Higher Revenue for Advertisers and Publishers

Turn Also Announces It Has Secured Funding from Leading Investors Norwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital and Shasta Ventures

Turn™ Inc. today introduced the world’s first automatic targeting advertising network. Two years in the making and currently in beta, Turn revolutionizes online advertising by simplifying ad management while reducing risk, improving relevance, and increasing revenue for advertisers and publishers. With more than 1,000 advertisers already participating, the Turn ad network offers automatic targeting of ads and unique bidded Cost Per Action (CPA) pricing based on advanced, patent-pending technology that eliminates the need for manual targeting or keywords. The company also announced today that it has received $18 million in financing. Investors include Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Trident Capital and Shasta Ventures.

The Turn automatic targeting network provides advertisers a revolutionary option for online advertising campaigns. An advertiser simply inputs its ad into a self-serve console, and Turn does the rest. Turn goes beyond manual targeting by blending over 60 variables including site analysis, past performance, categories, audience, and action type to select the most relevant graphical and text ads. Turn’s technology dynamically selects and weights these variables to determine the best targets for each ad, eliminating the guesswork, time and complexity of manual targeting.

“We built the world’s first automatic targeting ad network in response to advertiser and publisher demand for a simplified, lower risk solution for online advertising that also improves relevance and revenue,” said Jim Barnett, CEO, Turn Inc. “The result is a revolutionary improvement in online advertising.”

An Online Advertising Revolution

Turn Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jim Barnett and Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Product and Technology John Ellis created Turn after transitioning AltaVista™ into Yahoo!(R) Search. Upon turning their attention to online advertising, they heard recurring themes from advertisers and publishers about the complexity, mediocre relevance and broken models of online advertising. Advertisers were overwhelmed by the cost and complexity of working with numerous manual networks—each with a single or limited targeting approach. Publishers similarly complained of the complexity of optimizing every ad placement on each of their pages and of the need for significant improvements in relevance. Barnett and Ellis believed that they could apply advanced search-like technology to solve these problems and revolutionize the world of online advertising.

“When we looked at the complexities plaguing advertisers and publishers, we were confident that applying sophisticated search-like technology could solve the problem,” said John Ellis, vice president of product and technology, Turn Inc. “Rather than relying on a single approach to targeting ads for a page, we blend more than 60 targeting variables to deliver extraordinary relevance. This means higher revenue for both advertisers and publishers.”

Unique Value Proposition

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the online advertising industry will continue its rapid growth, exceeding $16 billion in 2006 and eventually $36 billion in 2010. As online budgets increase, Turn enables advertisers and publishers to ensure their ad spending is efficient and cost-effective.

Unlike many ad networks operating today, Turn incorporates extensive industry expertise and innovative technology to truly make online advertising risk-free, relevant, simple, effective, and most importantly, profitable.
Simplifies online advertising: Unlike traditional ad networks where advertisers need teams of employees to manage manual targeting including selecting sites or selecting and optimizing hundreds of thousands of keywords, the Turn network automatically analyzes and targets ads. Turn’s technology dynamically selects and blends over 60 variables such as advertiser and publisher sites, past performance, brand strength, user profiles, action type and site categories to determine the best targets for each ad, thus eliminating guesswork, time and complexity.
Increases relevance: The Turn network is based on patent-pending technology that intelligently targets both text and graphical ads. By dynamically and automatically selecting and blending targeting variables, Turn can determine the best ad or group of ads for any situation.
Eliminates risk: Turn offers true pay-for-performance with its unique bidded CPA model. Because advertisers pay for actions that they define, Turn eliminates the risk of worthless or fraudulent clicks. Whether an advertiser is paying for product purchases, site visits, leads, or email signups, the advertiser is in control of what they pay for and when they pay for it.
Improves profitability: The Turn network maximizes advertiser ROI by charging only for actions and eliminating much of the work required by traditional manual networks.

“The Turn Network is a valuable resource that allows Performics to work more effectively on behalf of our clients,” said Stuart Larkins, vice president of search at Performics. “By bidding on specific actions, we are ensured budgets are wisely spent.”

Seasoned Advertising Industry Experts

Once their online advertising vision was established, Barnett and Ellis garnered support to bring Turn to fruition. They recruited established and accredited advertising and search experts to join the company, including:
Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development Jim Diaz—an Ask Jeeves™ and Excite@Home® veteran;
Vice President of Engineering Naghi Prasad—a Verity™ and PeopleSoft® veteran;
Chief Scientist James Shanahan, Ph.D.—a Clairvoyance and EuroPARC veteran;
Vice President of Business Development Scott Tavenner—a Claria® veteran;
Vice President and CFO Dennis Jang—a Claria® veteran;
Senior Director of Product Philip Smolin—a PayChoice™, MatchLogic® and Excite@Home® Ad Serving veteran;
Director of Client Services Jason Washing—a DoubleClick™, aQuantive™, MatchLogic®, and Excite@Home veteran.

Funding

Turn secured funding from leading investors to further develop the Turn network. In early 2005, NVP and Trident Capital lead the company’s series A. Turn completed an additional round of financing in 2006 with Shasta leading and Trident Capital and NVP participating. The company intends to use the funds to further develop its product and expand sales and marketing efforts.

Availability and Pricing

The Turn Network is open today for advertisers, and pricing is cost per action as determined by each individual advertiser. To date, the Turn Network includes more than 1,000 advertisers and 5 million ads. For more information visit www.turn.com.

About Turn Inc.

Turn is the world’s first automatic targeting ad network. Turn automates online advertising by eliminating the need for manual targeting or keywords and allows advertisers to bid on a cost per action (CPA) basis for graphical and text ads. Through revolutionary targeting, Turn simultaneously delivers amazing simplicity, dramatically better relevance and greater revenue for advertisers and publishers. Turn was founded in 2005 and is located in San Mateo, California. For more information about Turn, visit www.turn.com.

Editors’ Note: All trademarks and registered trademarks are those of their respective companies.

Contacts

Three-Forty Communications for Turn Inc.
Elizabeth Scheuring, 415-233-4264
elizabeth {at} three-forty(.)com