Press Releases

Adknowledge Monetizes Trailblazing Anime Virtual World

Super Rewards’ Diverse Ad Offer Inventory and Global Reach Help Power Monetization Solutions for Virtual Worlds
SEATTLE, Wash. - Casual Connect

Adknowledge’s Super Rewards, a leader in monetizing virtual currency for online games, today announced it has been selected by GCREST America to deliver virtual currency monetization solutions for its popular TinierMe virtual world.  GCREST America, maker of some of the world’s most successful online games, is using Adknowledge's Super Rewards offer platform to maximize revenue and improve user experience by rewarding gamers with additional points, virtual goods, or virtual dollars in exchange for completing high quality offers. 

TinierMe is a virtual world with free-to-play games that allows casual gamers to explore the culture of Japanese anime comics, which is increasingly popular among young Americans.  Within the TinierMe world, users can create their own avatar, dubbed a “Selfy,” to play various games, chat with others, and even participate in various events that follow the Japanese festival calendar, such as the Cherry Blossom Festival.  

"We are very excited to partner with GCREST, who provides a unique and highly engaging experience with the use of anime in TinierMe,” said Jason Bailey, general manager of Adknowledge’s Super Rewards social currency division. "We understand the unique needs of virtual world publishers, particularly those in Asia looking to expand into the U.S.  Our diverse ad offer inventory, global reach, sophisticated fraud protection and management, customization options, and top-notch customer service are all very attractive for game publishers who need to maximize revenue and enhance the overall user experience.” 

Adknowledge’s Super Rewards allows online game publishers to incorporate a monetization platform as a seamless component of their games. Players can earn in-game points by completing a survey, watching a video, or subscribing to online services that are of value to them. The advertiser offers generate revenue for publishers. Adknowledge then converts non-paying players into revenue-producing users. The company's comprehensive offer targeting and filtering system ensures that the right offers are presented to the right players at the right time -- all while delivering the best possible user experience. 

"Adknowledge’s targeting expertise empowers us to present the most relevant advertising offers based on our users’ behavior.  Our users get rewarded with free game currency by participating in highly interactive and rewarding offers, while providing GCREST with a very reliable revenue stream," said Masaru Ohnogi, CEO at GCREST America. 
Adknowledge’s deep understanding of the gaming industry is also showcased in its sophisticated fraud protection systems. Fraud protection is a serious concern for many gaming and application publishers. To address this issue, Adknowledge’s Super Rewards uses a combination of advanced proprietary systems, internal reviews, and its partnership with industry-leader ThreatMetrix to create a robust fraud protection system. This three-prong approach enables Super Rewards to identify suspicious activity and remove fraudulent activity before it reaches publishers.  With its 11 global offices, an expanding advertising operations team that acquires localized offer inventory on a country-by-country basis, and ad inventory that spans across 50,000 advertisers, Adknowledge’s extensive international reach (approximately 30-40 percent more global users and advertisers than its competitors) is a key factor that attracts leading game  publishing partners like GCREST America. 

About GCREST AMERICA

GCREST America, Inc. is the company behind TinierMe, and is a fully owned subsidiary of GCREST, Inc. who is a leading online entertainment company based in Japan. GCREST, Inc. was established in 2003 and has created many successful online games including Trickster, @games, and Barvillage. TinierMe, which is also published in Japan as @games, is a game portal owned by GCREST. The game has gathered more than 1 million active users in Japan. TinierMe is a brand new class of online game portal site, with communication functions that make use of a dynamic Flash avatar called a “SELFY.”

About Adknowledge

Adknowledge operates the 4th largest marketplace for advertisers to connect with their target audiences in hard-to-reach places on the Web with similar ROI as search. Since its founding in 2004, Adknowledge has grown organically and through acquisitions (including Miva, Super Rewards and Hydra) to become the largest privately-owned Internet advertising network. The company connects advertisers with consumers across the long tail Web via multiple channels, including mobile, email, search, domains and social networks. For more information on Adknowledge, visit www.adknowledge.com.

Press Contacts:

Eric John
VP Marketing, Adknowledge
ejohn@adknowledge.com

Cindy Osbron
Director of Marketing, Super Rewards
cosbron@adknowledge.com

"Super Rewards commands an expert understanding of MMO players. This targeting expertise enables us to present the most relevant advertising offers based on our users’ behavior. It all adds up to the user being able to get free G-Coin by participating in engaging and rewarding offers, while supplying NHN with a very stable and healthy revenue stream."

"Both the domestic and international markets are very important to OGPlanet, which is one of the primary reasons why we chose to partner with Super Rewards. They have extensive coverage in our most important target regions, both at home and abroad. When we launched OGPlanet Europe, Super Rewards was able to deliver immediate revenue."

"Fraud is a very real threat to any business, including ours. Super Rewards is committed to our protection and demonstrates this with their robust fraud protection systems, and with their fraud experts. They work hand in hand with us to identify high-risk users and to protect our bottom line. Huge revenues are great, but even better is when that revenue is fully authenticated."

"Super Rewards not only boosts our overall revenues by providing our players with an engaging and free way to earn Campus Credit, but they also do a phenomenal job of handling all customer service for OnNet. This service ensures that all of our players are having the best user experience possible and frees us to focus on core business -- developing superior online games."