'Chitika
Chitika is an online ad network that caters over four billion strategically targeted ads each month to a network of over 300,000+ sites, making it the second largest network of its kind. Chitika ads are known across the industry for their ability to perform unlike any other, leveraging its proprietary targeting and optimizationtechnology - a delicate blend of “Art + Science”- to ensure delivery of intent driven ads to the right user, at the right time and in the right place. Chitika’s advertising partners include; Yahoo!, SuperMedia, hibu and HomeAdvisor, among others, and are leveraged by publishers in the network to drive audience engagement andboost revenue.
History
In 2003, co-founders Venkat Kolluri and Alden DoRosario started Chitika after leaving their jobs at Lycos. Since launching it's online advertising service in 2004, Chitika has added a Mobile advertising Division as well as a Real-Time Bidding Division.
Partnerships
In 2013, Chitika announced a multi-year extension of its partnership with Yahoo!. The agreement includes off–network search syndication, monetization of Yahoo! owned and operated properties, and mobile ad serving and monetization.
In 2010 Yahoo! closed their AdSense competitor Yahoo Publisher Network Online (YPNO) and recommended publishers migrate to Chitika as a replacement.
In 2009 Chitika began a partnership with the b5media Network.
Awards and recognition
- 2013
- Boston Business Journal: Healthiest Employer 2013 Finalist
- 2011
- TiE Boston: Chitika CEO Venkat Kolluri Awarded "Crystal Award." The Crystal Award is given to a TiE Charter Member for building and growing a company from the ground up with no external funding.[6]
- 2010
- DPAC Award Finalist for Best Mobile Advertising Network Innovation[7]
- 2009
- Red Herring: Top 100 Global 2008 Finalist
- Red Herring: Top 100 Global 2008 Winner
Past award winners include: Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Netscape, Salesforce.com, and YouTube
- 2008
- AlwaysOn: Top 100 fastest-growing companies in the Northeast
- Red Herring: Leading private technology companies in North America
- MITX 2008 Technology Awards: Finalist, Marketing/Customer Relationship Technologies Category
- 2007
- Inc. top free services for generating revenue on your website: Best For Promoting Ancillary Products
Controversies
In December 2005, some publishers reported a reduction in revenue after auditing between 25%-90%.
In June 2008, Chitika reportedly changed its revenue payout without notifying publishers or responding to their complaints.
In 2010, Chitika removed their ads from thousands of websites. The company stated that the sites they had been doing business with were all suddenly placed under "Pending Review" or "Pending Further Review" status. This meant the company would no longer show ads on the sites. Many dropped the advertising service.[13]
On March 16, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") appeared before the United States Senate Commerce Committee and announced its first behavioral advertising case, filed against Chitika for use of a deceptive opt-out mechanism. According to the FTC, Chitika's cookies that opt users out of behavioral tracking were expiring in ten days rather than the stated ten years. A settlement was reached under which Chitika was forbidden from making misleading statements about the extent of data collection about consumers and the extent to which consumers can control the use of their data. Further, the settlement required that Chitika link all its advertising to an effective opt-out mechanism in future. It has been commented that, “[t]his requirement of a hyperlink embedded in online advertisements is a good indicator of the type of Do Not Track mechanism that will be acceptable to the FTC if “Do Not Track” becomes mandatory.” According to a press release by the company, their opt-out cookies have been set to ten years since March 2010 when the FTC began their investigation.Chitika subsequently claimed to have made only a total of fifty-five cents from the ten day opt-out expiration.
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