Mktg - Advertisers target cybercafé users

Kapil Ohri

When 36-40 per cent of online traffic in India is generated by users who browse the Internet through 300,000 computers installed at cybercafés, it is obvious that advertisers will be on the lookout for ways to reach this population.

The Mumbai based Internet media firm, Ideacts Innovations, now offers just that, through a desktop application called Clinck. The company already counts 75 advertisers as its clients, including big names such as Nokia, ICICI, Colgate, Dell, Big TV, Yamaha, Fastrack, STAR Cricket, Ibibo.com, Zapak.com, eBay.in, Lenovo and Idea Cellular.

Clinck is an interactive desktop application, which, when installed on a computer, hides the normal desktop of the computer and becomes its default desktop screen.


Similar to the normal desktop, the Clinck desktop displays various shortcut icons, such as My Computer, My Network Places, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger. A search engine bar, powered by either MSN or Google, is also made available. While these shortcut icons occupy only 10-15 per cent of the Clinck desktop, the remaining screen space is occupied by advertorial or banner ads, which can be static or interactive.

Speaking to afaqs!, Rudrajeet Desai, cofounder and chief executive officer, Ideacts Innovations, says, "We have already executed 150 campaigns for 75 advertisers from diverse categories, such as automobile, education, finance, travel, FMCG, IT and Internet companies. Already, 3,000 cybercafés in 32 cities have installed Clinck. Around 200,000 users access the Internet on 18,000 Clinck enabled computers on a daily basis."

He adds that apart from banner ads, the application is also capable of executing interactive campaigns or video ads. However, the company is not running video ads as of now.

On why a cybercafé owner would install Clinck, Desai says, "Ideacts shares 40 per cent of the revenue earned through a cybercafé with its owner. Revenue sharing with the cybercafé owner depends on various variables, such as the number of computers in the café and the number of users who visit it."

Currently, the company is only targeting non-branded cybercafés with at least seven computers. It has not targeted cybercafés owned by Sify and Reliance Communications. In 2009, it is planning to expand its base to Tier II towns, such as Nagpur, Nashik, Jaipur and Indore.

The campaigns carried out through Clinck are measured on the same parameters as other online campaigns. Ideacts Innovations claims that the campaigns carried out through Clinck receive a click-through rate (CTR) of 3 per cent, which is much higher than the average CTR of online campaigns – 0.5 per cent.

The company sells its ad inventory on cost per thousand (CPM) impressions and a cost per click (CPC) basis. It charges Rs 170 for 1,000 impressions.