2016 Internext Expo Kicks Off

LAS VEGAS—Digital media professionals from all over the world converged on the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Saturday for the first full day of the Internext Expo. The diverse group included a mix of seasoned veterans and ambitious newcomers all ready for three days of networking, education and deal-making in Sin City. The centerpiece of Day One was the anticipated Meet Market, which occupied the entire Festival Hall in the Paradise Tower and featured more than 50 participating companies. The Meet Market’s rectangular setup included rows of white couches for attendees who wanted to kick back in the center of the room and enjoy the fully stocked bar near the entrance. The team behind Etology brought a large contingent to the Meet Market as it was officially rolling out datingtraffic.com, a premium ad network focusing specifically on the lucrative dating vertical. Etology VP Chris Poncabare said the network, which is certified by “super affiliates,” has been in development for more than a year.  Just around the corner TrafficJunky’s Michael Scardochio, a senior account manager, revealed a recent development was opening their platform to new publishers.  “We’re accepting a lot of new publishers which means more traffic and new avenues and revenue streams,” Scardochio said. On Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., TrafficJunky will amp up the weekend’s star power by hosting fan favorite performers Nikki Benz and Monique Alexander for a special signing appearance at the AVN Lounge. Adriana, the marketing manager for Bitter Strawberry, made the trip to Vegas for the third straight year from her home in Romania. She said Bitter Strawberry was proud to be the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s Internext and that her team was there to bring “added value” to the show in addition to spreading the word about their unique mobile traffic management platform. The four-year-old company, which is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, has an imprint in more than 180 countries on all six continents. Their imprint was also all over the Paradise Tower, including on special edition posters placed on suite doors with messages such as “Connecting Impressions to Performance” and “Never Lose a User Again.” On the other side of the Meet Market, Tapgerine CEO Max Korolevich said he has been coming to Internext since 2003. He didn’t have to go far this year because he resides in Sin City. “We’re looking for new traffic sources and new partners to work with,” he said, noting the Expo has become a great B2B destination for Tapgerine, the global mobile apps advertising platform that is based in Vegas with an additional office in Ukraine. Internext’s international appeal was a common theme. Jennie Wage made the trip from her home in Berlin to the 15th edition of Internext, where the COO was discussing the conversion options for Digital Performance, TrafficPartner.com and Webbilling, among other brands.  “This is my first time in Vegas,” Wage said as the high-energy crowd continued to circulate. Vanessa and Penelope came to Vegas from Lichtenstein to preview Eurowebtainment, which is coming to Hotel Melia de Mar in Majorca, Spain, May 25-28. With swag bags stuffed to the brim, attendees set their sights on the annual Traffic Dinner before preparing for some late-night hijinks at Affil4you’s party in the Real World Suite aptly themed “Boobs, Booze & Bowling-The Saga Continues.”  That gathering had a tough act to follow on the heels of MojoHost’s Internext Warm-up Party Friday night.    Some attendees found their footing in the early afternoon, swinging by the Internext A to Z session, which was designed to inform first-timers about how to get the most out of their trade-show experience. That session, run by AVN Account Executive Timothy Ferencz, included an audience of content producers, traffic brokers, affiliates, software entrepreneurs and emerging webcam execs.  Leo Lee, a senior manager from urRad Co., traveled all the way from Taiwan to the desert for his first show in search of traffic partners for his site urad.com.tw. He cheerfully introduced himself to the room prior to the Ferencz's business card exchange at the end. Yannick Ferreri, the head of production and business development for Porndoe, conducted the next workshop of the day—a primer on his “100 percent legal” tube site.  “When I say 100 percent legal, what I mean is not one iota of content on our site comes by any means other than it was given to us by the producer or we licensed it,” Ferreri told the group assembled. “So it’s a very expensive endeavor to do. … but times have shifted again and now content value is going up.” Ferreri, a seven-year industry veteran who was an executive at Mindgeek for five years, started at PornDoe about a month after it launched. “In 17 months we’re globally 6,000 on Alexa, which is substantial growth,” Ferreri noted. “We’re up to 700,000 unique visitors per day. Our average time spent on the site (by one user) is seven to nine minutes depending.” He said Porndoe has “really attacked” the European countries, establishing a strong presence in Italy, Spain and Germany—and a solid one in the U.S. “We’re masters of localization,” Ferreri said. “We tag content in five different languages.” Porndoe works with paysite owners, content producers and DVD distributors.   “We are pro-content partners,” Ferreri added. “We can broaden your scope and help you broaden your audience. Your content is 100 percent safe. We’re only doing what you want us to do with your content.” Internext continues Sunday with a full slate of seminars and workshops, including educational panels on billing, mobile, dating, live cams and traffic.