Hotbar Bucks The Downturn
By John Gaffney
Revolution USA - The concept of trying to create marketing space on the
desktop or even within the browser is not new. But when such a company,
based on commerce and advertising revenue, gets new funding and new
clients, that's news. With more than $15 million in the bank and a full
client roster, Hotbar has a bright future.
Hotbar is a "light dynamic browser plug-in." Put simply it is a quick,
low-bandwidth downloadable application that customizes the browser "gray"
area of the online desktop. More than 72,000 "skins" are available from
anime cartoon characters to the rock group Queen to Monet. Skins can be
emailed, and easily changed from the Hotbar home page after the application
is downloaded. Hotbar's website has attracted banner and sponsor modules
from Classmates.com, various credit card companies and Apartments.com.
Brands that have signed up to own their own branded Hotbar include CNET,
MySimon, Half.com, CNNSI, McAfee, Dealtime and Uproar.
Other companies have tried to create toolbars for brands or create advertising
opportunities on the desktop. Not many have succeeded. The business model for
Hotbar received the ultimate vote of confidence last week when it closed a $14.5
million second round of financing. CEO Owen Dobronsky said the company says
revenues from advertising and commerce are growing and should push Hotbar
to profitability by the end of the year.
"We know a lot of people have tried this space, but we think we can
succeed because we have some critical differences," he said.
"We're attached to the browser space and after a user download we're
automatically there. And also I would argue that we give users a much
greater incentive to download than some of the other companies who
have tried this space."
Hotbar claims 12 million people have downloaded the application over the
past 15 months, evenly split between the US and overseas territories.
|
|
