It’s about time that this happened, the industry is underestimating the pervasiveness of the widget marketing tools that are available to advertisers today.  This integration should help bring widget advertising to the mainstream marketers. AOL’s Platform-A announced that it will offer Goowy’s widget creation and management services as part of its widget distribution offering for advertisers. Goowy enables the creation, syndication and measurement of widget-based campaigns as a free, value-added service across Platform-A’s properties and networks. For those of you who don’t know Platform-A, it is AOL’s digital advertising business. Goowy forms part of AOL’s People Networks business and was acquired by AOL in February 2008.

Advertisers can now utilize Goowy to create customized “grabbable” web widgets and distribute them across Platform-A, which includes AOL’s leading media properties and thousands of sites within Advertising.com’s third-party network. In addition, widgets may also be served as ads within Bebo and Facebook applications that are part of the Widgnet publisher network, launched by Advertising.com earlier this year. While most widget platforms charge additional CPM rates, Platform-A offers the service as a value-add for qualified advertisers.

“Platform-A is committed to expanding widget advertising services, and Goowy is one way to ensure that our customers generate value from their campaigns,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “Widget-based advertising is gaining momentum in the industry, and Platform-A’s network approach allows our customers to build brands, encourage interaction, and drive site traffic – all at scale.”

Widget campaigns, powered by Goowy, will leverage Advertising.com’s AdLearn technology for full optimization across Platform-A based on clicks, installs, and other campaign objectives. By distributing widget ads across Platform-A, marketers will be able to create more compelling ad units, include more dynamic content, and build longer-term relationships with the growing number of consumers who are increasingly downloading applications to their social network pages.

Additionally, widget publishers can utilize Goowy for free by becoming part of the Widgnet publisher network and agreeing to display advertising within their widgets. Any revenue generated from these publisher widgets will then be split back with the publisher.

Goowy Media forms part of AOL’s newly created People Networks business unit, which combines social media network Bebo, the AIM and ICQ personal communications network, and social search and answer service Yedda. People Networks’ collection of community platforms reaches 80 million unduplicated users worldwide.

NewsGator and Gigya, the widget distribution network, today announced a partnership to bring new capabilities to media companies looking to grow both the audience and revenue for their content. With this partnership, NewsGator will integrate Gigya’s Wildfire distribution and tracking technology into its syndication network. The combined offer will provide media clients with a streamlined process for content syndication, the ability to distribute content to audiences on more than 50 platforms, and sophisticated tracking that details where content is being consumed.

“We are excited to work with Gigya to implement their Wildfire technology,” said Jeff Nolan, VP of Consumer and Media Services with NewsGator. “By partnering with Gigya, we enable our top tier media clients to distribute their content to audiences on top social networks, blog platforms, and desktop platforms – and as their audience grows the opportunity for advertising revenue also grows. Together, we will up the ante for widget and social application strategies deployed by mainstream media sites and advertisers.”

Major media companies around the world are using NewsGator Widget Services to simplify the syndication of content. With NewsGator’s syndication network, media companies have access to the industry’s largest database of public RSS content. The network has an archive of over 2.1 billion individual content items and more than 7 million posts are added daily. NewsGator’s network simplifies content syndication by enabling media companies to integrate publicly available content for an enhanced user experience. With easy access to third party content, media firms can offer audiences far more compelling and comprehensive news and information which drives repeat visits, increases site interaction time, and improves web monetization. NewsGator’s hosted content management application provides widget creators with advanced tools for managing streaming content in widgets, and now with Wildfire the best in class sharing and tracking tools that enhance viral adoption of widget content.

Gigya’s technologies have become a major player in the industry for distributing and tracking content on the social web, reaching 142 Million unique widget users worldwide in May 2008 according to comScore. More than one thousand media companies, advertisers, and widget platforms are currently using Gigya’s tools and technologies to grow the audience for, and engagement with, their content.

“NewsGator’s extensive syndication network and Gigya’s Wildfire technology provide media companies with a new syndication model that expands their access to content and helps them reach new audiences in social spaces,” said Rooly Eliezerov, President and Co-Founder of Gigya. “As the largest widget distribution network in the world, we are delighted that NewsGator has selected our Wildfire technology and we look forward to a long-term partnership developing new widget business models for our clients.”