Device maker partners with other companies to monetize BBM

It comes as no surprise that BlackBerry are on their way to recovery after a couple of years where most of the press thought they wouldn't make it. Thanks to BlackBerry CEO, John Chen, those days seem to be behind them and with the Canadian company having to make as much cash as possible, BBM is clearly the next major initiative.

Matthew Talbot, the Senior Vice President of Emerging Solutions at BlackBerry, through the Inside BlackBerry Business Blog, has stated the following:

"As part of that effort, we've entered into several new partnerships to expand our ad sales network and bring region-specific advertising sales expertise to BBM. These new partners are introducing the BBM advertising platform to brands, businesses, advertisers, and advertising networks.

As one of the largest private mobile social networks, BBM is uniquely positioned to capitalize on a mobile messaging market that is estimated to grow into the multi-billions in the next few years. Our highly engaged customer base has grown to more than 90 million monthly active users around the world, so we have great placements to offer advertisers.

Recognizing the diversity of global markets, we selected regional partners that already have strong relationships with brands around the world as well as mobile advertising expertise. These partners will represent BBM in markets where we have a strong brand and large, active BBM audiences.

Blyk will represent BBM globally, with dedicated sales representatives in Chicago, Dubai, London, Singapore, and Toronto.
Habari Media will represent BBM with dedicated sales representatives in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Our ad formats provide a great balance for both customers and advertisers. Our mobile ads appear in "Feeds" so that they blend seamlessly with updates from friends, not interfering with the BBM chat experience customers know and love. At the same time, the placements reach a highly engaged, highly targeted audience where they spend time.

BBM will also connect BBM Channel users with brands and businesses (now over 1.1 million channels) they may be interested in following within the Feeds area of BBM.

Within BBM, advertisers can place:

Sponsored posts, which place content in the user's BBM feed where they can click to download an app or access more information. Sponsored posts in a social media news feed are the best-performing type of ad unit that exists. Early BBM campaigns have delivered industry-leading click-through rates.
Sponsored invites, BBM's most native ad unit, offer brands a dynamic way to reach out to their most loyal customers, as well as to potential customers.
Sponsored sticker packs, which provide brands a new way of visually communicating their brand message within conversations and linking to products, services, and promotional offers outside of BBM.
Featured placements, which are the primary way for BBM users to discover new brands to follow in BBM Channels.
Customer Information Stays Secure, To help personalize the BBM advertising experience, our advertising platform uses the information customers provide when they set up their accounts. At no time is personally identifiable information about any BBM user viewable by channel owners or advertisers.

It all seem rather good don't you think? Hopefully, with more and more brands/companies discovering that they can advertize via BBM we should see the subscriber base grow even more.