Tomorrow Networks is a mobile ad network exclusively for reaching health care professionals.
Created through a strategic alliance between Physicians Interactive Holdings and Remedy Systems, the network aims to bring together premium healthcare advertisers and handpicked mobile app developers focused on healthcare, on top of a cutting edge mobile technology platform.
While the technological underpinnings aim to make life easy for developers, the network still wants to keep a human element, stating:
“Our belief is that people – not algorithms – should fill unsold premium inventory with 100% relevant, high-quality advertisers.”
Examples of the types of ads delivered by the network include banners and full-screen spots placed inside native applications. Read below to hear from the president of Physician Interactive, owners of Skyscape, about their vision and hopes for “the mobile network for healthcare”.
Physicians Interactive Holdings (PIH) is the leading resource for healthcare information, medication samples and mobile decision support tools to medical professionals everywhere. PIH has developed a foundation of user-generated, proprietary and public data that powers a networked suite of transactional applications, including eSa mpling, interactive learning programs and mobile solutions.
Remedy Systems, which bills itself as a “healthcare services company built by artists and social entrepreneurs”, designs and builds mobile product platforms that lower the costs and improve the quality of healthcare. Remedy also assists private equity, government leaders and venture capitalists understand the healthcare IT landscape as it relates to mobile — often originating or identifying innovative ideas being proven on the fringes that can be brought to scale through the right partners.
Apply to join Tomorrow Networks as a publishing partner or advertiser on the company’s website.
(editors note: the interview below has been edited)
BTE: Tell me about the idea behind Tomorrow Networks
Sanjay Pingle: Tomorrow Networks came out of discussions between Remedy and ourselves on different ways we could collaborate from a development standpoint. Remedy has developed an ad serving network as part of their capabilities and after some discussions on what are some of the needs in the market, what are some missing pieces of solutions where there is some white space that needs to be filled, this emerged as a fairly big and important opportunity. So we got together over the last six months and have integrated it into the apps that are currently contracted to be part of the network, including Skyscape.
We have run lots of Beta tests and gone through the regulatory compliance and disclosure issues associated with running ads for pharmaceutical companies, which is particularly relevant on a Smartphone because there is very limited real estate. The vision for where we want to take the network is to develop “the mobile network for healthcare”, starting with health care professional (HCP) focused advertising, but then also moving into consumer and beyond HCP and discovering what else can be delivered that is of value for the users and the publishers beyond just advertising. Nothing has been specifically defined yet, but the vision is definitely to go beyond advertising.
BTE: So to this point you have been publishing the ads inside native apps only? How have you been engaging these publishers?
Sanjay Pingle: Yes, it runs inside apps we have developed as well as apps developed by our partners. Some of our partners have been engaged through Remedy, as they are very active in the mHealth community and had a lot of existing relationships with groups doing cool stuff in the space, building interesting apps and looking for a new way to monetize them, so that was one. The other has been through attending events like Health 2.0, where there is a congregation of like minded people, forward thinking doing new stuff in the mobile world and are open to these kind of partnership and collaboration opportunities.
So those are the two ways we have built up the network to this point. Then there are the more traditional types of publishers that we at Physicians Interactive have preexisting relationships with through SkyScape because their journals and material, their guidelines and toolkits, are all SkyScape resources.
BTE: Are you focused on publishing ads on industry blogs and other new media outlets, or are you strictly looking to place ads inside native apps?
Sanjay Pingle: We are looking to place ads anywhere that fits the ethos of the network, which is really high value and widely used by medical professionals. So certainly iMedicalApps could be one possibility.
BTE: What is an example of an ad you are currently running in the network?
Sanjay Pingle: We have two pharma companies advertising with us at the moment promoting their products, and we also have one app developer who is advertising an app they have developed and would like to promote to the audience we are targeting.
BTE: So in the case of the app being advertised, can the app actually be purchased or downloaded through the app or does the ad refer you to the app store?
Sanjay Pingle: With Android it could work either way, but with Apple the way they want things to work for iOS the ad must be clicked and then it takes you to the screen within the mobile app store where you can download the app.
BTE: Do you foresee this becoming a big part of physicians interactive business going forward? Will you be investing a great deal into this partnership?
Sanjay Pingle: We are very bullish, we are committed to this for the long-term and we definitely see it as an important and growing part of the business. One thing we haven’t gotten into yet but certainly intend to pursue in the future is ad delivery in the mobile browser. The ad units can be delivered in HTML5 and will be able to open any type of content HTML5 supports, such as rich media units, video, and links out to other webpages. We have also been approached by groups regarding ads in the mobile browser, and while the platform does support it, we haven’t implemented that quite yet.
