Locket has launched its ‘first glance’ advertising app, which takes over Android users’ lock screens with full-page adverts, with partners including Domino’s and Sears.
Users are paid one cent per swipe, but no more than three cents per hour during the beta test, for each right swipe to reach their home screen or left swipe to find out more about the product. “Either way, you get paid one cent per swipe as a reward for renting out your lock screen to Locket,” CEO and co-founder Yunha Kim told Mobile Marketing.
When the beta test earning threshold is met, users cash out via PayPal. Kim said the company is working on giving people the opportunity to donate their earnings to charity or send them as a gift.
The company has celebrated 30,000 downloads in the three days since it launched and has so far seen an impressive CTR of eight per cent. Advertisers can target landing page ads, coupons and video advertising by gender, age, location, time and device. The initial cost target for advertisers working with Locket is $10 CPM. 
Kim hightlights that as we check our handset on average 150 times per day, the lock screen is the most valuable piece of unused real estate. She said they are concentrating on Android, despite the fact that more than 1,500 handest variations mean it is a “very time consuming and painful process”, with plans to expand to more operating systems soon.
The NYC-based startup raised £500,000 in a funding round led by Great Oaks Venture Capital and counts Brian Wong, co-founder and CEO of Kiip, as an advisor.
