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[ Viewing entries tagged with "vertical ad networks" ]
Know your networks
John Gaffney puts a stake in the ground on the distinctions between conventional ad networks and vertical media networks. Gaffney recommends that advertisers seek out and leverage vertical media companies for their superior content – and admonishes networks to be clear about if they are a content company or a targeting company first. That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t target within premium content or that a targeting company shouldn’t access the unsold inventory of premium publishers – it’s about the core of the value propositions.
Like Mr. Gaffney, Adify believes that vertical ad networks (vertical media networks, content networks) are first about identifying and curating the very best content on specific topics that engages specific audiences. Conventional ad networks are first about optimization and targeting to find the audience most likely to convert (click, buy, engage) across unsold inventory from many publishers.
One of the ways to distinguish a vertical media network from an ad network is if they offer end-to-end transparency specifying their content partners before, during and after a campaign is delivered. A vertical media network or content network is proud of its content partners and is selling engaging placements in context. These vertical media networks perform as branding vehicles where advertisers can engage with their target audience without waste and in a memorable way.
One of the comments stated that the real problem is not the distribution method but rather that consumers ignore online advertising. Advertising out of context in ANY media is ignored – even if it might be interesting to the consumer in another context. Banners are supplemental - integrated packages that make the advertiser stand out and enhance the consumer experience are noticed - and are what vertical media networks offer and recommend rather than pure run of network or run of category banners.
Vertical ad networks are worth the hype
In today’s Digiday: Daily, The President and CEO of Audience Science attempts to de-mystify the current enthusiasm for vertical ad networks by claiming that behavioral targeting does the same thing, at scale, as a vertical ad network.
Where is Advertising Spending Going?
PricewaterhouseCoopers released its 2009-2013 Global Entertainment and Media Outlook on June 16, 2009. The forecast showed that overall advertising would grow slowly in the next four years – and that only Internet (including mobile), Out-of-home, and Video games would have positive growth (see table).
Art is Back: Can Creativity Save Us?
Since its inception, the Internet has been billed as “the most measurable” environment for advertising. What that has translated into, in recent history, is all science and no art. Advertisers are stuck in “short-termism” (to quote Rob Norman, Group M CEO), as though every consumer of content is ready to buy now—or will be in the next 30 days.
It is ironic that during an economic downturn—with DJIA down, Consumer Confidence down, and extra money going to pay bills—advertisers are doubling down on tired direct response networks, as though content consumers hadn't tightened their pocket books. Building a consumer's relationship with a brand seems to have all but disappeared.
Don’t Take Sloppy Seconds. Understand What “Remnant” Really Means.
Today I was talking to a media buyer who was struggling to understand the difference between buying on vertical ad networks, like those powered by Adify or sold through Adify Media, versus traditional ad networks. This media buyer’s confusion lay in the meaning of remnant inventory. He said he had asked a traditional network whether it delivered remnant inventory. That network, which aggregates inventory from the top sites on the Internet, claimed it wasn’t delivering remnant inventory because the network paid for the impressions.
Huh?
This is a misleading way to determine whether a network offers remnant inventory. Of course that network pays for the impressions—the sites they sell are not sites they own.
Here at Adify, our founders created the first large ad network with Flycast, and we’ve been in this business for a long time. The easiest way to understand whether a network is offering “remnant” inventory or not is to ask this question: Does your network give you the first impressions on the sites it represents, or does it only offer the impressions those sites couldn’t sell through their primary sales teams? If you’re getting impressions that a site couldn’t otherwise offload, you are getting remnant inventory, plain and simple.
Why does this mean for your brand? When you buy on a network and you see the names of large sites that call on that network directly, you need to be aware that the inventory those sites allocate to the ad network is NOT the same inventory they would sell you in a direct media buy. Instead, you’re getting the publishers’ remnant, unsold, sub-premium inventory.
In contrast, when you buy on vertical ad networks—or through Adify Media, our in-house trafficking team, which creates customized placements across verticals—you are buying through the primary sales team that represents the niche, independent sites in those vertical networks. More importantly, you’re buying the first impressions on those premium pages, making vertical networks a smart buy.
How Vertical Ad Networks Can Help Interactive Marketers
Forrester Research's recent report detailing "Online Advertising Predictions for 2009," forecasts a rough and tumble year ahead for interactive marketers. Here are three key issues that interactive marketers will face -- and a look at how vertical ad networks (like those powered by Adify) are uniquely poised to help:
Issue 1: Proving budgets and moving the needle. "In 2009, interactive marketers will be charged more than ever with proving their online budgets, driving sales, or moving the needle on key brand metrics." To prove their value, says Riley, savvy interactive marketers will need to "turn to ad networks to find bargains."
She's right: Vertical ad networks, like those powered by Adify, can deliver the premium audiences of quality mid-tail publishers, at a significant savings compared to portals. Consider Martha's Circle, a collection of interior-design-related publishers, marshaled together under the flag of Martha Stewart, the doyenne of home décor. As noted in the February 17th Forrester report "Ad Networks for Brand Advertisers," vertical ad networks like Martha's Circle offer "access to quality inventory at prices below premium brand name publishers' with the service level of a direct sales force." Premium audiences with less waste? Clearly that's a smart buy.
Issue 2: Data ownership as a means to manage efficiency. Riley forecasts that interactive marketers will want to move data ownership in-house, for optimal analysis. This is another area where working with the Adify platform offers advantages, as we clearly recognize that the party that generates the data owns the data -- whether it's the publisher or the advertiser -- so there's no difficulty in doing the analysis you need to do with the numbers you own.
Issue 3: Testing early forms of attribution measurement as a means to keep tabs on ROI. It makes sense that in today's tight economic times everyone is focused on making dollars go as far as possible, with minimal waste. That's why upcoming releases on the Adify platform will include features that give interactive marketers the kinds of insights they need to understand the value of their campaigns on the network. We can't reveal everything yet -- but stay tuned for exciting announcements in the coming weeks and months.
Clearly it won't be the easiest year we've faced as an industry, but as attention swings to stretching the dollar, vertical ad networks are delivering on the promise of budgetary value, data ownership, and ROI analysis in a way that the big portals simply can't match.
Three Ways Publishers Can Win the Fight for Premium CPMs
In a recent heated discussion about the future of journalism—and Google's role in driving the demise of newspapers—the panelists took Google to task:
Sexiness and Desire
At one of our recent all-company meetings, our co-founder and president Russ Fradin told us that "We provide the infrastructure and services with which companies can build vertical ad networks. It's not sexy—we stay behind the scenes and give companies the tools to create a network that fits perfectly with their own brand."
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Customer Testimonial
"We recognize that vertical networks, networks that combine content from or across a complimentary group of web properties - are the next logical evolution for publishers seeking to expand their advertising solutions for customers. They are quickly becoming an important way to develop scale for our marketing clients." Beth Comstock
President, Integrated Media
NBC Universal