Do Publishers really want to make money?
As I see it the question of whether CPM of CPA is
appropriate should go back to the type of site
being looked at.
Some sites and services are set up to refer traffic
elsewhere - search engines, directories, link sites,
trade directories etc. In these instances it is
perfectly appropriate for the advertiser to pay for
the click and not for general exposure. Viewers go
to these sites with view to moving on. The content
is often dynamic and differs according to the
interest of the viewer. CPA on these sites is fair
to both advertiser and publisher and will encourage
the advertiser to finetune her offering to increase
her click-through rate.
Other sites exist for some totally different reason
than sending traffic to advertiser's sites. Viewers
go to these sites for information, to consider a
purchase, for entertainment or because they're just
looking. Advertisers will choose to advertise on
these sites because of the nature or volume (or both)
of the traffic that is attracted to the site. This is
exactly the same reasoning that advertisers use to
select their offline adverting.The generally low
average rate of click through (something less than
1%) means that advertisers know that they are
primarily buying exposure to their advertising on
these sites. In that case CPM is the most appropriate
exchange of value. There's increasing evidence of
online advertising effecting purchase offline;
encouraging direct purchase (at a later time) at the
advertisers site (without clicking through from the
ad); and increasing brand awareness. So there is a
benefit to the advertiser from online exposure. What
value you put on that exposure is a business decision
to be made by each advertiser. But it's naive and
asking for something for nothing to claim that CPA is
the only measure for the exchange of value in these
sites.
One exception to the above classification is dynamic
sites where content is not standardised. The publisher
can't really promise a level and context of exposure
as that would vary according to the viewers' choices.
Particularly in the case of keyword based insertions
I would want a CPA deal with such a site.
Douglas Wilson
Benland/Wilson & Associates Limited
We make web marketing work for you
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND.
US voice mail and fax number - 1-801-406-3037 =20
Web http://www.benlandwilson.com
Email douglas_at_benlandwilson.com
Received on Tue Feb 05 2002 - 09:44:21 CST
