NONE: Re: Impressions and Ad Rates
Re: Impressions and Ad Rates
Mark J. Welch, Esq. (markwelch_at_ca-probate.com)
Sat, 27 Jul 1996 19:18:23 -0700
At 01:04 AM 7/27/96 -0700, Jay Plyler wrote:
>Impressions. Just what the heck is an 'impression.' * * *
Based on my review of how a number of "pooled" web advertising programs
work, I do not believe there is any standard measure of an "impression" and
each advertiser may have a different goal. For example, some advertisers
may only want to pay for their ad to be seen once (or once per day) by a web
surfer; other advertisers may want massive exposure.
The Commonwealth Network counts an "impression" only once per 24-hour period
from a single user account. Thus, if I view one Commonwealth Network ad
from my PPP account (let's say it's k29.value.net) and then I view the same
ad on another web page a minute or an hour later, the Commonwealth Network
doesn't count the second view. In contrast, the Internet Banner Network
claims it pays for every display of the ad.
I think in fairness, the advertiser should be charged only when the banner
is actually
displayed (e.g. Lynx users and others with "auto-load images" disabled won't
be counted unless they actually download the ad image).
Some advertisers prefer to pay per "click-through" and I think that could be
fair if you have a very focused web site that is directly related to an
advertisement (e.g. I would be pleased if a company selling Caller ID
devices or software wanted to advertise on my "Caller ID" web page, and
would certainly consider charging for the ad on a "per-click-through" basis).
See http://www.ca-probate.com/comm_net.htm for links to many of the "pooled"
banner advertising programs, as well as related links at the bottom of the page.
>Ad rates. I know that this question is wide open, and determined by many
>different factors, but some general suggestions on how to set ad rates,
>especially for the first ads, would be welcome.
I still think that current ad rates are unreasonably high (and remember, I
don't buy ads, I sell ad space on my sites). Current rates charged to
advertisers seem to range from under 1 cent per "hit" (page request) to 2 to
5 cents per "display" to 20 to 50 cents per "click-through." If you will be
selling ads directly to advertisers, you should compare the benefits the
advertiser will get to some of the targetted advertising programs (e.g. what
does Lycos charge for an ad on search results pages when "real estate" was
part of the search term, or what does DoubleClick charge for a banner
display only to users from Bolivian domains who look at web pages about dogs?)
Check out some of the internet advertising "brokers" and ask what kind of
promises they could make if you signed up with them. But don't sign an
exclusive deal with anyone unless they guarantee a certain payment level.
-- Mark J. Welch, Attorney at Law, Pleasanton CA
-- http://www.ca-probate.com 510-462-8483
-- Email is not legal advice, and is not confidential.
