NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> ad servers
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> ad servers
Chip Canty (ccanty_at_shell1.shore.net)
Tue, 22 Dec 1998 12:55:03 -0600 (CST)
I appreciated Heidi Kay's balanced (if not disinterested)
presentation of the pros and cons of using banner networks.
As a website owner, I thought I'd chime in with a different
perspective on this option.
<DISCLAIMER>We use a different banner network, one that
presumably competes with Heidi's. (And, yes, this is partly
because we once applied to Flycast but were turned
down.)</DISCLAIMER>
PROS OF AD NETWORKS
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o Maximized ad revenues. When you join an ad network, you
> open up your site to a large number of different types of
> advertisers...
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, and this is a powerful selling point. But beware--not
all are likely to be advertisers you want to be associated
with. Website owners must pay close attention to the degree
of control they retain over new advertisers and, to a lesser
extent, new ads.
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o Single point of reporting and billing. When you join an ad
> network, you do not need to worry about preparing reports
> for advertisers, issuing and collecting on bills, ...
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, to the extent you use the network. If, however, as
Heidi recommends, you serve some ads through the network and
some directly, you have to be prepared to handle all these
tasks anyway. Once you've made the commitment to service
some advertisers directly, the marginal cost of
accommodating others is much smaller.
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o No banner trafficking. Many advertisers like swapping
> banners in and out frequently (several times per day). Most
> ad networks handle this tedious work automatically,
> transparently to you.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tedious, yes, and costly, but is it reasonable? Network
or no, site owners need to ask themselves how high they're
willing to jump, and where best to draw the line on advertiser
demands. (See below on understanding advertisers' needs.)
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o Rich Media without hassle. Many networks such as Flycast
> are making great strides towards developing a single, small
> chunk of code that allows all the websites on the network to
> serve all types of rich media advertisements without having
> to debug and reinsert new code for each ad.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoa, not so fast! In our experience (again, not with
Flycast), that "small chunk of code" needs to be inserted
into every page, because you never know when the network
might spit out a rich-media ad. If that code makes older
browsers choke, website owners can find themselves paying a
heavy price for letting a few clients play with cutting-edge
toys. Besides, I think the jury's still out on how this
extra code affects search-engine placement, esp. since
banners must usually be located at or near the top of the
page.
Mind you, I *like* rich media--it works really well for us.
But given the risks I personally prefer to be in full
control over when and how it's served.
Other pros Heidi didn't mention here include:
o Greater variety of ads and advertisers. Constantly
presenting your visitors with the same few advertisers is
not a good thing, even if they pay you well.
o "Sampling" of ads and techniques. Serving a variety of
ads gives you a chance to experiment; if you're paying
attention, you can learn what works and what doesn't on your
site. Perhaps you thought apparel ads would fare poorly on
your site; here's a chance to test that assumption. The
same is true of rich media, HTML ads, etc.
o Bandwidth costs. As rich media catches on, the cost of
serving ads rises. This is especially true for smaller sites
hosted by an ISP, since an ISP's rates may not fairly
reflect the real costs arising from the extra bandwidth.
o Hiring, training and supervision of ad-sales reps.
Chances are good that the networks can do these things
better than you.
CONS OF AD NETWORKS
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o If the ad network server (or the Internet between your
> server and the ad network server) is temporarily slow, it
> can result in broken images or the appearance that your page
> is being "held up," waiting for the ad.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, or worse. Improperly served HTML ads, particularly
those with tables, can cause pages to be rendered
improperly, or not at all. Javascript that's not compatible
with version 3 browsers can cause a flood of error popups or
even browser crashes.
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o Reduced control over banner creative. With some ad
> networks, you do not really know what type of banner may
> show up next on your site. To address this issue, many ad
> networks, including Flycast, have developed a banner
> blocking solution for website owners.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, and the question is, is it workable? Is prior approval
required? Is the creative available in advance so that we
know what we're agreeing to. How much time does the website
owner have to review new ads before campaigns start by
default? And what happens then?--how, and how easily, can a
website owner terminate a running campaign that's proven to
be a bad fit? (This is especially important for CPC
campaigns.)
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> o Rich Media can be unpredictable....
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right. (See above.)
HEIDI KAY WROTE:
> Many ad networks allow member websites to allocate a
> percentage of inventory towards the network and reserve the
> rest for private sale. Such a combination plan is often the
> best route....
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree. We've established a priority system that serves us
well, which goes like this:
$$$ Ads we sell
$$ Ads the network sells
$ Leftovers, which the network bounces back to us
Heidi doesn't mention this, but our ad network (which I
won't name here) rarely fetches us a price, after
commission, that's even close to our published rates. For
this reason, we use the network primarily to unload unsold
inventory, often at a much-reduced rate. Even so, we find
that the network only sells a small percentage of the ads we
make available, so we are careful to arrange for the
still-unsold inventory, i.e., the "leftovers," to bounce
back to us; we generally use these ads to promote affiliate
relationships that pay per transaction rather than by
impression or click-through.
Other cons that Heidi doesn't mention include:
o Payment delays. If your network cuts checks monthly,
then you'll get paid up to a month after the network does.
Even if the network pays more promptly, the presence of any
middleman will delay your trip to the bank.
o Bonus impressions. Some networks can't or won't step in
to stop serving ads once the contracted number of ads is
served. Guess who's expected to swallow the difference?
o Limitations on ad sizes, locations, etc. Each network
has policies that restrict where you can place ads, what
else can appear with them, how long the page must remain up,
etc. Mostly these are reasonable, and on the Wild, Wild Web
they are often necessary to protect against fraud. But most
of these policies have a one-size-fits-all quality that
might not prove a good fit with your own needs.
o Reporting limitations. All banner networks report on
impressions and click-throughs, but you're likely to be
frustated with the quality, timeliness or flexibility of
these reports.
o Reps' knowledge of your site. Unless you're AltaVista,
chances are good that "your" network rep will never have
explored your site in any detail (if at all) and won't know
what sets it apart. They're selling "coverage" of a
particular category of sites, that's all.
o Price competition. Ad networks often sell
run-of-category or run-of-network ads for less than what you
otherwise charge. This creates bargains for savvy ad
buyers; over time, it also puts pressure on you to lower
your rates. In effect, you're creating a competitor--which
can be a good thing, but isn't always.
o Too many middlemen? In the end, success generally comes
from understanding your advertisers and from acting upon all
that you learn about their needs and how your site can serve
them. Working through an ad network deprives you of the
direct communication with advertisers that's ususually
needed to reach this state.
For us, the bottom line is this:
Networks generally represent themselves to site owners
(i.e., "sellers") as a sellers' agent--and, indeed, the
seller pays their fee (commission). But today too many ads
are chasing too few ad dollars, and until this changes the
competition to sell ads will be fierce. In this
environment, many networks will do whatever's necessary to
woo buyers, and in the end will wind up *behaving* more like
agents for the buyer, not the seller. Site owners must
therefore be vigilant; many can indeed benefit by
affiliating with one or more networks, but they mustn't
think they're "home free" once they do.
Chip Canty ccanty_at_waypages.com
WAYPAGES PRODUCTIONS www.waypages.com
132 Adams St. #10 800-997-5476
Newton, MA 02458 617-964-9996
fax 617-964-9989
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