NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is targeting a bad thing when everyone does it?
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is targeting a bad thing when everyone does it?
e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m - Adam Boettiger (ab_at_eyescream.com)
Wed, 27 May 1998 08:49:21 -0700
Obviously as media buyers if a site offers us the opportunity to
target using available technology, we will expect to see a higher
price tag on it, CPM-wise. Targeting is *not* a bad thing. It
is the direction that online advertising is headed in the next
five years: Being able to deliver the right ad to the right
person at the right time, in order to optimize results of a
direct response campaign. But ad inventory is perishable and has
limited targeting. Not all publishers currently support this
type of technical delivery. That doesn't mean that it isn't a
good thing.
Richard gives the example of him "snatching up" all the Win 95
targeted impressions on a site. Before that site decided to
offer this type of targeting to advertisers, I would hope that
they would have considered how it may affect their inventory and
monthly ad sales. They would have weighed the pros and cons to
both themselves as publishers and to the advertisers before they
began to offer this type of delivery. So Richard does take 50%
of the site's available impressions (or more) targeted at those
using the Win 95 OS. That's still a site that's selling 50% of
their available monthly ad inventory. Every publisher will
publicly state that they are all selling over 80% of their
inventory or that they are sold out each month. This is a bunch
of crap. Behind the scenes, in the real world, those same people
will quietly admit to you that very few sites are selling more
than 50% of their inventory each month, due largely to the huge
influx of new Internet users and an overabundance of associated
ad impressions. They just don't want to admit this because A) It
drives their prices down and B) It has the potential to make
their sales staff look bad. In reality, however, it is largely
caused by the increase in users.
So, again, if Richard snatches up these targeted impressions what
does it leave for everyone else? Well, it means that that
particular month another advertiser cannot target Win 95 users
exclusively on that particular site. So what? There are
hundreds - thousands of sites to buy on. I don't have to have
"targeted delivery" from technology to be able to reach a Win 95
OS audience. I could just do a buy on Lockergnome
http://www.lockergnome.com/ and hit 115,000 Win 95 OS users in
less than an hour by email. There are so many options available
out there that I honestly don't think that technically targeted
ad delivery will present a problem to media buyers; and
publishers simply will have to weigh the pros and cons of
offering it. It will definitely affect the amount of inventory
that site has to sell if they sell by targeted delivery; but that
may - should - balance out with the fact that A) The site will be
more appealing to media buyers if it offers that ability and B)
Targeted impressions capture a higher CPM for the publisher.
If my monthly inventory is 6 million impressions, which will make
me more money as a publisher? If I only sell 3 million
impressions (50% of my inventory) at $50 cpm for targeted
delivery, or if I sell 6 million impressions (100% of my
inventory) run of site for $25 cpm? Hmmm. As a publisher I
think I'd opt for selling 50% targeted and taking the other 50%
unsold and do ad trades for 3 million impressions on other sites
to increase traffic to my site. But that's just me.
My .02
AB
List Moderator, The Internet Advertising Discussion List
http://www.internetadvertising.org/
----------e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m interactive, inc.----------
adam boettiger - e: mailto:ab_at_eyescream.com
vice president, advertising & marketing
t: (503) 292-6987 Ext. 16 / f: (503) 296-0945
traffic building, strategic partnering, new media planning,
killer creative and design that will make you s/c/r/e/a/m
portland, oregon (usa)
----------< http://www.eyescream.com >-----------------
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