A Guide To The Infighting Between Premium Publishers And Ad Networks
Michael Zimbalist is vice president of research and development operations at The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT). Previously, he was president of the Online Publishers Association.
A fissure opened within the online advertising community last month following the release of new research by the Online Publishers Association. Drawing on three years of Dynamic Logic data, the OPA report concluded that ad campaigns on premium content sites produce greater lifts in favorability and purchase intent than campaigns on ad networks. The Wall Street Journal characterized the reaction to the report as industry infighting amid a shrinking pool of ad dollars. Others were less generous, accusing the OPA of a conducting a scorched-earth policy, saying the OPA had turned its back on legions of
The report maybe legit but that doesnt mean I have to go strike deals with 100 premium content sites. I would just advertise on premium ad networks…the report isnt going to stop me from advertising on ad networks.
Excellent piece, Michael. Itâs taken way too long for us as an industry to get our hands around the challenge of dealing with remnant inventory. For the past two or three years, network optimizers like AdMeld (for whom I work) emerged to help publishers make more money from networks and effectively handle the concerns you mentioned above. Today, that model has evolved to leverage RTB, data infusion, and exchanges, and though the revolution wonât happen overnight, itâs great to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. The important thing is for publishers to learn as much as they can about these technologies, as early as possible, so they can leverage them to maximum effect.
That just about says it all, is my uneducated findings. And perhaps others may well agree that the "times are a changing"?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=look
LC
The old saying 'horses for courses' springs to mind. There is no single business model that works for all online publishers. Indeed the most successful content sites generate multiple revenue streams from advertising, affiliate deals, product sales, subscription and events. The OPA, by becoming the mouthpiece for Rupert Murdoch and his paid crusaders, is failing its membership and rather than providing support and solutions is contributing to the industry's problems.
It might be instructive for someone to look at where premium content sites go when they want to buy advertising to promote their products. I see a lot of WSJ ads running in networks, for instance.
Great piece Michael. You clearly have a deep and precise understanding of the substantive issues at play in the channel conflict debate. The more other major publishers and the market at large understand the distinctions you're helping to clarify here, the better off we'll all be.
Some of my perspective on this issue in this post and linked articles:
http://www.brand.net/2009/09/an-interesting-time-for-display/
gM3GZi I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!