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Publishers Need Ad Networks…

by Greg Shove on October 14, 2008

and Ad Networks, at least vertical ad networks, like Halogen Publishers, need a new name. I have talked about this before, and this article in the NYTimes seems to highlight the confusion, in terms of what an ad network really does.

So what’s going on? Basically, large publishers (often established media brands) have realized they have created a problem for their own sales force and business model. They typically sell the best inventory themselves (at $10-50cpm’s) and dump a lot of unsold inventory into blind ad networks, that offer the space to advertisers at $2cpm’s or less. At some point, media buyers wise up and realise that they can find the same branded publisher inventory in an ad network, and not pay the huge premium to buy direct.

This is going to change, as publishers start to choke off the supply of inventory to these remnant ad networks – and then allow “higher-end” ad networks to sell their unsold space – since most big publishers usually don’t sell more than 50% of their own ads. What does a “high-end” ad network do:

-sell advertising to clients and their agencies via a direct sales force – not a self-serve dashboard – and at close to rate card.

-come up with and execute creative campaigns on behalf of advertisers that leverage many of the publishers in the same network.

-disclose the publisher sites that the advertising will run on – what’s known as a transparent network.

This is what the creates a new opportunity for luxury marketers. Find those premium ad networks that represent smaller, but high-quality publishers – and leverage their combined audience and the creativity of the ad network team to execute effective, large-scale campaigns. Bottomline: the affuent audience is all over the web now, not just concentrated in sites like wsj.com or nytimes.com, and a premium ad network can help reach that audience. Examples of premium ad networks (or publisher alliances): Federated Media, Shorttail Media, Halogen Publishers – and I am sure, more to come.

October 14, 2008

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Online Luxury Media Heats Up

by Greg Shove on October 9, 2008

OK, this may sound like I am spinning this, but I was pleased to see Glam Media enter the luxury category, with the launch of Glam Luxury. My reaction was the same a few weeks ago when I saw the Wall Street Journal launch the WSJ Magazine, and the re-design of their website with more focus on lifestyle content. The category needs the help – in terms of educating marketers and their agencies about the value of online media to reach this affluent, time-starved and elusive consumer. And even more elusive these days!

So while Glam Luxury, like another competitor InterLuxe, is targeting a younger, less affluent consumer than Halogen Publishers, the fact that they will be out there talking to advertisers will probably help all of us. Glam’s leadership position in women and fashion will help legitimize the online luxury space.

Some segmentation is starting to emerge. Glam and InterLuxe focused on the aspirational luxury audience (like Robb Report does in print) and networks like Halogen and Shorttail Media conencting with higher income households.

In the coming weeks, we will hear about more networks and alliances forming to target this affluent audience – Martini Media is another that I will update you on soon. Bottomline: good for advertisers, who now have some alternatives to the usual suspects (wsj.com, nytimes.com and forbes.com).

October 9, 2008