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Ad networks, too many but still flourishing

Written on
May 6, 2009 
Author
Edward Barrera  |
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Ad networks, too many but still flourishing

manyadnetworks_small.jpgADOTAS — Many interactive agencies and advertisers believe there are too many ad networks but continue to use and invest in them.

According to an ad network study released by Collective Media, 89 percent of the respondents intend to work with ad networks in 2009, up 5 percent from 2008. Over 50 percent of respondents expect to spend up to 15 percent of their online budgets with ad networks – while another quarter of respondents indicated that their ad network spend will represent up to 30 percent of online budgets.

“Targeting emerged as the primary area of interest in this year’s findings, relative to how advertisers and agencies are leveraging ad networks,” Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective Media, said in a statement. “Over 60 percent confirmed using demographic, behavioral and contextual targeting. And we saw strong growth over 2008 in those using both site and search retargeting. These findings support the shift Collective Media is seeing among advertisers and agencies toward buying audiences rather than just sites. Based on these survey responses, we expect this trend to continue across 2009.”

Other findings include:

- More than 70 percent work with only one or two ad networks on an average media plan.
- 71 percent noted that there are now too many ad networks, up from 62 percent in 2008. When asked about what best differentiates one from another, the top two responses were inventory quality and targeting, followed by site transparency and level of service.
- Although 4.5 percent more agencies and advertisers said they worked with ad exchanges than those surveyed in the prior year, these respondents remain in the minority. A vast majority do not work with exchanges, and only 7 percent believe exchanges will replace ad networks.
- Efficiency continues to be the number one reason why agencies and advertisers use ad networks, but not at the expense of ad environment and quality. This is demonstrated with 23 percent of respondents citing inventory quality as the largest differentiator between ad networks, with targeting a close second with 19 percent.
- More than 50 percent of respondents continue to work with ad networks for both their branding and direct marketing plans. At the same time, there was a statistically significant decrease between 2007 to 2009 in the percentage of those using ad networks for only direct marketing plans – which correlates to an increase of marketers using networks strictly for branding purposes.

The survey, which was fielded by independent marketing research firm, Sterling Research Group, Inc. between February and March of 2009, garnered close to 500 responses from online media decision makers – double the number of respondents to the 2008 survey.





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