Insights from2007 Myers Survey of Advertising Executives on Online Sales Organizations
In Myers' recent survey of 210 advertiser and agency executives evaluating the performance of 125 online sales organizations in five categories, Barry Diller's IAC Advertising Solutions sales force, and the sales organizations of Ask.com, Expedia.com and Match.com lost ground in comparison to key competitors. The results from the Myers study suggest that Diller's organizational approach to generating ad sales revenues, while capitalizing on continued industry growth, is not resulting in positive Madison Avenue perceptions.
The 125 sites that were rated in this year’s survey were categorized into seven categories. Ask.com and Expedia.com were included with 20 organizations in the Portals, Search Engines, Commerce category; Match.com was measured with 14 sites in the Entertainment, Gaming, Social Networks category and IAC Advertising Solutions was incorporated with 24 total Sales Reps & Behavioral Networks. For full details and methodology refer to the end of this report, and information on the full Myers Survey is available at JackMyers.com Research.
IAC Advertising Solutions
• In 2006, IAC Advertising Solutions, with an Overall Performance Power Score of 34, was the top ranked site among the 15 sites evaluated in our sales reps and advertising networks category. In 2007, IAC Advertising Solutions’ Overall Performance Power Score remained flat (33), however, their relative ranking in the category dropped to 17th. The average Overall Performance Power Score for this years’ expanded category (which includes behavioral networks) was 37. Last years’ average was 22. This increase was partly fueled by new entrants into the category. DRIVEpm and Broadband Enterprises were the top two ranked sites in the category with Overall Performance Power Scores of 54 and 53 respectively. Additionally, some of the established players increased their Overall Performance dramatically since 2006. Advertising.com, the 3rd ranked site in 2007 increased from 30 in 2006 to 47.
• Usage of IAC remained flat from 2006 (39%, and ranked 6th in the category in 2007, versus 40% in 2006). Advertising.com was used by the most advertisers in the past twelve months (55%). ValueClick was the second most used site with 46% usage. IAC was more widely used by online specialists; 47% of advertisers who spend at least 75% of their time on online media used IAC Advertising Solutions in the past twelve months.
• 54% of our total respondents met with an IAC Advertising Solutions sales rep in the past twelve months (ranked 4th in the category and an increase from 47% in 2006). 62% of advertisers met with an Advertising.com and ValueClick rep during the same time frame. Again, advertisers who spend at least 75% of their time on online media were more likely to have met with an IAC Advertising Solutions rep in the past twelve months. 67% of online specialists met with an IAC rep in the past twelve months, potentially explaining their higher usage.
• IAC Advertising Solutions ranked in the bottom half of their competitive set across all attributes. In a year where most sales organization increased their top two box ratings, IAC declined in overall value of the relationship. Within the sales rep and behavioral networks category, IAC Advertising Solutions top two box scores and ranking are as follows:<ul>
- Sales Reps are responsive to my needs and interests – 41% (13th)
(note: flat from 40% in 2006) - Sales Reps have knowledge of product, content & competition – 42% (16th)
- Organization delivers on promises – 30% (15th)
- Organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities – 27% (14th)
- Overall value of the relationship to you – 25% (20th) (note: decrease from 29% in 2006)
Ask.com and Expedia.com
• With its Overall Performance Power Score of 20, Ask.com was the 18th ranked site in the portals, search and commerce category. This was a slight decrease in Overall Performance Power Score from 23 in 2006. Within this category, Google ranked 1st with an Overall Performance Power Score of 64, CNET ranked 2nd (50), and Yahoo! Search Marketing 3rd (49). Expedia.com ranked 16th with an Overall Performance Power Score of 22. Ask.com was more highly rated among advertisers who met with a sales rep in the past year (Overall Performance Power Score of 31), highlighting the importance of in person meetings.
• Ask.com was used as an advertising vehicle by 31% of advertisers, the 8th ranked site out of the 20 sites included in the portals, search and commerce category. Usage declined from the 2006 survey’s usage of 37%. The top three used sites in the category were Yahoo! (88%), Google (87%) and Yahoo! Search Marketing (76%). Expedia.com was the 15th most used site in the category, used by only 15% of advertisers in the past year. Ask.com had a higher penetration of usage among advertising clients (31%). Expedia.com was more likely to be used by those who spend at least 75% of their time focused on online media (21% usage in the past year).
• Ask.com sales reps only met with one in five advertisers in the past year (22%), ranked 14th in the portals, search, and commerce category. Most sites had an increase in rep penetration in 2007. However, Ask.com had a slight decline in the percentage of advertisers who met with sales reps in 2007 from 2006 (24%). In comparison, Yahoo! sales reps met with 80% of advertisers in the past year. 28% of advertisers met with an Expedia.com sales rep in the past year (ranked 11th). Online specialists (those who spend at least 75% of their time focused on online media) were more likely to meet with Expedia.com sales reps (40%), explaining their higher usage.
• In a year where most portals and search engines increased their ratings on key attributes, Ask.com declined on responsiveness of sales reps as well as value of the relationship. Usage and in person sales rep meetings have also declined over the past year. Ask.com is ranked in the bottom third of the category across all attributes. In order to become competitive in the category, they will need to increase the presence as well as perceptions of the sales organization. Expedia.com is also ranked in the bottom 3rd across all attributes except for offering non-traditional opportunities. They can leverage this unique asset while improving upon the remaining perceptions of the sales org.
• Ask.com top two box scores and ranking are as follows:
- Sales Reps are responsive to my needs and interests – 21% (19th)
(note: decrease from 31% in 2006) - Sales Reps have knowledge of product, content & competition – 22% (18th)
- Organization delivers on promises – 21% (15th)
- Organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities – 12% (17th)
- Overall value of the relationship to you – 21% (13th) (note: decrease from 17% in 2006)
• Expedia.com top two box scores and ranking are as follows:
- Sales Reps are responsive to my needs and interests – 26% (17th)
- Sales Reps have knowledge of product, content & competition – 26% (16th)
- Organization delivers on promises – 21% (17th)
- Organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities – 22% (9th)
- Overall value of the relationship to you – 16% (17th)
Match.com
• In 2006 Match.com had an Overall Performance Power Score of 18 and was the 5th ranked website among the eight sites in our social network and community category. In 2007, Match.com increased its Overall Performance Power Score slightly to 20, and was ranked 13th among the 14 sites in the entertainment, gaming and social networking category. As the online advertising industry continues to mature, there has been a corresponding increase in the average Overall Performance Power Score across all sites from last years’ survey of 23 to this years’ study of 37. The average for the entertainment, gaming and social networking category was also 37. The highest ranked sites in this category were Gamespot and UGO Entertainment, each of which had an Overall Performance Power Score of 57. MySpace.com was the top ranked social networking site in the category (ranked 5th) with an Overall Performance Power Score of 48.
• Match.com’s usage as an advertising vehicle has declined slightly over the past year, in a time period where some competing sites have skyrocketed in usage. 15% of our respondents used Match.com in 2007, versus 17% who used the site for advertising in 2006. MySpace.com’s usage leads the category (up from 39% in 2006 to 67% in 2007).
• 26% of total respondents stated that they have personally met a Match.com rep in the past year (ranked 10th in the category). This is a slight increase from the 23% of respondents who met with a Match.com rep in 2006. Two thirds of our respondents met with a MySpace.com rep in 2007 (up from 37% in 2006).
• In a year where perceptions of many sites have increased significantly, Match.com has decreased in their top two box score on overall value and responsiveness. Match.com ranked in the bottom third of their competitive set on all attributes.
• Match.com top two box scores and rankings are as follows:
- Sales Reps are responsive to my needs and interests – 26% (10th)
(note: decrease from 32% in 2006) - Sales Reps have knowledge of product, content & competition – 21% (13th)
- Organization delivers on promises – 24% (11th)
- Organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities – 17% (12th)
- Overall value of the relationship to you – 11% (13th) (note: flat from 12% in 2006)
Methodology
Jack Myers Reports tracks and reports on the increasing importance of online media and its role in the advertising marketplace. This industry-wide survey polls senior client executives, agency senior management, media directors, AMDs, media supervisors, buyers and planners responsible for online media functions. It provides an important look at industry perceptions of major online sales organizations.
Advertising executives were asked to evaluate the performance for one hundred twenty five (125) major online sales organizations. Respondents were asked if they used the company or site for their advertising and if they met personally with a sales representative in the past 12 months. In addition, executives evaluated the sales organization on a set of performance attributes.
This survey was conducted online during April 2007. Lists of contacts were derived from the Myers' in-house databases and client submissions of their agency and advertiser contacts.
Myers Overall Performance Power Scores
• In order to provide an overall score for each sales organization and to indicate where it ranks in the marketplace, a performance power score was derived based on a set of attributes that defines the quality of the relationship with the organization. The attributes include sales reps are responsive to my needs and interests, sales reps have knowledge of product, content & competition, organization delivers on promises, organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities, overall value of the relationship to you.
Power scores are weighted by the importance assigned to each of the five attributes and the performance rating of the online sales organization. For each sales organization, the top 2-box importance rating ("6" or "7" on a 7-point scale) was multiplied by the top 2-box performance rating ("6" or "7" on a 7-point scale). The products were summed and divided by the sum of the importance percentages to arrive at the power score. This yields a score that is expressed as a percentage, running from a theoretical 0% to 100%. The attributes therefore contribute to this score in proportion to their importance. Each score is then indexed against the average score for all sales organizations within its category. The "average" sales organization indexes at 100.