Jay Sears - In the Debate on Ad Exchanges and Ad Networks, Let's Not Forget about the Advertiser - MediaBizBloggers.com

Spanfeller Calacanis Millard Raise Legitimate ConcernsForbescom CEO Jim Spanfeller while at Needham ampamp Company39s Third Annual Internet and Digital Media Conference last week predicted ad exchanges and ad networks have hit their zenith He commented these platforms will be relegated as unimportant as publishers take increasing control over selling their own media quotBy working through networks you39re basically moving advertisers away from the content group and that39s inherently a bad ideaquot said Spanfeller according to a report in MediaPostIf fact the exact opposite will happen And Jim Spanfeller will be happy about itThe very best exchanges and networks will prosper precisely because they will enable among other things branded publishers to meet the goals of the advertiseramp8212including expanded reach across content rich pages and enabling campaigns to meet ad delivery volume when they otherwise could not achieve this goalA few weeks before Jim39s comments Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis pointed out some serious shortcomings of the ad network model in a rant in Silicon Alley InsiderNone of Jason39s comments are new news They are old and real problems being addressed by various innovators in the ad exchange and network businessAll of the things Calacanis mentionsamp8212giving inventory away punch the monkey ads taking 50 share on a bad CPMamp8212are issues around the old ad network model Models with no or limited controls for publishers have a real and adverse effect on the entire industry Many of the newest platforms avoid these issues and offer scale control and insight for publisher and advertiser alikeOur newest board member Wenda Harris Millard President of Media for Martha Stewart Media and an early innovator at both DoubleClick and Yahoo correctly pointed out at the IAB Annual Meeting that we all need to quotdistinguish between quality and commodityquot and not sell inventory like quotpork belliesquot She also said quotMy space is your spacequot and encouraged all of us not to run into our corners and call each other names but have a real discussion about coopetition being frenemies and the fact that many market players are getting into each other39s businessAt ContextWeb we operate the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange not an ad network which is a platform with controls a lot of them for both advertisers and publishersOn the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange publishers can control the CPM price at which they offer their inventory on the exchange They can also block advertisers they don39t like We also use our contextual engine to categorize inventory into individual pages of specific content types so we don39t create channel conflict for the 200 or 300 web publishers that do have inside sales teamsOther market players are spending a ton of money to try to provide value to advertiser and publisher alike Smart buyers and sellers realize if you are not delivering value and if your only proposition is price your business life will be deservedly shortThe big portalsamp8212Yahoo AOL Microsoft and Googleamp8212have spent in excess of 10 billion in the last 12 months building platforms Sitesamp8212including top tier brands such as Spanfeller39s Forbes and Millard39s Martha Stewartamp8212are creating quotextended networksquot of sites that share their brand valuesAnd ad networks are specializing Adify reports 75 vertical networks from Travel Ad Network to the Gay Ad Network to Sustain Lane a green network Other networks have driven into contextual such as sitespecific text link providers Quigo and Industry Brains and into all sorts of behavioral targeting including respected firms such as Revenue Science and TacodaAnd after we are done with the debate about the value of the network and exchange models let39s not forget that we39re all here to help address the key problem facing our collective customer the advertiserHow do we best reach the advertiser39s customer in an age of media and audience fragmentation It is going to be a collective effort and advertising exchanges and networks will be at the center of many of the solutions

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Jay Sears - In the Debate on Ad Exchanges and Ad Networks, Let's Not Forget about the Advertiser - MediaBizBloggers.com

Author

Publish date

Channel

Jay Sears

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Jay Sears - In the Debate on Ad Exchanges and Ad Networks, Let's Not Forget about the Advertiser - MediaBizBloggers.com

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Jay Sears

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

The payment was successful

Cookies

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership