Experience indicates that even in a tough economic climate not everyone is a loser. For me it’s a lot more inspiring to think about who’s benefiting in recession rather than join the dark crowd following the latest job losses and sinking companies.
In our own world of digital, it’s very interesting to discover that the advertising networks (like Advertising.com and ValueClick) are doing really rather well and that their success is coming at the expense of premium sites.
Put simply, when markets get tough, even those still willing to maintain their marketing effort are looking for deals. The advertising networks are able to pull together audiences from a wider range of smaller sites at dramatically lower ad rates than the premium sites. Even taking into account limitations of the networks in terms of quality of advertising inventory and visibility, the economics are such that ad networks are estimated to have jumped from a 30% to 50% share of ad display spending in the U.S.
And the response from the premium sites is interesting. Although some are boycotting the networks, others are actually forming their own ad networks to mix premium site ad opportunities with broader web advertising opportunities.
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