Knexus

Digital Marketing Conversations-here comes the July edition!

Come join Niall O'Malley, Justin Rees, Dusan Hamlin, Graeme Foux and Alex Brayshaw for the latest edition of Digital Marketing Conversations discussing the very latest trends and developments in Mobile Display Advertising and the IAB's new metrics,Google's new Twitter phone and PC operating system, a birds' eye view of what the recession has done to European online ad markets and, voila- our special feature on the future of digital marketing from a technology perspective!

Listen in,download, leave your comments or call us if you'd like similar insights from thought leaders!

 

Interest based Advertising from Google – simultaneous cheering and sobbing

So Google have finally announced the inevitable, they’ll be serving ads based on the previous history of a users behavior (which they’ve chosen to define as ‘interest based advertising). I say inevitable, because Google sits on incredible amounts of data and insight about large swathes of internet users and makes money from advertisers. Whilst they resisted the temptation for a while, the golden goose was simply too good to ignore. Not so long ago there was uproar when a company called Phorm launched similar capabilities in the UK. I wondered at that time why its caused such alarm amongst privacy advocates given the information Google rakes in on us all every day.

 

As the internet gets bigger and more complex, there’s a certain inevitability to things like behavioural targeting. Advertisers will be delighted by the improved targeting opportunities, in turn helping Google extend its profitability by taking a larger chunk of display advertising (where it has less than 2% market share in an $8 billion market). Website owners will also probably rejoice at the possibility that online display ads, which have previously failed to deliver sufficient benefits, may become more valuable.  Finally, I imagine younger internet users will actually be quite pleased to see ads that are most relevant to them. But for older users, this is just another erosion of privacy in a world of exploding behavioural data. What concerns privacy advocates is that interested parties are lining up to tap into this data for as far as the eye can see, from Government to advertisers, market researchers to tax offices. Not to mention the criminal industry!!

Ad Networks thrive on tougher times

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.

Next Generation Advertising Toolkit

I’ve spent a fascinating hour today with Gary Knight, Brand Partnerships Director at ITV, discussing Next Generation Advertising. Gary is one of Knexus Digital’s industry experts covering online advertising. He rebuffed the notion that TV viewing is declining as a result of media proliferation and talked about the challenges that agencies face to produce uniform creative work that can be used across TV, online etc.

 Other highlights of what Gary had to say included the idea that brands should create a portfolio of digital assets that can be quickly harnessed and that advertisers need to think about environment in which they’re targeted someone, and adjust to the ‘mood & personality’.

 The content has been recorded and will be available through Knexus Digital next Monday.