A new ad network run by Forbes has already got the detractors wondering what the point of ad networks are for bloggers. The key argument seems to be that bloggers aren’t going to really improve their business by selling bad looking ads that people aren’t going to interact too. In an article entitled ‘Ad Networks Are For Losers’ on Silicon Alley Insider, Jason Calacanis says:
I’ve never liked the ad network business. They’re a very short term solution and they are very damaging to high-end publishers because they create massive channel conflicts (i.e. many people selling your inventory confusing advertisers), they run horrible ads that people hate (think punch the monkey), and the space is filled with dishonest players (i.e. they promise to not run certain types of ads… but they do).
Nick Denton stopped running ad networks realizing he was better off having one phone number for people who wanted the Gawker audience. He also made his sites look MUCH better to users by not running Lowermybills , Netflix, Blockbuster, and AdultFriendFinder ads. We were on the verge of doing the same thing when we sold Weblogs, Inc. to AOL, and now ESPN is kicking out the ad networks.
Mike Shields in MediaWeek says that advertisers have taken notice about the effectiveness of ad networks:
Top Web publishers are planning a revolt. Even as more prominent sites experiment with selling remnant inventory through online ad networks, and in some cases ad exchanges, ESPN.com is saying thanks, but no thanks…
“We’re heading down a path where it no longer suits our business needs to work with ad networks,” said Eric Johnson, executive vp, multimedia sales, ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales… ESPN’s decision crystallizes a philosophical debate in the online ad sales industry that has intensified since the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual meeting last month when during a keynote address, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia media president Wenda Harris Millard gave her now famous warning against selling Web inventory like “pork bellies.”
Two sides have formed—those who want to protect traditional, direct selling of premium content brands and the math-loving crowd that favors automation and data. The math lovers make the traditional sellers nervous.
B.L. Ochman says that blog advertising has problems with creative execution and social media know-how:
There’s money in blog advertising, for advertisers and bloggers. But here’s the bottom line: without great creative — which is in very short supply — blog advertising will fail. And without first-hand knowledge of social media influence building — which, sorry to say, mainstream media still doesn’t have — blog advertising will fail no matter who’s selling the ads.
When PSFK left the Federated Media in 2007, we did so because we just felt so under-represented by the company and when sales we made the brands and their creative were so irrelevant. We decided that we could find better ‘beyond the banner’ deals that were a win for our readers, PSFK and the brands. We’re still working in it but we’re pretty sure that classic banner advertising is never going to be a money-maker for us.
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Hi Piers,
I am a little confused by this, bottom line you are saying that blogs cannot possibly be well represented by a network and they need to do their own ad sales.
First of all it seems to me this goes against two strong market forces:
One is that we don’t always want to do ad sales all day, many of us much prefer creating content. Especially for those of us who aren’t yet Nick Denton with well 100+ million monthly page views to sell that might justify hiring a whole sales team.
Two is that big media buyers don’t want to have to deal with hundreds of proposals from hundreds of little blogs and then manage the payouts and serving of campaigns for every little site.
Moreover you are assuming that someone’s brand can be so specialized that no network of any size or style can ever understand it, but if advertisers and networks can’t understand it, then your brand is probably failing.
Are you saying a niche ad network that caters to a trend-spotting demographic could never well represent PSFK simply because there would be more than one site involved?
Also I think you are shying away from putting any blame on the bloggers themselves. If a blog doesn’t have the guts to say no to a campaign that their network sells for them, then they must take the blame at least as much as the network. Somewhere in there the blogger gives a green light to the campaign.
I argue that if a blog has a decent ad network they can pick and choose campaigns that reflect their brand if they are willing to really work with the network.
Speaking to your Federated Media critique, we (NOTCOT) have been with them for over a year now and have had wonderful success with them, partly because we work closely with almost everyone on their team and have helped them get to know our brand and our boundaries.
If your relationship with your ad network is passive then you get what you put into it.
A blogger who finds a network that represents them well and then takes the time to give that network what they need to understand their brand and sell their sites will do fine.
At least that is what has been working for us.
~Daniel
March 26th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Daniel’s comment is on point. A vertical ad network should be providing both the advertiser and the publisher/blogger with transparency and control. These controls ensure that bloggers can select which advertisements run on their site – including review of the creative itself (if the Vertical Ad Network is powered by Adify). And the Network Builders using Adify are experts in their category and spend their time understanding, packaging and cultivating the publishers in their community.
Vertical Ad Networks are fundamentally different from the performance ad networks that ESPN publicly opted out of a few weeks ago. Vertical Ad Networks – like Forbes Business Blogger Network, Martha’s Circle and FM Publishing – bring together a community of premium properties for a long-term relationship where these properties offer premium placement on quality content in exchange for premium rates. They often share distributed content and drive traffic among network participants as well. Publishers in networks powered by Adify are routinely offered campaigns with strong publisher CPMs.
These Vertical Ad Networks are nascent – many have existed for under a year. The success they are having with premium advertisers speaks to the exact issues that Daniel highlights – advertisers want and need a trusted partner to select, review, contract, deliver, report and pay a community of premium, quality publishers who attract the audience the advertiser needs to reach. With the continued fragmentation of the internet, the need for these partners, these vertical Network Builders will only expand and the opportunity for focused, committed and diligent Vertical Ad Network Builders will continue to grow.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:32 am