Which Delivers The Highest Advertising ROI – Content Sites or Portals and Ad Networks?
By Anna Johnson on January 27th, 2009Research by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) indicates that ads placed on content sites get better results than ads placed on portals or sold through ad networks.
In particular, the OPA has found that brand awareness is 38 percent higher on content sites versus portals and ad networks.
As eMarketer points out, this makes complete sense. When you specifically place advertising on a given website e.g. a blog, news or other content site – rather than have it distributed across portals or ad networks with no control over where and when the ad is shown – you have greater ability to tailor your ads for a specific audience.
So too, advertising on content sites should also give you a higher return on investment (ROI) than the more ‘random’ approach involved in advertising on portals and ad networks.
However, don’t rule out ad networks or portals just yet.
Some ad networks are enhancing their offerings to enable more targeted advertising. For example, the ‘giant’ of ad networks, Google Adwords, has introduced Placement Targeting. Placement Targeting allows advertisers to designate specific sites in the content network to display their ads.
In fact, with Google’s Placement Targeting, you can choose placements based on subject matter, audience demographics OR specific URLs. You can also show your ads on an entire site, a section of the site, or just an individual page or two.
Placement Targeting is certainly a move towards a more targeted – and therefore higher ROI approach. Even so, you still don’t get the kind of flexibility and targeting available when you work with a specific content site to develop a tailored campaign.
When negotiating with a specific site, for instance, you have complete freedom to devise a completely customized and mutually rewarding advertising arrangement.
And don’t be misled by the site’s rate card, with its list of ad sizes and costs. Those who run content websites (including our company) – typically provide rate cards to make it easy for you to book in advertising, based on accepted industry standards.
But if you want to do something special – and are willing to pay for the privilege – most content sites will work with you to develop something unique and, ideally, much more effective than the run-of-the-mill banner or email ad.
Here are just two examples that come to mind.
Last year, a large company I work with ran a multi-week ‘sponsorship’ campaign on a high profile media site. Essentially, the company commissioned the media site to create and publish a special series of articles and cool tools on the media site.
Among other things, the company had its branding integrated in the content, as well as an optin form to allow people to sign up for more information from the company.
And here’s an example from our experience as a content site owner…
Back in the early 2000s, when we offered advertising on our old IT security news site, we offered an advertising package where we developed interactive, rich media ads for our clients, and then ran them on our site.
We will soon be running advertising on the Kikabink News website (not just in the email newsletter), and, in the coming months, will probably start offering ad packages of this nature to advertisers.
But you don’t have to wait for us or any other content site to approach YOU with such an offer.
If you have a great idea for a promotion on a given website, just go right ahead and contact their ad sales people to see what they can do!
Chances are – especially given the economic environment – they will be quite receptive to hearing you out.
Source: David Hallerman, “Brand Building and Types of Websites,” eMarketer, January 20, 2009
