Ad networks started out as
the bastard step-child of internet advertising. People often
joke about the proliferation of ad networks and the fact
that a new one seemingly springs up overnight, but in that
joke lays the transformation of the network. Like the girl
who returns to her high school reunion tens year later
looking like a knock out, ad networks have become, dare I
say it, cool. So cool, that they are almost the “in” thing
to do. This week’s Trends looks at the history of the ad
network and looks at how they managed to shed their
I-get-no-respect Rodney Dangerfield image.
Being an online ad network
never sounded like something to be ashamed of. Telling
friends and family that you worked for one usually brought
questions of interest and fascination. Today, telling a
potential inventory source that you work for one won’t stop
the conversation. Back in 1999, and well into 2000 and even
2001, tell even a middle tier publisher that you were
calling on behalf of one, and you felt like a second-class
citizen. I’ve seen street preachers get a more captive
audience. Among the main reasons for the unreceptive tone on
the other line was the very newness of the ad network
concept and its unproven value-add to the publisher.
Early networks rarely could
get rate card or above prices, which meant that they had to
focus on the leftovers. In other parts of the world, those
that focus on leftovers have a name, scavengers. It’s not a
pretty association. One telling trend however is a
hypothetical plot of the ad networks that focused on premium
inventory and those that focused on remnant inventory.
Today, almost all the “remnant” players still exist and
their reach and revenue far exceed those that focused on
rate card deal aggregation. Most of those, no longer exist,
and the ones that do operate less efficiently and have not
experienced the growth curves of the other players.
Going back to the early
days, money for nothing as the song goes described the
environment. It did not take science to bring in the VC
backed ad dollars in the early days of online advertising.
When boom went to bust, one reason the many of the online
advertising networks survived was because they always had to
earn their money. Plus, when the dollars went away but the
traffic didn’t, still being around generated respect; and in
the eyes of many publishers, having something sounded better
than nothing.
Survival alone doesn’t
fully explain the success and proliferation of online ad
networks. They also provided a much needed service that
those accustomed to more money than inventory became
painfully aware – money. The ad networks earned great
respect for paying their bills, on time, all the time. Many
even went so far as to pay regardless of whether they got
paid. If any have had the unfortunate pleasure of going
after delinquent accounts, the time and effort it takes when
netted out, many times makes getting paid less via an adnetwork
but knowing you will get paid on time on a good deal.
Advertiser relationships take time to develop and
maintain, and even then it’s unknown whether they will
ultimately pay their bills, headaches that go away by
working with a network.
The online ad networks also
proliferated by focusing on other aspects that publishers
didn’t necessarily know they needed but have now come to
expect. Besides payments, people working with online ad
networks have come to expect knowing what they will get
paid. What’s more, many networks provide this information
not days in arrears but in quasi-real time. Because so many
ad networks get paid and/or are held to performance metrics,
networks also have come to play a role in weeding out bad
ads. In doing so, they have increased the perception people
have of them too. Additionally, the online ad networks often
offer more than one service, meaning publishers can
experiment without the cost of developing it on their own.
Are they perfect? Far from it. If they mess up with the
client you suffer. Despite all their efforts, people still
have a hard time thinking they should be entitled to a
percentage greater than agencies. And, they know you as well
as you do at times, getting to see how your traffic performs
and on what.
Like anything that becomes
popular, we want to make sure that ad networks can maintain
their now favorable aura. Fortunately, it has a real chance.
The ad network’s value lies in very tangible areas, and so
long as it continues to strengthen those areas, they will
continue to play a much needed, dare I say appreciated,
role.
Jay Weintraub
https://www.lynxtrack.com/signup.php
