Jun
14
Advertising – Redefining Business
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Sanjay Sharma asked:
Are you looking to grow your business? Are you someone who has just started a business and you want to let other people attract to your new business or products? Then opt for advertising, the best option for you. Yes, unless you advertise your product or business, you can never wish of being successful in the market.
Unless the masses know about your new product or business, it would be very difficult to survive in the market. Well, you can always go for print advertising for your product or business. Print Advertising does not cost much compared to television advertising and you get good response from the masses.
If you are ready to burn a hole in your pocket, then you can definitely go for television advertising. The response that you get from the Television Advertising would never disappoint you. What’s more, this form of advertisement is considered to be the best one as it reaches every nook and corner of the world within seconds. In this way you can make a public response of your product through different forms of advertising.
Try to utilize more aspects
If you are seriously thinking of expanding your business then you can always go for outdoor advertising. This form of advertising has become very popular in recent years. You can hire or make use of your own vehicle for publicity of your product by putting a big banner or do a road show with lottery or even quizzes.
So you need to plan well in order to go for an effective Outdoor Advertising. Your goals should be very clear and you need to know the market, location and audience well without which you cannot target the customers. So preplan yourself and try to make the best advertisement possible so that it attracts more crowds.
Go for other forms of advertising
If you thought that there is only print advertising and television advertising, then you are wrong. With the advent of the FM radio, there are businessmen who go for radio Advertising as well. You do not have to pay much as compared to television advertising.
This is the main reason why people opt for Radio Advertising to reach to the masses especially the young generation or the people who are always on move. Also nowadays you can find Airport Advertising, basically airport advertising mainly targets toward the high end and global customers.
This is indeed considered to be a new and better form of advertising where audience from different parts of the world can be targeted about your business or product. After all it’s all about customers. For more information about Worldwide Advertising Network in terms of Advertising, Airport Advertising, Television Advertising, Print Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Radio Advertising, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising & Media please visit us at: www.worldwideadvertisingnetwork.com
Tags:- Worldwide Advertising, Advertising, Airport Advertising, Advertising Network, Print Advertising, Television Advertising, Radio Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Advertising Agency, Advertising Company, Media
Charlotte
Are you looking to grow your business? Are you someone who has just started a business and you want to let other people attract to your new business or products? Then opt for advertising, the best option for you. Yes, unless you advertise your product or business, you can never wish of being successful in the market.
Unless the masses know about your new product or business, it would be very difficult to survive in the market. Well, you can always go for print advertising for your product or business. Print Advertising does not cost much compared to television advertising and you get good response from the masses.
If you are ready to burn a hole in your pocket, then you can definitely go for television advertising. The response that you get from the Television Advertising would never disappoint you. What’s more, this form of advertisement is considered to be the best one as it reaches every nook and corner of the world within seconds. In this way you can make a public response of your product through different forms of advertising.
Try to utilize more aspects
If you are seriously thinking of expanding your business then you can always go for outdoor advertising. This form of advertising has become very popular in recent years. You can hire or make use of your own vehicle for publicity of your product by putting a big banner or do a road show with lottery or even quizzes.
So you need to plan well in order to go for an effective Outdoor Advertising. Your goals should be very clear and you need to know the market, location and audience well without which you cannot target the customers. So preplan yourself and try to make the best advertisement possible so that it attracts more crowds.
Go for other forms of advertising
If you thought that there is only print advertising and television advertising, then you are wrong. With the advent of the FM radio, there are businessmen who go for radio Advertising as well. You do not have to pay much as compared to television advertising.
This is the main reason why people opt for Radio Advertising to reach to the masses especially the young generation or the people who are always on move. Also nowadays you can find Airport Advertising, basically airport advertising mainly targets toward the high end and global customers.
This is indeed considered to be a new and better form of advertising where audience from different parts of the world can be targeted about your business or product. After all it’s all about customers. For more information about Worldwide Advertising Network in terms of Advertising, Airport Advertising, Television Advertising, Print Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Radio Advertising, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising & Media please visit us at: www.worldwideadvertisingnetwork.com
Tags:- Worldwide Advertising, Advertising, Airport Advertising, Advertising Network, Print Advertising, Television Advertising, Radio Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Advertising Agency, Advertising Company, Media
Charlotte
Jun
12
Newspaper Advertising: Holding Strong Grounds
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Anurag Batra asked:
If you look at the current market scenario you will come to know that advertising is something which is heading the list. With the advent of internet companies got new way to advertise and this is known as advertising media internet. Advertising media internet is one of the most growing and flourishing sector in today’s world of business. Now, advertising media internet has become the best choice for advertising as it is not only affordable but also has got wide access.
According to advertising gurus advertising media internet is one medium which requires detailed research along with good investment. Also the advertising media internet involves advertisement to be more attractive and compelling so that the consumer go ahead to consume the product and services. The main highlight and striking point of online advertising is that the concepts recognized in the advertising are generally laid out in such a manner that they are able to catch the eye of the consumers. Today’s consumers are more aware as well wise thus, fooling them is the tough task.
With the internet now people prefer to do shopping online instead of going to the market as this not only saves time but also gives them healthy discounts. Advertising media internet is one medium which is giving tough competition to television and newspaper advertisement, as this type of advertising is not only visual but also carries sound. That’s why majority of the companies are going for advertising media internet. Being the appealing and compelling medium many companies have started looking for the professionals which possess good advertising understanding and also know how to create an attractive advertisement.
Prior selecting any advertising media internet company it is wise to undergo extensive research as will make you select the company which carries a lot of knowledge and knows how to create an appealing advertising. If you are looking for a website offering detailed information on advertising media internet then Impact on Net is there for you. Impact on Net truly provides the platform for companies who want to advertise market and promote various products and services online. Apart from that it also provides variety of services, which are not only effective but also provide a cutting edge over their competitors. And this mainly because of their long standing experience in the field of advertising.
Thus, this is the time to give a boost to your business by selecting advertising media internet. Therefore for more information on advertising media Internet, newspaper advertising, advertising and marketing services and advertising agency India please visit www.impactonnet.com.
Michelle
If you look at the current market scenario you will come to know that advertising is something which is heading the list. With the advent of internet companies got new way to advertise and this is known as advertising media internet. Advertising media internet is one of the most growing and flourishing sector in today’s world of business. Now, advertising media internet has become the best choice for advertising as it is not only affordable but also has got wide access.
According to advertising gurus advertising media internet is one medium which requires detailed research along with good investment. Also the advertising media internet involves advertisement to be more attractive and compelling so that the consumer go ahead to consume the product and services. The main highlight and striking point of online advertising is that the concepts recognized in the advertising are generally laid out in such a manner that they are able to catch the eye of the consumers. Today’s consumers are more aware as well wise thus, fooling them is the tough task.
With the internet now people prefer to do shopping online instead of going to the market as this not only saves time but also gives them healthy discounts. Advertising media internet is one medium which is giving tough competition to television and newspaper advertisement, as this type of advertising is not only visual but also carries sound. That’s why majority of the companies are going for advertising media internet. Being the appealing and compelling medium many companies have started looking for the professionals which possess good advertising understanding and also know how to create an attractive advertisement.
Prior selecting any advertising media internet company it is wise to undergo extensive research as will make you select the company which carries a lot of knowledge and knows how to create an appealing advertising. If you are looking for a website offering detailed information on advertising media internet then Impact on Net is there for you. Impact on Net truly provides the platform for companies who want to advertise market and promote various products and services online. Apart from that it also provides variety of services, which are not only effective but also provide a cutting edge over their competitors. And this mainly because of their long standing experience in the field of advertising.
Thus, this is the time to give a boost to your business by selecting advertising media internet. Therefore for more information on advertising media Internet, newspaper advertising, advertising and marketing services and advertising agency India please visit www.impactonnet.com.
Michelle
May
4
Advertising –The art continues
Filed Under Multimedia | Comments Off
Manoranjan Nanda asked:
Advertising adds a personality to the business and its product. The advent of modern technologies has made the rural population more techs –savvy than the urban population. Advertising, by painting on the walls, to spread messages are no more appreciated. Today with the penetration of mobile phones, cable television, with a better research technique in advertising, it follows the right strategies and initiatives to deliver the right message to the right consumer.
The small villages and towns that ones thought to be just a dot on the map are attracting attention of MNC’s .Television advertising which still holds a major share in spite the growth of internet and other media is the most leisure and preferred activity and so every ones first choice is still the television advertising.
Newspaper advertising is one of the most common forms of print advertising which has been effective for small businesses as well as services which targets the community through readership and circulation. The main disadvantage is that it gets cluttered and gets lost with the competitors ads. Magazine is a better form of print advertising as the readers are in a relaxed state of mind ,they can even save your ad and return as many times as they wish, to your printed ad.
In airport advertising the viewer ship has no escape route which is focused and compelling too has diverse target consumers from corporate leaders to decision makers that makes it the most interesting and challenging platform all over the world. New concepts and advanced design technology has changed the airport environment. Airport advertising has increased the airport revenue apart from aviation.
As the consumer steps out of his home or office their strikes outdoor advertising scooping off with its targeted messages. Outdoor advertising needs a low budget with small crew to start with, it has a quick response, reminds too often about their service. Mobile billboard trucks provide flexibility of location and time, even on traffic jams and remote parts of the town.
If radio advertising does not reach its target audience than it’s of now use, it still appeals a large audience even other media options available. It creates a lasting impression as its played repeatedly over specific time period but it is difficult to reach the target audience who does not listen to radio that is a major disadvantage attached to it. Radio advertising has greater return on investment as it reaches the right people at right time with right message at right cost.
As the consumers are getting more and more aware of different products and businesses worldwide, the advertiser has to be a step ahead anytime –anywhere. For more information about us visit this site: www.worldwideadvertisingnetwork.com
Tags: Advertising, Airport Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Print Advertising, Television Advertising, Radio Advertising, Advertising Network, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Worldwide Advertising, Media
Arnold
Advertising adds a personality to the business and its product. The advent of modern technologies has made the rural population more techs –savvy than the urban population. Advertising, by painting on the walls, to spread messages are no more appreciated. Today with the penetration of mobile phones, cable television, with a better research technique in advertising, it follows the right strategies and initiatives to deliver the right message to the right consumer.
The small villages and towns that ones thought to be just a dot on the map are attracting attention of MNC’s .Television advertising which still holds a major share in spite the growth of internet and other media is the most leisure and preferred activity and so every ones first choice is still the television advertising.
Newspaper advertising is one of the most common forms of print advertising which has been effective for small businesses as well as services which targets the community through readership and circulation. The main disadvantage is that it gets cluttered and gets lost with the competitors ads. Magazine is a better form of print advertising as the readers are in a relaxed state of mind ,they can even save your ad and return as many times as they wish, to your printed ad.
In airport advertising the viewer ship has no escape route which is focused and compelling too has diverse target consumers from corporate leaders to decision makers that makes it the most interesting and challenging platform all over the world. New concepts and advanced design technology has changed the airport environment. Airport advertising has increased the airport revenue apart from aviation.
As the consumer steps out of his home or office their strikes outdoor advertising scooping off with its targeted messages. Outdoor advertising needs a low budget with small crew to start with, it has a quick response, reminds too often about their service. Mobile billboard trucks provide flexibility of location and time, even on traffic jams and remote parts of the town.
If radio advertising does not reach its target audience than it’s of now use, it still appeals a large audience even other media options available. It creates a lasting impression as its played repeatedly over specific time period but it is difficult to reach the target audience who does not listen to radio that is a major disadvantage attached to it. Radio advertising has greater return on investment as it reaches the right people at right time with right message at right cost.
As the consumers are getting more and more aware of different products and businesses worldwide, the advertiser has to be a step ahead anytime –anywhere. For more information about us visit this site: www.worldwideadvertisingnetwork.com
Tags: Advertising, Airport Advertising, Outdoor Advertising, Print Advertising, Television Advertising, Radio Advertising, Advertising Network, Internet Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Worldwide Advertising, Media
Arnold
Jan
18
Five Good Advertisement Techniques
Filed Under Multimedia | Comments Off
Linda P. Morton asked:
Advertisement techniques don’t have to be new to be effective. But the most effective ones in today’s modern environment are interactive, target a narrow market, and get immediate responses.
This article covers five advertisement techniques that meet one or more of the above modern criteria:
• PR Advertisements
• Theatre Advertisements
• Magazine Advertisements
• Publication Advertisements
• Cable Television Advertisements
Advertisement Techniques 1: PR Advertisements
PR advertisements are great at building support for your business. Usually a PR advertisement’s purpose isn’t to make a sale, but to build contacts and friends for your business.
The best advertising technique for PR advertising is getting your potential supporters interacting with you and your business. Whether it’s making a telephone call, visiting a Web site or completing a form, interaction enables you to build support for your business and industry.
Advertisement Techniques 2: Theatre Advertisements
Theatre advertisements work effectively if it’s possible to get people to take immediate action. You need to reinforce the ad on the screen with a printed promotion like a coupon, to get people to respond immediately.
Advertisement Techniques 3: Magazine Advertisements
Magazine advertisements work well because magazines enable you to target a niche market and design advertisements specifically for people in the market.
With so many magazines, you can always find one that targets your market, if you:
• use them as a direct approach to get readers to take action.
• make an offer that requires a quick response,
• get advertising sale people to design ads that get readers to respond.
Advertisement Techniques 4: Publication Advertisements
Many small business owners overlook publication advertising. Publication advertisements reach target markets well, but isn’t as good at providing interactivity or getting a quick response.
You can run advertisements in everything from programs, to books and professional journals.
Programs offer a targeted market, and earn good will with the organization’s supporters or fans.
If a book is relevant to your product, it can reach your target market effectively. The trick to book advertisements is deciding how to pay:
• by the number printed,
• by the number distributed or
• by size of the ad.
If you are targeting people in a certain profession, advertising in their professional journals can reach your target market. Advertisements in professional journals provide good value because members pay to receive the journals. They are interested in nearly anything that helps them to better succeed in their professions.
Advertisement Techniques 5: Cable Television Advertisements
Cable television advertisements are usually less expensive than regular television advertisements. Many small business owners can afford to use cable television advertising to promote sponsorships, product placements and air sponsor-supplied programming.
Advertisement Techniques: Conclusion
The trick to using all advertisement techniques is to design ads that get attention and encourage target market members to respond quickly by visiting a web site, calling a telephone number, or some other contact method.
And the more interactive, you can make your advertisements, the better.
Pedro
Advertisement techniques don’t have to be new to be effective. But the most effective ones in today’s modern environment are interactive, target a narrow market, and get immediate responses.
This article covers five advertisement techniques that meet one or more of the above modern criteria:
• PR Advertisements
• Theatre Advertisements
• Magazine Advertisements
• Publication Advertisements
• Cable Television Advertisements
Advertisement Techniques 1: PR Advertisements
PR advertisements are great at building support for your business. Usually a PR advertisement’s purpose isn’t to make a sale, but to build contacts and friends for your business.
The best advertising technique for PR advertising is getting your potential supporters interacting with you and your business. Whether it’s making a telephone call, visiting a Web site or completing a form, interaction enables you to build support for your business and industry.
Advertisement Techniques 2: Theatre Advertisements
Theatre advertisements work effectively if it’s possible to get people to take immediate action. You need to reinforce the ad on the screen with a printed promotion like a coupon, to get people to respond immediately.
Advertisement Techniques 3: Magazine Advertisements
Magazine advertisements work well because magazines enable you to target a niche market and design advertisements specifically for people in the market.
With so many magazines, you can always find one that targets your market, if you:
• use them as a direct approach to get readers to take action.
• make an offer that requires a quick response,
• get advertising sale people to design ads that get readers to respond.
Advertisement Techniques 4: Publication Advertisements
Many small business owners overlook publication advertising. Publication advertisements reach target markets well, but isn’t as good at providing interactivity or getting a quick response.
You can run advertisements in everything from programs, to books and professional journals.
Programs offer a targeted market, and earn good will with the organization’s supporters or fans.
If a book is relevant to your product, it can reach your target market effectively. The trick to book advertisements is deciding how to pay:
• by the number printed,
• by the number distributed or
• by size of the ad.
If you are targeting people in a certain profession, advertising in their professional journals can reach your target market. Advertisements in professional journals provide good value because members pay to receive the journals. They are interested in nearly anything that helps them to better succeed in their professions.
Advertisement Techniques 5: Cable Television Advertisements
Cable television advertisements are usually less expensive than regular television advertisements. Many small business owners can afford to use cable television advertising to promote sponsorships, product placements and air sponsor-supplied programming.
Advertisement Techniques: Conclusion
The trick to using all advertisement techniques is to design ads that get attention and encourage target market members to respond quickly by visiting a web site, calling a telephone number, or some other contact method.
And the more interactive, you can make your advertisements, the better.
Pedro
Dec
30
Media Advertising Must Adapt to Survive in 2009
Filed Under Multimedia | Comments Off
Kevin Watson asked:
Broadcasters, marketers and media buyers agree that, because we now live in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the broadcast advertising model is broken. And while the media industry is still sorting through their predicament on television, perhaps the even more troubling news is that, due to the tough economic conditions the world faces going into 2009, all indications are that online ad spending will dip over the next year. What can media companies and advertisers do in this floundering ad ecosystem? The short answer: they will have to change the way advertising is bought and sold, measured and delivered.
Traditional television audiences are eroding. In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49. Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online. Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online. And more than a third of all 12 - 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly. With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.
So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right? The picture is not that clear. The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board. TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter. MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008. They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003. Others offer an even gloomier outlook. In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.
And even worse news for media companies: rates that advertisers are paying for digital ad space, as traditionally measured by cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), are trending downward. According to research by Morgan Stanley, the average CPM for a banner ad has dropped from $3 to $1 over the past decade. Consensus seems to be this is because of the proliferation of available inventory (places on the internet to display these ads). In China, advertisers are paying as little as $.05 CPM because of the rapid explosion of inventory. And MediaPost predicts that this decline in the rates advertisers are paying will extend to online video advertising in 2009, which is an area that has been enjoying a two year spike in CPMs.
But what about those social networks to which television viewers are being drawn? Do they offer hope? Halyard Capital found that 68% of those surveyed believed social networks are in the “strongest position to expand” among the alternative marketing channels over the next two years. Advertisers see vast potential in social networking as a channel in which to better target advertising to consumers because of all of the personal information being shared. And content providers see opportunities to tie together traditional media and social networking. Broadcasters are starting to incorporate community features into their online video players. Companies like Joost are tapping into social networks like Facebook for social video sharing.
At first glance, then, social networks seem to offer promise as an advertising haven in an economic downturn. Sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube boast a tremendous number of pageviews, a higher than average number of pageviews per user, and a longer average time-on-site. In a CPM-driven world, this massive pool of pageviews represents a virtual treasure trove of “inventory,” because of the sheer number of eyeballs. The problem, however, is that the data shows that the actual performance of ads on these social networks is absolutely dismal. Click-through rates on these sites are 10 to 100 times lower than the average for banner ads, which were already in the 0.1 percent to 1 percent range.
According to Dr. Augustine Fou, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at MRM Worldwide, a digital marketing agency, the very nature of social networking sites make them unsuitable for traditional advertising:
“While the largest Web 1.0 sites (Yahoo, CNET, New York Times, etc.) were content sites that aggregated massive audiences and supported large numbers of pageviews, the largest Web 2.0 sites are social networking sites. The nature of these two types of sites is very different. Users go to Web 1.0 sites and portals to read content or do e-mail by themselves. Users go to Web 2.0 social networks to interact with others and are usually so immersed in socializing they are even less likely to see, let alone act upon, ads, despite the large number of pageviews generated per session. This may partially explain the dramatically lower click rates for ads on social networking sites. “
Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., postulates that social networks are not only ineffective channels for advertising, they are wholly inappropriate places to market in which attempts to do so alienate consumers. McConnell poses the question to advertisers: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?” He makes the point that “social media” is not really “media” at all. Media is a one-way communication that contains blank spaces that constitute inventory for advertising. Social networking is a dialog between consumers, in which advertising becomes disruptive. Consumers were not intending to create media, they were intending to talk to someone.
If television ad revenue is on the decline, digital ad spending on the whole is trending downward, and social networks are failing to deliver on their promise to reach consumers, what can advertisers and media companies do to weather the storm? Advertisers must ensure that they are getting the best return on investment they can on their remaining ad spending dollars. Instead of paying for the biggest number of eyeballs they can, they should focus on advertising best positioned to make a conversion. Online, this likely signals a needed shift from a CPM model, where advertisers pay for the number of folks who will see an ad, to performance-based measurements. An ad model based on performance would have advertisers paying only for clicks or other targeted consumer actions.
McConnell predicts that as the economy worsens, the fortune of performance-based advertising will rise as impression-based models falter. “‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure,” he said. “So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.”
And according to Dr. Fou, “in the Web 2.0 advertising landscape, many advertisers have already moved beyond the cost-per-impression (CPM) model to a more measurable and accountable cost-per-click (CPC) model (e.g., Google Adwords) in which they only pay when users click through, no matter how many times the ad is displayed. Some have even moved to the next step of cost-per-action (CPA), where the advertiser does not pay until the user does the desired action-e.g., make a purchase. “
How can media companies respond to the demand for performance-based advertising? It is no longer enough to simply make inventory available, now these companies must ensure that the advertisements will be effective. This means that it will be more important than ever to target the right advertising to the right consumer at the right time. And media companies will have to work directly with the advertisers to ensure that advertising is tightly integrated with the content in a way that provides the right context and timing for the message.
One channel that offers some interesting promise for targeting of content is mobile. 62% of AdTech’s attendees responding to the survey by Halyard cited mobile as the advertising platform that will grow the most in the next two years. Mobile has the potential to target a consumer at exactly the right time and the right place. Imagine walking into a drug store and receiving a coupon by text message on your mobile phone for an over-the-counter pain reliever. That is the power of location-based advertising, made possible by the proliferation of global positioning system (GPS) technology on mobile phones, that allows providers to know exactly where you are. This is not science fiction - companies like Loopt and NAVTEQ are already starting to serve up location-based ads on a handset near you.
And while social networks may not prove to be the holy grail in providing a channel for advertising, their vast potential for understanding and targeting consumers may still be the key to effective advertising in a performance-based world. Dr. Fou explains that “By redefining social networks as ‘the collective conversations and actions of customers, evidenced online,’ marketers can instead use social networks as places to do research-e.g., test messages with real customers in a real environment, listen to how customers describe their products or services to peers, or get ideas for new products or how to improve current products. And finally, advertisers can identify influencers, mavens or ‘heavies’ on social networks (the ones who are most active in talking, posting or sharing) and let them beta-test and write about their product or service.”
Not only can social networks help advertisers better identify, understand and influence their targets, they have the potential to exponentially extend their reach. According to Advertising Age, there is “emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers — creating so-called social graphs — can be just as valuable as traditional targeting and segmentation in predicting how people will respond to marketing messages.” The idea is to not only market to your identified target consumer, but market to the other people in that consumer’s social network. The theory is that advertisers should associate “consumers who are already connected and share values and beliefs, a concept called homophily.” Yahoo and several small start-ups are starting to prove out this theory.
Finally, there may still be hope for television. In early November, Dish Network struck a deal with advertising technology firm Invidi that involves the creation of “advanced receivers” capable of “targeted advertising delivery” and “dynamic commercial insertion.” According to Advertising Age, what this means is “[r]ather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households — making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn’t have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn’t have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts.” Industry experts believe that if consumers are presented with highly relevant advertising, they are far less inclined to skip the ad on their DVR.
Gail
Broadcasters, marketers and media buyers agree that, because we now live in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the broadcast advertising model is broken. And while the media industry is still sorting through their predicament on television, perhaps the even more troubling news is that, due to the tough economic conditions the world faces going into 2009, all indications are that online ad spending will dip over the next year. What can media companies and advertisers do in this floundering ad ecosystem? The short answer: they will have to change the way advertising is bought and sold, measured and delivered.
Traditional television audiences are eroding. In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49. Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online. Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online. And more than a third of all 12 - 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly. With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.
So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right? The picture is not that clear. The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board. TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter. MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008. They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003. Others offer an even gloomier outlook. In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.
And even worse news for media companies: rates that advertisers are paying for digital ad space, as traditionally measured by cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), are trending downward. According to research by Morgan Stanley, the average CPM for a banner ad has dropped from $3 to $1 over the past decade. Consensus seems to be this is because of the proliferation of available inventory (places on the internet to display these ads). In China, advertisers are paying as little as $.05 CPM because of the rapid explosion of inventory. And MediaPost predicts that this decline in the rates advertisers are paying will extend to online video advertising in 2009, which is an area that has been enjoying a two year spike in CPMs.
But what about those social networks to which television viewers are being drawn? Do they offer hope? Halyard Capital found that 68% of those surveyed believed social networks are in the “strongest position to expand” among the alternative marketing channels over the next two years. Advertisers see vast potential in social networking as a channel in which to better target advertising to consumers because of all of the personal information being shared. And content providers see opportunities to tie together traditional media and social networking. Broadcasters are starting to incorporate community features into their online video players. Companies like Joost are tapping into social networks like Facebook for social video sharing.
At first glance, then, social networks seem to offer promise as an advertising haven in an economic downturn. Sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube boast a tremendous number of pageviews, a higher than average number of pageviews per user, and a longer average time-on-site. In a CPM-driven world, this massive pool of pageviews represents a virtual treasure trove of “inventory,” because of the sheer number of eyeballs. The problem, however, is that the data shows that the actual performance of ads on these social networks is absolutely dismal. Click-through rates on these sites are 10 to 100 times lower than the average for banner ads, which were already in the 0.1 percent to 1 percent range.
According to Dr. Augustine Fou, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at MRM Worldwide, a digital marketing agency, the very nature of social networking sites make them unsuitable for traditional advertising:
“While the largest Web 1.0 sites (Yahoo, CNET, New York Times, etc.) were content sites that aggregated massive audiences and supported large numbers of pageviews, the largest Web 2.0 sites are social networking sites. The nature of these two types of sites is very different. Users go to Web 1.0 sites and portals to read content or do e-mail by themselves. Users go to Web 2.0 social networks to interact with others and are usually so immersed in socializing they are even less likely to see, let alone act upon, ads, despite the large number of pageviews generated per session. This may partially explain the dramatically lower click rates for ads on social networking sites. “
Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., postulates that social networks are not only ineffective channels for advertising, they are wholly inappropriate places to market in which attempts to do so alienate consumers. McConnell poses the question to advertisers: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?” He makes the point that “social media” is not really “media” at all. Media is a one-way communication that contains blank spaces that constitute inventory for advertising. Social networking is a dialog between consumers, in which advertising becomes disruptive. Consumers were not intending to create media, they were intending to talk to someone.
If television ad revenue is on the decline, digital ad spending on the whole is trending downward, and social networks are failing to deliver on their promise to reach consumers, what can advertisers and media companies do to weather the storm? Advertisers must ensure that they are getting the best return on investment they can on their remaining ad spending dollars. Instead of paying for the biggest number of eyeballs they can, they should focus on advertising best positioned to make a conversion. Online, this likely signals a needed shift from a CPM model, where advertisers pay for the number of folks who will see an ad, to performance-based measurements. An ad model based on performance would have advertisers paying only for clicks or other targeted consumer actions.
McConnell predicts that as the economy worsens, the fortune of performance-based advertising will rise as impression-based models falter. “‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure,” he said. “So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.”
And according to Dr. Fou, “in the Web 2.0 advertising landscape, many advertisers have already moved beyond the cost-per-impression (CPM) model to a more measurable and accountable cost-per-click (CPC) model (e.g., Google Adwords) in which they only pay when users click through, no matter how many times the ad is displayed. Some have even moved to the next step of cost-per-action (CPA), where the advertiser does not pay until the user does the desired action-e.g., make a purchase. “
How can media companies respond to the demand for performance-based advertising? It is no longer enough to simply make inventory available, now these companies must ensure that the advertisements will be effective. This means that it will be more important than ever to target the right advertising to the right consumer at the right time. And media companies will have to work directly with the advertisers to ensure that advertising is tightly integrated with the content in a way that provides the right context and timing for the message.
One channel that offers some interesting promise for targeting of content is mobile. 62% of AdTech’s attendees responding to the survey by Halyard cited mobile as the advertising platform that will grow the most in the next two years. Mobile has the potential to target a consumer at exactly the right time and the right place. Imagine walking into a drug store and receiving a coupon by text message on your mobile phone for an over-the-counter pain reliever. That is the power of location-based advertising, made possible by the proliferation of global positioning system (GPS) technology on mobile phones, that allows providers to know exactly where you are. This is not science fiction - companies like Loopt and NAVTEQ are already starting to serve up location-based ads on a handset near you.
And while social networks may not prove to be the holy grail in providing a channel for advertising, their vast potential for understanding and targeting consumers may still be the key to effective advertising in a performance-based world. Dr. Fou explains that “By redefining social networks as ‘the collective conversations and actions of customers, evidenced online,’ marketers can instead use social networks as places to do research-e.g., test messages with real customers in a real environment, listen to how customers describe their products or services to peers, or get ideas for new products or how to improve current products. And finally, advertisers can identify influencers, mavens or ‘heavies’ on social networks (the ones who are most active in talking, posting or sharing) and let them beta-test and write about their product or service.”
Not only can social networks help advertisers better identify, understand and influence their targets, they have the potential to exponentially extend their reach. According to Advertising Age, there is “emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers — creating so-called social graphs — can be just as valuable as traditional targeting and segmentation in predicting how people will respond to marketing messages.” The idea is to not only market to your identified target consumer, but market to the other people in that consumer’s social network. The theory is that advertisers should associate “consumers who are already connected and share values and beliefs, a concept called homophily.” Yahoo and several small start-ups are starting to prove out this theory.
Finally, there may still be hope for television. In early November, Dish Network struck a deal with advertising technology firm Invidi that involves the creation of “advanced receivers” capable of “targeted advertising delivery” and “dynamic commercial insertion.” According to Advertising Age, what this means is “[r]ather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households — making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn’t have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn’t have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts.” Industry experts believe that if consumers are presented with highly relevant advertising, they are far less inclined to skip the ad on their DVR.
Gail















