Online Advertising

Industry Shifts and Trends

Media journalist and columnist John Fine called 20% down ‘the new up’ as public media companies reported a 1Q09 in which print ad revenues were down as much as 33% at the Washington Post Company. The picture is more complicated for TV advertising, as although Internet advertising is the only segment expected to grow this year, TV has been doing better than other media. Google will air its first TV ad in order to promote its Chrome browser, and Thinkbox, the television marketing body for the main UK commercial broadcasters, is also turning to TV for the first time. Its campaign aims to convince advertisers of the continued effectiveness of TV.

Still, it is clear that the rise of the Internet and digital technology has brought about a fundamental change to the way ads are conceived and delivered. Even as the market develops and companies move past their initial infatuation with online advertising to realize its limitations, it seems likely that online ads will dominiate. This page explores the creative and techological shifts in online advertising through a changing selection of posts. We begin with an overview of major trends:

*Monetizing Blogs via Ad Networks
*Vertical Ad Networks: A Trend to Watch for 2008
*It’s About Place

Agencies, Platforms and Networks

Top 8 Blog-related Startups is my assessment of blogs that provide quality content and, whether directly or indirectly, have also been instrumental in the development of online ad networks. One of the featured sites is vertical ad network Adify, with in-depth coverage below:

*Deal Radar 2008: Adify’s Market Taking Time to Develop
*Defying Google: Adify CEO Russ Fradin
*Adify Challenges AdSense

*Rolling Up An Online Advertising Powerhouse: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarre

In Building A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse: Glam Media CEO Samir Arora, co-founder Samir Arora explains how Glam became the first vertically focused advertising network and won over high-end designers and retailers who were initially wary of online advertising, such as Gucci and Neiman Marcus. See also Deal Radar 2008: Glam Media’s Fashion Forays.

There are several DR posts on new companies that are making online advertising less complicated:

*Deal Radar 2008: PubMatic
*Deal Radar 2009: The Rubicon Project

I’ve covered travel as an online vertical extensively; my interveiw with Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson takes a look at this area from an advertising perspective.

Google

I believe that Google could greatly improve AdSense by paying more attention to content and context. To find out more, read:

*Google Great at Monetizing Crap
*Google’s AdSense Revenues Vulnerable
*Giving Up on AdSense

Newspapers

Is the writing on the wall? It is if newspapers can’t find a way to replace revenue from print ads and classifieds. The Future of Journalism, my coverage of the 2009 Kauffman Economics Bloggers conference, discusses some new business models proposed by influential media players. For background reading, see:

*Top 4 Newspaper Stocks
*Newspapers: Industry in Turmoil
*Newspapers Losing Verticals to Online

Online TV and Video Advertising

Although growth will not likely meet forecasts in 2009 due to the economic downturn, this is an industry on the rise. Both traditional TV content providers and smaller startups are increasingly turning to online video ads.

*Online Video Ads: Acquisition Targets?
*Deal Radar 2009: SpotMixer
*Deal Radar 2009: Jivox
*Deal Radar 2008: PermissionTV

See also the Online Video page.