Looking at the evolving landscape of online advertising
Over the last twelve months the focus of our industry has moved from a strong emphasis on 'the site' to an emphasis on 'the audience.' But why? And what about focusing on something at least as important... 'the placement'? When you think about it, the 'why' seems simple enough. From an advertiser's perspective, any given site certainly has a high percentage of a specific audience that can be described and targeted. Still, though, on average the targeted audience is not anywhere near 100%, but rather more like...
July, 28 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Last week, I had the pleasure of taking part in the IAB Long Tail Alliance Fly-In. I joined with small publishers in an effort to explain to Congress how the new proposed legislation from the Boucher Bill would affect small business online. A handful of small to medium sized publishers, along with some members of the IAB board, and a representative from Burst! Media, joined myself and a colleague in attending the meetings. We were split into about eight groups of people who would each petition 5-6 members of the...
June, 21 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
So what is an ad network's take on the recent acquisition of Invite Media by Google? What do other DSPs think of the acquisition? Was 70 million a good number, an okay number or a great number? What does Google plan to do with them, and why did they buy them? I can't answer all these questions, and most are just my opinions, but I'll take a shot. Being in this space so long, one tends to know things, such as what margins your competitors take. I've heard through the grapevine that the average DSP takes 15%, so let...
June, 7 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Not only have ad network and publisher relationships changed over the years, but so have the relationships between ad network and advertiser. No longer do advertisers need to rely on ad networks to bring them inventory from publishers in bulk. They have choices: exchanges, marketplaces, supply side platforms, demand side platforms, and more. The advertiser now has the ability to execute on his own, whether an agency, direct marketer, or just a broker, they no longer need the traditional ad network. However, that...
May, 28 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
As I sit at my desk, a little bored towards the end of a long Wednesday, I decided to just ramble off points about what I think will happen to DSPs and ad networks in the next 24 months in 10 points: 1 – All agencies will own a DSP, and if you are a DSP and not owned by an agency, you will wash away. 2 – DSPs will become less and less relevant, as exchanges begin to build more intuitive interfaces for themselves. 3 – CRMs will be created to manage all exchanges that will be licensed, and not take a % of media...
May, 19 2010 • 3 Comments • 0 Faves
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the DC Summit Series, an amazing gathering of some of the youngest and brightest entrepreneurs to ever grace this world. While there, I had the pleasure of hearing a futurist named Ray Kurzweil speak about the evolution of technology and where it will go in the future. He explained the phenomenon of how technology generally starts off linear, and moves into an exponential phase, where it grows at a rate faster than people can generally keep up with. I thought...
May, 19 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Over the past few years, the publisher ad network relationship has changed, as it should, but that doesn’t mean we can’t adapt to this ever-changing landscape together. When I started my very first ad network, it was clear that, although the main purpose of an ad network was to aggregate publishers so that they could monetize some of their unsold inventory, it wasn’t going to stay that way. And sure enough, it didn’t. Today, publishers have so many choices, they can not sell their inventory to ad networks and...
May, 9 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Being a successful entrepreneur, I get this question a lot. It took until my second nomination for E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Metro NY to realize the answer was more than just a lot of luck and hard work, and although that had a lot to do with it, it is so much more. Looking back at when I started my own company, I realize that true vision and risk was what it was all about. Every step of the way, I always had so many opportunities to take the “easier” road, whether that was getting a job out of college, or...
May, 2 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
So, while watching TV last night, (on DVR of course since I rarely have time to catch my shows when they're live), I decided to see what commercials I was skipping and if I was the right audience for them. So, instead of fast forwarding through the commercials during 60 Minutes, I watched and saw the following: Commercials for drugs I don’t need, and symptoms I don’t have. Commercials for food I don’t eat. Commercials for cars I won’t buy. Commercials for the kids I don't have. Seeing how this is clearly...
May, 2 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Mike Seiman is the CEO of global online ad network, CPX Interactive. He has twice been nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year in Metro New York. He is a dedicated philanthropist.
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