What to Look For in an Ad Network

As you try to decide how much of your advertising budget to allocate to online; across search, email, display and other vehicles, it is important to have a relationship with an advertising network. You might ask why you should use an ad network when you can go directly to most sites and buy impressions on your own. The value of working with an ad network is in the reach, targeting, and optimization services as well as the ease of management. 

You could go to several individual sites and negotiate rates based on your buy, write several insertion orders and manage each of the publishers.  With an ad network instead of only reaching the audience of a few web sites you have the option of reaching users across a wider variety of sites. You also get to take advantage of the many targeting and optimization capabilities networks have to offer.  Through various technologies behavioral and contextual targeting can be implemented.  Also, good networks should have both the technology and team in place to help manage your campaign and execute optimizations on your behalf.  These are the types of benefits you typically will not get by working with a site directly.  Networks have a tremendous amount of knowledge and data you can also tap into, giving you further perspective on online media and what works best for your business. 

It is equally important to be sure you have that relationship with the right network, one that works best for your business.  With more than 100 networks in the marketplace, both advertisers and publishers have numerous choices of who to work with.  These guidelines should help advertisers in their decision making process.

Be sure to choose the right type of ad network

Not all networks are the same.  Advertising networks can generally be categorized into 3 types:

1)    Sales Representation •  In this model the network acts as the outside sales force for the website, networks that employ this model include 24/7 Media and Winstar

2)    Revenue Share • In this model the publisher and the network share a percentage of the revenue gained from the sale of the ads, networks who employ this model include Burst Media and ValueClick

3)    Pre-Buy • In this model the networks buy inventory from publishers in advance packaging the media into verticals and various targeting segments, networks who employ this model include Undertone Networks and Advertising.com and often include higher quality sites

Each category of network offers positive benefits some are stronger for brand advertising while others in direct response or for a cost per action (CPA) campaign. As you weigh your option consider the value in contracting with multiple networks in different categories.  This will give you access to a wider variety of consumers and allow you to determine which networks produce the best results for you.

Be sure your ad network includes the quality sites

As a media buyer you want to know what kind of inventory you are purchasing.  Complete site lists are not imperative, but do request site examples and screen shots of your ads once the campaign is live to ensure that your ads are appearing on acceptable sites. Some of the best networks may not be able to divulge site lists because of contract agreements with their publishers.  However, be sure to ask if a network includes spyware/adware inventory.  Find out if a network has user generated and social networking content.  You will be surprised to find that many of the top networks get a large portion of their inventory from MySpace and then try to use their technology to mask the fact that this inventory is the second coming of personal web pages that first sprouted up with Geocities and Tripod.

Be sure you know where your ads are appearing

Another thing to be on look out for is re-brokering or network sharing.  As marketplaces emerge and codependent network relationships develop, you will find your ads being bought and sold numerous times over.  Avoid this by asking how a network operates, confirm that they are delivering the media, and be sure that they put their answer in writing.  If you are focused solely on CPA then these issues may not matter, but it is imperative that you push for these safeguards.

When it comes to optimization find out if the process is fully automated or if there is a human element.  For (CPA) campaigns you may not care where your ads run, thus an automated system might work fine.  But if you are looking to ensure certain quality controls it is important to know that there is a strong and durable traffic/client services team in place.  

Be sure your ad network has experience in your market

When considering a network find out what type of experience they have.  How long have they been in business, who is on their client list, can they offer case studies, testimonials, etc., this is important.  Find out if this network has worked with your direct competitors or at least in your general category.  Knowledge, prior data and working history do make a difference.  If you work within an agency find out if any of your colleagues have worked with the network before and get their opinion.

As a side note, ask your network what else is in the product pipeline.  Networks sit in the very favorable position between buyer and seller.  They have good information and working industry knowledge which you can leverage for your own planning purposes.  Learn what’s on the horizon, it might give you some insight and better information to help you plan.

Be sure your ad network is known and has stability

Lastly, know who you are working with.  The barriers to entry in the network business are non-existent.  It’s easy to call an advertiser, claim to have a network and then purchase lower quality inventory to fulfill the business.  Be wary of these operators, you don’t need them.  There are a handful of legitimate players that have been in business for years, are well experienced.  Visit the network’s website (i.e. make sure there is one), and check out the management profiles, you do not want to allocate budget to a questionable outfit, as you’ll only deal with the headaches later.