New NBCU Ad Network Plans to Reach Beyond NBCU Properties

NBC Universal is getting into the ad network business, first selling inventory across a handful of its own properties, then possibly expanding into others.  The network, called Universal Audience Platform, launched today with 21 NBCU properties, including Bravotv.com, NBC.com, Oxygen.com and Syfy.com. While advertisers have previously had the ability to buy packages that spanned NBCU properties, this is the first time they can buy display inventory based on audience segment rather than brand.  Asked why NBCU had chosen now to launch an ad network, Peter Naylor, VP of digital sales, said the company “has the impressions and uniques” to form “a credible entrance to the market.” But that doesn’t mean it will limit itself to NBCU properties.  “This is phase one,” he said. “Phase two is going to be when we welcome in some other sites we don’t wholly own and operate.”  Just when – or if – that will come to pass isn’t yet clear, said Naylor. But he did confirm that discussions were under way to find other suitable properties to add to the network.  For now, the formation of UAP means that NBCU will be “dialing down” its dependence on third-party ad networks, said Naylor. The company has made deals with BlueKai, Nielsen and Quantcast to supply the demographic data that it will use to sell audience segments to advertisers.

Read More: ClickZ

Insights from OMMA Behavioral Conference on Display Marketing

Several members of the EF team attended the OMMA Behavioral Conference in San Francisco last week. The focus of the conference was to explore how behavioral targeting has changed from simply targeting audiences by the Web pages they have recently viewed to utilizing targeting data from multiple sources such as social networks, site and search re-targeting, and various third party data providers. Because there are so many targeting channels, attributing conversion to the appropriate source has become very difficult for advertisers. The difficulty of attribution modeling quickly became a hot topic at the conference.  Abhishek Pani, our Director of Research & Quantitative Marketing, discussed a new attribution framework in his presentation titled “Evaluating the Marginal Value of Display”.  Optimal budget allocation across channels is the fundamental problem that advertisers want to solve but given the lack of proper attribution models, they are forced to rely on simple heuristics to allocate revenues. Current attribution offerings in the industry ignore important variables such as the effect of time and cross channel demand elasticity (change in demand in channel A that results from a small change in spend in channel B). Incorrect attribution will result in sub-optimal budget allocation and lower the return on advertising investment. Because our platform manages across all channels of advertising (search, display, and soon social), we are able to measure, experiment, and build very accurate allocation models based on marginal contributions of each channel.  Abhishek discussed our modeling strategy in greater detail during his presentation.

Read More: blog.eFrontier.com

BuzzLogic to Announce New Social Media Ad Units

By combining ads with content BuzzLogic believes it can give consumers using social media a better ad experience and better integrate advertising with the content against which it is presented.   “We’ve been running all kinds of IAB sanctioned rich media for a while, but the BuzzRoll product is much more customized and gives marketers more options,” said Peter O’Sullivan, BuzzLogic’s VP of sales, in an interview with paidContent.  “BuzzRoll, as a social media ad unit, will drive greater engagement among blog readers, since it encourages them to share everything from a company’s blog content or a white paper, and Twitter feeds, to video and Facebook apps. This is just a simpler way for marketers to do it.  For example, if a product wanted to associate itself with a green image it could place an ad on a blog about green issues and, by careful keyword selection, program it to pull in content about the topic from around the Internet. That information is then scrolled along the bottom of the rich media ads.  According to ClickZ, the units can also host video and Facebook applications via Facebook’s APIs.

Read More: BizReport

Rocket Fuel Finds Low-Cost CPA Formula Through BlueKai Ad Data

Rocket Fuel has developed a formula to lower cost per action (CPA) and engagement metrics by an average of 43.75% compared with other targeting methods. It built custom campaigns combining BlueKai data based on specific audience models using key metrics to serve up ads in real-time with its own suite of targeting algorithms, analytics, expert analysis and real-time impression-level bidding.  The campaign, designed for an unnamed consumer packaged goods company, focused on indentifying in-market audiences that could scale as needed. Rocket Fuel simplified the problem through rapid testing and automation of multiple kinds of data to target the correct audience.  Tapping into this model to combine technology with data brought success to automakers, retailers, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and those in the travel industry. “It’s not just about one sector or one kind of metric,” says Richard Frankel, president of Rocket Fuel. “Direct-response marketers have one type of metrics, and brand and packaged good marketers have another.”

Read More: MediaPost

Cars May Not Be Flying Off Lots, But Auto Ad Volume Is Higher Than Ever

The recent hard times in the automotive industry have not dented the industry’s display ad volume, according to a new report from campaign management firm MediaMind (until recently known as Eyeblaster).  On the contrary, even as automakers were experiencing declining sales, there has been a significant increase in automotive ad impressions served by MediaMind, and specifically in the average impressions served per advertiser.  Data on online display advertising impressions served by MediaMind from 2007 to 2009 suggest that the global slowdown in automotive sales has actually done well for automotive Display Advertising.  In 2008, the number of total impressions increased and there has been no decline in the average impressions per advertiser. Furthermore, from February 2009, impressions increased significantly, potentially reflecting tighter competition for every customer and plans by governments in Europe and North America to launch new car rebate programs to stimulate the economy.  Last year — one of the worst years in recent memory for automakers — online display impressions per advertiser served by MediaMind shot up even further.  This shows that when ad budgets are becoming tight, advertisers are trading offline budgets for more targeted and efficient online campaigns, the report suggests. “For automakers, online display advertising represents a cost-effective way to interact with prospective customers.”

Read More: MediaPost

ScanScout Boosts Transparency

The online video ad network space has earned something of a reputation for murkiness, which has helped fuel interest in a string of ad verification companies that aim to ensure brands’ ads run where they are supposed to.  ScanScout, one of the growing players in online video, already claims that it’s technology can prevent an advertiser’s ads from running alongside questionable content. But to take things a step further, the company says it will now be fully transparent upfront with its advertisers about what sites their campaigns will appear on.  Buyers can now peruse ScanScout’s lists of hundreds partner sites — which include MLB.com, NBC and Fox sites, as well as Gannett and Warner Bros. Web properties — picking ahead of time where they’d like their clients’ ads to run.  That, says ScanScout evp Jason Krebs should take a lot of the uncertainty out of buying online video — and help risk-averse traditional brands embrace the medium. “Brand dollars have stayed away from the space,” he said. “We want to help brands figure out upfront what they are buying.”

Read More: AdWeek

How Paypal Can Help Save Media—And Itself

Earlier this month, John Donahoe, CEO of eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) and its subsidiary Paypal, was interviewed at the D8 conference. It was a flashback to see him speak:  I had worked under him 15 years ago when I was a freshly minted undergrad just hired into the San Francisco office he ran for Bain & Company. A strapping and charismatic up-and-comer, John was known for his bold visionary talks and his strident walk.  But at D8, I didn’t see that confidence. He spoke of eBay’s connections between buyers and sellers as though he hoped we’d believe it was a new trend; meanwhile far from his Santa Clara headquarters, Gilt Groupe and Groupon are reinventing e-commerce. On Paypal, he looked backwards to the innovation of getting financial services online, rather than forward to the app revolution. Overall he looked staid, the way eBay and Paypal now look to me – entangled by their legacy, unable to cut the cords to freely enjoy the new boom around them.  With that in mind, I’d like to offer Paypal the chance to get ahead in an area that still has room for wild success. Media desperately needs help to become financially viable – and consumers will need to foot part of the bill to make it so. It’s clear that others see the opportunity here: Facebook surely wants to spread its Facebook Credits currency to take over the world the way ‘Like’ has; and now word comes that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is readying Newspass in its bid to capture consumer payments for media. But more than these other companies, Paypal, with its huge footprint of consumer accounts and years of web experience, is in the catbird seat to be media’s savior. 

Read More: PaidContent.org

Guaranteeing Data And Audience Validation Reporting

Known as the “Quality Data Guarantee program,” AudienceScience has announced that it will start verifying its own data as well as those of other vendors in order to guarantee for clients that they’re really getting the audience they wanted. New audience verification reports will also be offered. Read the release.  AudienceScience CEO Jeff Hirsch discussed the new program and reporting as well as its implications.

AdExchanger.com: What has pushed AudienceScience to offer the Quality Data Guarantee?

JH: There are several reasons. First, we are strong believers in the notion that the creator of data has the right to determine how that data gets used. The industry needs standards to support this. AudienceScience has spent years developing relationships with thousands of data sources that specifically and contractually, spell out our right to utilize data to power campaigns for our advertiser and publisher partners. We think it is important for marketers to know, with absolute certainty, that they have the right to utilize the data powering their campaigns. Secondly, we are concerned that data collection does not always adhere to privacy guidelines. It is absolutely essential that we get this right as an industry. We have invested in a significant way to protect consumer rights and we want marketers to ask the tough questions of any company utilizing data – are consumer rights protected? Lastly, we want our partners to know that their own data is protected and that they have complete control over its collection and utilization.

Read More: AdExchanger