Study: Too many advertising networks?

Advertising networks may be popping up all over the Internet, but according to the Third Annual Online Ad Network Study from Collective Media, this may not be a good thing. Researchers surveyed 500 online media decision makers and in the end more than 70% said there are now too many advertising networks muddying the online waters.

by Kristina Knight

That is an increase of nearly 10% year over year (YoY).

Other interesting findings include:

• 89% of decision makers will work with an advertising network this year
• Half of respondents expect to spend at least 10% of online budgets with ad networks
• One-quarter of respondents will spend upwards of 30% of the online budget with an ad network
• Marketers are working with advertising networks for better branding and for direct marketing options

As marketers move forward with online advertising plans and as the web becomes more fragmented, many are finding that targeting within advertising networks is much simpler than other options.

"Targeting emerged as the primary area of interest in this year's findings, relative to how advertisers and agencies are leveraging ad networks," said Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective Media. "Over 60 percent confirmed using demographic, behavioral and contextual targeting. And we saw strong growth over 2008 in those using both site and search retargeting. These findings support the shift Collective Media is seeing among advertisers and agencies toward buying audiences rather than just sites. Based on these survey responses, we expect this trend to continue across 2009."

The survey was fielded in February and March 2009.

Tags: advertising networks, Collective Media, online advertising, targeted advertising