Category Archives: Online advertising

Advertisers not spending on small web sites

New Media Age reports that “the trend” among media buyers to divert more spend to smaller Web sites and away from major portals has spun into reverse, according to sources in the online ad industry. IAB has recently released figures concerning 2002, but I believe that, considering the AdSense program launched this year by Google, 2003 might prove different (and better).

File under: media spend, online ad industry

Again, against pop-ups

It seems like everybody can’t talk about anything but pop-ups these days� Anyway, here we go with another article against poor pop-ups, which I link because I like the title: Pop-up ads head to technology graveyard.

File under: pop-ups

Reconsidering pop-ups

As a user, I must admit it, I found them annoying. Not as bad as pop-under, but disturbing most of the times. I’m reading and getting quite a lot of opinions on pop-ups in these days since I’m writing a column for an Italian portal on the topic. Someone predicts that pop-ups will disappear in one year time (exactly like e-mail marketing, see this post) and I agree with this opinion if I refer it to big portals, while I believe pop-ups will still be used by many small and medium size Web sites. Anyway thanks to a link on Marketing Profs I’ve also found an academic paper on pop-ups that investigates timing of pop-up promotions that customers encounter while browsing informational websites. They might not be as bad as they appear to be. Timing as well as context are important issues when talking about advertising and online advertising in particular, and might offer interesting points in order to reconsider the future of pop-ups. The study is by Wendy Moe of the University of Texas and can be downloaded for free here (.pdf). Eventually a free academic paper! Thank you Wendy for sharing!

File under: academic papers, advertising timing, pop-ups

Pop-ups: extinction is close?

Pop-ups are annoying and even non-effective but… they are still there, alive and somehow healthy. However, according to the opinion expressed today on IAR, pop-ups are their way to extinction. I particularly liked the way Paul Iaffaldano, Weather.com’s chief revenue officer expressed his opinion about pop-ups :

“I believe from the very bottom of my heart that pop-us, while a very wonderfully ingenious idea, are not the most effective way to reach consumers. I think the industry will move beyond pop-ups in the next year or so.”

Let’s meet here in one year time and see what has changed. I’m not so sure pop-ups will disappear so easily.Pop-Ups Under Siege

File under: pop-up

Give contextual advertising a chance

This is the key statement by Tom Hespos today on MediaPost. Contextual advertising offers new opportunities to media buyers. There are still a lot of questions to answers concerning their relialibity, however, before expressing a final judgement, let’s give them a chance.

File under: contextual advertising, media buyers

Banners of the week

ON the French online publication Journal du Net a selection of fine banners, the most creative and efficient appeared online in the last week of July. I especially like the Absolut Vodka rich media banners.

File under: absolut vodka banner, best banner, rich media

AdSense new version

Google expands AdSense program and adds ways to customise the ad-sharing service. Paul Festa and Stefanie Olsen report about the new features and customisation possibilities on ZdNet UK.

File under: ad-sharing service, customisation

Mars: a misleading ad

A Mars bar online promotion which encouraged consumers to collect wrappers to get a computer games console was “misleading” according to the advertising watchdog. More details today on Ananova.

File under: mars, online misleading ad

Creative counts in online advertising

We are getting plenty of evidence that helps us prove that online advertising works. So why then are 99% of online ads complete rubbish? This is the question asked (and answered) by Tom Bazeley of Tribal DDB yesterday on New Media Age. A creative revolution in online advertising is long overdue. To find out how and why, read on the article…

File under: creativity, online ads, online advertising, opinions

Wall Street Journal tracks behaviour for online ads

Visitors to WSJ.com, the Wall Street Journal online, were targeted for the first time yesterday by behaviour-based ads. The system being used at WSJ.com was developed by Revenue Science in Bellevue, Washington. The news is reported today on Brand Republic.

File under: ads tracking, online behaviour, wsj