the future of internet advertising

[Ming]

Scale (or reach) is the biggest factor. While the smaller sites can provide more "targeted" people, the fact that they don't reach enough of them on their own remains a big problem. IE, who cares if you reach the right people if you don't reach enough of them to make a difference.

The best internet "networks" are those that can provide "critical" mass of the right people. Then, there is a real sales message.

[TCO]

Ming,

Do you know anything about the different value for direct mail depending on how personalized the letter is?

[DanS]

MarkG: thanks for the list. Unfortunately, none of those were ever going to appeal to me (and I didn't click on any of them). That's not to say that others wouldn't find them appealing. Maybe other Northern Americans would find bottomdollar interesting, for instance. I use pricewatch.

Ming: thanks for confirming the prices. It seems like the key here is that to get the higher CPMs you need scale. But what I don't understand is that there are networks out there (one in particular that draws my attention ) that have at least aggregated some small number of sites, but have been unsuccessful in spades.

What are the criteria that a buy-side advertiser is looking for beyond scale? Or is everything too much in flux to know anything for certain?

[Alexander's Horse]

I'm glad the Economist article ended on an optimistic note. Expectations of internet advertising were probably unrealistic. Just because I don't click on an ad doesn't mean it doesn't attract my attention and therefore achieve its objective, just the same a billboard or an ad in a magazine.


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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.

[Ming]

GP
Response rates (or the value) of direct mail can vary big time.
The factors that determine it are:
The value or perceived value of the offer/incentive.
How good/targeted the list used.
The creative or appearence of the actual direct mail piece.
General awareness of the company.

Obviously, if you offer somebody a free VCR if they respond, response rates can be as high as 90% (bad list, people who never open it and just throw it away, people who don't respond to anything)
But normal rates usually range from 1 to 5%