Online advertising networks account for one in five display ad placements

by Staff, Brand Republic 16-Aug-05

LONDON - A new report has found that last year almost one in five online ads were placed via one of the online advertising networks selling unused inventory.

The report has been compiled by E-consultancy and looked at the advertising placed by networks including Accelerator-Media, ad 2-one, ad pepper, AdLINK, Adsmart, Advertising.com, Adviva, Aura Sports, dgm, eType, MediaBrokers, Migration Marketing and 24/7 Real Media.

It found that the value of the online ad networks sector in 2004 was £41.7m, representing 18% of the total £232.9m spent on online display advertising, as reported by the IAB.

It also forecast double-digit growth for the sector in 2005, as more advertisers and media owners become familiar with advertising networks.

E-consultancy says that the consensus view is that online advertising networks will grow by 37% in 2005, to £57.1m. This should outpace growth in online display advertising, which E-consultancy estimates at 32% for 2005.

Ashley Friedlein, CEO of E-consultancy, said: "Online advertising networks are claiming an ever-larger slice of online marketing spend.

"Many advertisers might not be too familiar with the benefits offered by networks. We hope that this report will help educate the market. There is a large capability for sustained growth in the future."

Ad networks help publishers sell unused inventory, while allowing advertisers to buy ads across multiple sites at discounted rates. They were found to charge between £1 and £4 for a "run of network" standard display ad buy, or up to £10 if ads are targeted.

The report can be downloaded here.

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