Believe it or not, folks, 2012 a big election year hear in the U.S. – maybe you’ve heard something about it on the TV news channels or in the papers? It’s widely speculated that targeted digital advertising will play a large role in this year’s presidential and congressional elections (as well as state and local contests) because there’s nothing political advertisers appreciate more than hitting the exact audience they wanted to reach. But what kind of effect will this expected influx of targeted advertising have on the display landscape?
Expanding on a blog he wrote on the subject last year is Ed Montes, CEO of ad targeting specialist Adnetik, former AdMonsters keynote speaker and a presenter at this year’s OPS Markets on April 18 (part of OPS Week NYC). In addition to sharing his thoughts on how political advertising for election 2012 will change the display landscape, Montes also sheds a little light on the topic he’ll be speaking about at OPS Markets: “The Truth About Retargeting Revealed.”
What kind of effects will the increase in political advertising this year have on the digital advertising landscape from both a revenue and a technological perspective?
One effect may be a tightening of supply as the political buyers may interject some un-forecasted demand into the landscape given the timing of the election, which may pose some challenges to big Q4 spenders. The corollary to this effect is that there may be an increase of election-related inventory available for purchase as the election cycle creates news and increases news consumption.
Clearly being able to forecast and identify desirable or high-value inventory during these cycles becomes more challenging. Our experience in 2010 was that overall demand increased immediately before the midterm elections in swing states led by PAC spending but that it did not have a negative macro effect on inventory availability for the usual big Q4 spenders.
I imagine that this year will behave differently than 2010 given the stakes. I am hopeful that campaigns will take advantage of the technology advances in both audience and content targeting to speak directly with important constituencies but to date it I haven’t seen any single candidate, party, or PAC jump on this potential.
Have we reached the apex of the retargeting obsession?
No. Retargeting is widely used with and without client knowledge. Retargeting provides the strongest signal, or most valuable indicator, of a high-value impression in a last-action attribution model. Unless and until the industry moves away from last-action attribution, retargeting will continue to grow in use and will continue to be abused.
What is the biggest misconception about real-time media buying?
That the inventory available is just remnant, unsold, or low quality. There is quality, high value inventory available via RTB and its growing.
What are the main obstacles to a wider use of audience buying techniques?
Education. The biggest obstacle continues to be a lack of knowledge of audience buying’s capabilities, its potential and its application.
What role will dynamic creative play in the future of real-time targeting?
I think dynamic creative will play a significant role in the future. The power of real-time targeting is the promise of showing the right ad at the right time and paying the right price for it. In that formula showing the right ad is at least a third of the value proposition and that requires dynamic creative.
What was the goal in refreshing the Adnetik website? How can clients and potential clients get more from the website now?
We wanted to present our current clients and prospective clients access to more information about our products and services as well as demonstrate the challenges that media channel and content distribution and fragmentation pose in a digital ecosystem and the evolution of those challenges. It has always been our desire to simplify an increasingly complex environment with our tools and services for media planners and buyers.
Up to date on the latest happenings in the automated trading space? OPS Markets, April 18, 2012 in NYC, will bring digital advertising leaders and ops professionals together to discuss and develop best practices for operational excellence in the evolving automated landscape. Register before April 1 for OPS Markets and save $100, or sign up for OPS Week NYC for a $550 discount on two events. |