In 2010 the iab reported display-related advertising revenues accounted for $9.9 billion or 38% of total measured ad revenues. Display-related advertising included Display Banner Ads (24%), Rich Media (6%), Digital Video (5%), and Sponsorship (3%).
Although the largest segment remained search, and accounted for 46% of total ad revenue, the sector did lose 1% of overall market share, most of it going to display and the rest to classified. An underlying assumption is that if the flow of money is an indicator of value, then greater value is being realized in sectors other than search.
Both advertiser and publisher understandably are always looking for ways to get better value. Advertisers can simply use current ad revenue trends as a barometer for where and how much of their ad budget is allocated by measure of percentage. For example, out of every ad dollar:
.24 display banners
.15 classified
.06 rich media
.05 digital video
.03 sponsorship
.47 other
$1.00
The reason search is tagged other in this case is because the loss indicator suggests it should be tested equally against other ad formats in order to determine the most effective ad segment for your business and your goals.
Roughly, the test would run something like for every 24 cents spent on banners, spend 24 cents on search. Compare the results to determine what's best. Do the same for the other media formats you want to use. Generally media selection is part of the campaign mix where testing and tracking is necessary to understand more about what prospects respond to most and which ad channels perform best.
Publishers have different options to improve value. The big question ad publishers have to ask is - where is the money in contextual advertising? Search ads are allegedly placed on your website based on algorithms used to determine relevance of ad to content or vice versa.
Although you are not supposed to click ads appearing on your website, you can copy the link location, open a new browser window, paste in the link and discover who is advertising on your site and how much the product or service is being sold for. If they have an affiliate program you will know exactly the value of the ad to the advertiser.
Go figure, Google is paying publishers pennies on the dollars they get from advertisers who in many cases are affiliates who also make more than publishers on the sales made from PPC campaigns. So if you are a publisher and do take the time to discover the value of ads being placed on your site then you may already know that the more often an ad shows up, the more likely the advertiser is making money.
Some publishers go as far as to get an affiliate link to the most popular ads appearing on their site. They copy the ad and style it like a search engine ad, attach their affiliate link and then collect the commission on conversion. It's a somewhat complex method but once set up the conversion rate is similar to whatever the advertiser was getting. The only difference is that the publisher is collecting the commission because the search and advertiser middlemen are being cut from the loop.
