Where Content and Ads Come Together – My Commentary

Read the article here: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2082786/content-ads

This commentary may or may not be right but Rob Beeler asked for comments and, unfortunately for him, he got some from me.

My understanding of the article:

The CTO came into his office one day and asked Rob about what he wanted from a CMS regarding ad spots.  Mr. Beeler’s idea was to battle banner blindness by having a CMS that delivers different ads of different sizes based on the user and their intentions. For instance a large ad with video can be shown to someone who is in the market to buy a car while someone who is looking for something to do on vacation or while out on the town may have several ad spots on their page all with different entertainment options.

Now, for what I think:

Great idea. I am on board with this being a way to battle banner blindness and ads delivered in this way will be more effective.

My comment and opinion is that to develop such a CMS would take more time and money than it is worth. I do not think that the marginal response rate lift a publisher would achieve would justify the time and effort of developing and implementing the CMS.

Additionally, even if the CMS was implemented and the effectiveness of the dynamic ad spots and content layout was proven, it is going to be a tough sell to advertisers. More and more display ad buys are going to trading desks, networks and exchanges. These buyers do not care about banner blindness or even where their ad is shown . They only care about reaching defined sets of eyeballs.  

I believe that publisher ad sales should focus their time on custom ad spots, rich media, video, etc. These ad spots require more creativity and consultation between the brand and the advertiser and allow publisher ad sales to bring value to the transaction. Premium positions are a match between the brand and the advertiser’s message and can’t be commoditized like display inventory.

So I will end by saying that I like the idea of a CMS that adjusts the page layout and ad positions based on the user. I believe that it s an effective tool to battle banner blindness. I just don’t think that advertisers will get it or pay more for it. They will buy eyeballs through trading desks. Publishers should focus more of their attention to premium ad spots and sponsorships on their pages.

Your comments are welcome….