Media Buys: Why You Should and How it Impacts

Search

Brandon Adcock 5/19/2010Search Exchange

Objectives

What is Media BuyingHow to leverage itHow it impacts searchWhy I shifted focus away from search

Media Buying Explained

Media Buying is typically considered the act of purchasing a predetermined amount of display media through a contract◦ I Will spend $x over x days

All rates are negotiable and can be on CPM, CPC or CPA basis. Usually ~$15-25K Min

Signed contracts are called Insertion Orders (IOs)

Performance goals need to be assignedMultiple ads for each standard ad size

Types of Display Networks

Network + Publisher Hybrid◦Sells inventory from their own sites and

inventory on sites they don’t own Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL

Network only◦Sells inventory on other people’s sites

24/7 Real Media, Burst, Tribal Fusion, CPX, Pulse360, ContextWeb, Valueclick, AdMob(mobile)

Direct from Publisher◦Sells inventory directly from sites they own

Facebook, MySpace

Who Does Media Buying

Display is not for Brand Advertisers only◦ Great for Direct Response too

Credit Scores, Netflix, As Seen on TV, Vacations, Insurance

Brand Advertisers want:◦ Awareness/Visibility◦ Brand Recall/Association◦ High Quality

Direct Response Advertisers are:◦ Price Sensitive◦ Actively Optimize◦ Strictly ROI Driven

Executing & Optimizing

Must decide: Branding or DRSet Appropriate goals

◦ If DR, must have accurate CPA target

After gathering data optimize by◦Frequency capping◦Ad creative◦Blocking sites◦Demo (Facebook is good for demo data)◦Day parting◦Price◦Landing pages (usertesting.com)◦Cookie Latency

Using Data to Optimize

Track every keyword, every ad, every referrerRemove poor performing keywords and ads,

block poor performing sites/referrersI even track IP blocks (exclude in Google)Track countries or states, weed out bad onesRemember CTR matters, so don’t cut ads

based solely off CVR, look at EPC(earnings per click)

Test new headlines, colors, images, call to actions on landing pages with high volume traffic

Self Serve Platforms Explained

Facebook◦ Huge amounts of inventory◦ Ability to target by age, location, gender, keywords, birthday,

sexual orientation, marital status◦ CTR is extremely important (headline & image)

MySpace◦ Uses standard ad sizes (300x250 & 728x90 get most

impressions)◦ Target by age, gender, area within US, interests◦ Bid high at first 0.8+ then drop bids

Google Content◦ Target by keywords or site◦ 50-75 keywords per ad group, related terms◦ High CTR = lower CPCs◦ Optimize by dropping keywords or blocking sites◦ Use placement reports

Display & Search

Push vs PullDisplay drives searches

◦Topics◦Brand◦Ad copy/slogan

Holistic approach is optimalIncreased retargeting capabilities/reach

◦Google Content◦Retargeting Search Users◦Fetchback (CPA retargeting)

Why I Shifted Away

FasterGuaranteed deliveryLarger barrier to entryHigher Volume

◦9.72 Billion US searches in April 2010◦Facebook served 50B impressions in Q1 ’10

Less hassle, no slaps

Thank You