In The Trenches: Is Display Catching Up To Search?

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Is Display Catching Up To Search?
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by Josh Dreller
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Historically, paid search has had a major leg over the other online
channels in terms of positive ROI performance. But why is that so?
Mainly because of two reasons: high relevancy of ads to the user and a
major technological efficiency in the actual media buying. Remember,
ROI is not just how much you make but includes the costs involved.

However, what if display ads could become just as relevant and bought
in an equally efficient manner? A three-line, paid search text ad is
certainly not as impactful a full color, motion banner three or four
times the size. When you include video and rich media functionality,
its obvious that display ads could one day be superior to search
ones.

But how does display reach these two goals of high relevancy and
efficient buying? Its these issues that the display community have
been trying to tackle and the advances in online display advertising
over the last few years towards these goals have been staggering while
search has remained fairly stagnant.

Search marketers are also online marketers, and its important for us
to know whats happening in other digital media as everything still
runs in a single ecosystem. Here are some of the ways display has been
advancing that I thought SEM pros might want to hear about:

Dynamic creative

Say goodbye to static banners. Dynamic creative are banners that are
customized to each user for every impression. Instead of building
fully fleshed-out ads, the creative agency builds ad templates which
can hold a variety of headlines, images, call to actions, buttons,
etc. Think of it as Multi-Variant Testing at the ad level. Based on
rules set in the system and data collected about the user, the ad
units attempt to serve up the most effective creative possible on the
fly.

For example, if the system has tracked a user on their site and then
is able to show them an ad, it will build a customized ad with
products and deals that best match their behavior. Companies such as
Tumri <http://www.tumri.com>
, Teracent <http://www.teracent.com>
, and Dapper <http://www.dapper.net>
offer platforms that help in the execution of dynamic creative.

Targeting, Targeting, Targeting!

Although we may be on the verge of the government tracking
regulations, the opportunities out there to reach the right user at
the right time have come a long way in a few years. Behavioral
targeting in the form of retargeting ads to users who have recently
visited your site have shown some impressive CTR and conversion rate
lifts.

As well, there are companies such as Media6Degrees
<http://www.media6degrees.com/>
that provide advanced social targeting for advertisers. Their
technology can track your core users and then attempt to retarget to
the social connections of those users  the sentimant is that if
someone buys U2 tickets, theres a higher chance that one of their
friends may want U2 tickets versus the rest of the online community.
Thats an attempt at relevance for sure.

Vertical ad networks

Specific audience segments are hard to reach online, yet these niche
ad networks are getting better at delivering the target demographic to
advertisers. Vertical ad networks that target tight groups such as
mothers, African-Americans, tech enthusiasts, etc. can make sure that
a good portion of your ads are delivered to the right audience at
scale. The goal here is to make every impression count and not be
wasted on irrelevant users.

Ad exchanges

Ad exchanges, such as Yahoos RightMedia exchange
<http://www.rightmedia.com/>
, tackle both the relevancy and the efficiency problems. These
platforms are very similar to paid search auction-based models with
real time bidding on display exposures. Advertisers set bids and
targeting rules as exchanges sell publisher inventory on an
exposure-by-exposure basis. This creates tremendous technological
efficiency, and if the targeting rules are executed well, will serve
to highly relevant users. These exchanges have created almost too much
efficiency in the martini and handshake marketplace and have come
under fire as commoditizing the industry.

Audience information

With tens of millions of banners running in an average campaign,
theres a lot of intelligence that can be collected. Companies like
comScore <http://www.comscore.com>
, Datran <http://www.datranmedia.com/>
, and Quantcast <http://www.quantcast.com>
can provide pixels that piggyback on banners which can report back
important demographic data about the users who see and click your ads.
In comScores case, they have registered panelists that they track and
they can provide insight into your audience when their panelists are
exposed to your banners. In some cases, your target audience may be
much different than you think in terms of gender, age, education
level, household income, etc. These insights are invaluable when it
comes to media planning, creative direction, and landing page design.

Demand side platforms

With the rise of ad exchanges, the need for platform tools to manage
multiple exchange arose. Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) are very similar
to search management platforms that allow for centralized management
and reporting of multiple engine accounts, but in this case, multiple
ad exchange accounts. DSPs also serve as a data hub to bring in third
party cookie data for advanced targeting and bidding insight across
all exchanges. Some companies that provide DSPs are Turn
<http://www.turn.com>
and Invite Media <http://www.invitemedia.com/>
.

Data exchanges

Data exchangers such as Blue Kai <http://www.bluekai.com>
and exelate <http://www.exelate.com/>
partner with web publishers to track user behavior at very granular
levels and then sell that data to advertisers and ad networks to
supplement targeting data. For example, a real estate site may have
vital data on a user such as what areas theyre interested in to buy a
new house, what neighborhoods, what income levels, credit scores, etc.
The goal is to keep everyhing anonymous  not to identify the specific
person, but rather that same user who is exposed to an advertisers
media. As explained above, this purchased data makes ad exchanges,
dynamic creative, retargeting efforts much more effective channels.

3rd party verification systems

With advertisers funding media purchases, agencies buying, and
publishers selling, there are many opportunites for mistakes to be
made and fraud to occur. Frankly, it was just a matter of time that
third party verfication systems would spring up to provide auditing
and security when billions of dollars are at stake. Some companies
such as Double Verify <http://www.doubleverify.com/>
and AdSafe <http://http://www.adsafemedia.com/>
provide these services for a nominal fee. Other companies have taken
even larger steps including The Media Trust
<http://https://www.themediatrust.com/>
that uses technology to generate tear sheets (screenshots of ads
actually running) and RealVu <http://http://www.realvu.net/>
, who have designed ad units which can actually tell if an ad was in
the visible section of page and not below the fold.

Bigger ad sizes

As part of an initiative by the Online Publishers Association
<http://www.online-publishers.org/>
three new, larger standard ad units were developed and are now being
adopted around the web. With monitors getting larger, screen
resolutions getting smaller, these larger ads make sense. The same
728�90 pixel ad is, on average, smaller on the screen than it was just
a few years ago. To make sure ads have the desired impact they were
designed for, these larger ads were needed.

Rich media

Rich media, the term for banners that go beyond the standard flash
limitations, is not new to the web. However, whats being done with
them is. More video, more tabs, more social buttons, etc have
literally created ads that are virtual microsites. When users are
checking their stocks, reading news, etc, they may not want to click
away from the site theyre on just to check out an advertisers offer.
With these advanced rich meida units, users can stay on the page
theyre on while being able to interact with an advertiser.

Certainly, with more than half of all online budgets dedicated to
SEM, search marketers dont have to worry anytime soon that theyll be
out of a job. However, with the advances in display advertising, its
very possible that the ROI differential gap may shrink as these new
tactics and technology become more widely used. As well, even though
search volume is constantly on the rise, it will never reach the
inventory (i.e. reach) levels that online display can offer.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.

Josh Dreller <http://searchengineland.com/author/josh-dreller/>

is the Vice President of Media Technology for Fuor Digital
<http://www.fuor.net>
, an agency concentrated in the research, planning, buying and
stewardship of digital media marketing campaigns. Josh can be reached
at jdreller@fuor.net <mailto:jdreller@fuor.net>
.

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