Why premium display advertising is worth the cost

Advertisers should be looking carefully at how they split their budgets between advertising networks and premium publishers to meet their marketing objectives.

Paying directly

Ad networks have a valuable role to play in the marketing mix for publishers and advertisers alike, but they should not dominate the advertising conversation. As a publisher, we believe that it is important to segment our inventory by making some available for the networks and keeping our premium inventory for direct sales to clients.

The reason for this is that we see ourselves as partners for our advertisers. We work with them to help them maximise their use of our advertising space to meet their business objectives.

Like most digital publishers, MSN South Africa reserves many of its best advertising options for clients who buy directly - for example, home page and site takeovers as well as roadblocks. The reason for this is that MSN works with advertisers on crafting content and environment that are conducive to the conversations they want to have with their audiences.

This is a very different sort of media buy to the one that most networks offer - they often offer inventory from niche sites that are transactional in purpose, offer little in the way of fresh or original content, and focus on providing services rather than information.

Ad networks

Often, the ad network inventory is for low-value placements that are difficult to sell. For example, the ad space may be below the fold of the screen and not easily seen by a user. The benefits of ad networks include a low cost for the impressions, but advertisers must be aware of what they're paying for.

Ad networks are ideal for certain campaigns where the goal is reach at a low cost. We are not disparaging the value of ad networks or exchanges because they have an important place in helping publishers maximise yields from low-value inventory and in giving advertisers low CPM advertising options.

But when the campaign is a strategic one that aims to ignite customer conservation, premium buying comes into its own. It offers better audience data, a higher quality audience, more visibility and a better platform for engagement. It may be more expensive at a CPM level, but the cost is easily justified.