Advertisers Beware: Media Buys Across Fewer Online Networks Are Inefficient.

Contrary to widespread belief, advertising buys across fewer online networks are often far less efficient than buys across several networks, reports Jupiter Media Metrix. In a quantitative study of three popular categories of ad-supported Internet sites – news, finance and music – Media Metrix found that placing a four-week ad campaign of four million impressions on any one of the leading four sites would reach an audience of 1.4 million to 1.9 million unique visitors. However, spreading those four million impressions across three of the top four sites within each category substantially broadens the audience reach from 2.2 million to 2.5 million unique visitors. Moreover audience reach can be increased up to an additional seven percent by spreading the same four million ad impressions to four sites.

“Perceived cost-cutting alliances and exclusive arrangements with media companies have driven many advertisers to reduce the number of sites they advertise on,” said Mainak Mazumdar, head of research and product management for Media Metrix. “The reality on the Internet is that target audiences are often fragmented across multiple sites, thereby limiting the ability of one or just a few sites to reach a greater number of defined audience members efficiently. Conversely, advertisers looking to increase frequency in a campaign may very well lean toward advertising on fewer sites.”

These are the latest findings derived from Media Metrix’ advertising planning system, the first rigorous, research-based Internet planning tool enabling media planners and buyers to calculate in advance the results their media buys can be expected to achieve. By employing its proven methodology and leadership in Internet and media research, Media Metrix applies the reach-and-frequency planning model of traditional media to the Internet, enabling companies to evaluate advertising effectiveness and efficiency before running their campaigns, as opposed to engaging in expensive and inefficient trial-and-error practices.

“The latest data findings confirm that the more you target your audience or ad buy, the greater the likelihood is that you’ll need to move away from simple audience-reach metrics and toward more sophisticated reach-and-frequency metrics commonly applied in traditional media,” said Mazumdar.

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