ESPN.com has made a bold move and cut ties with ad networks. They are taking the stand that arbitrage and algorithms that are the current basis of online advertising is not for them. It will be interesting to see if ESPN’s cry for other large sites to follow suit is heard and accepted or if they continue the mixed sales channel of direct sales and filling remnant inventory with ad networks.
Clearly, there are two groups that are forming within the online marketing world. The math driven data side and the premium brand inventory side and ad networks are being caught in the middle. I see arguments for both parties as to why they are right, but unfortunately I can only see both for large sites such as ESPN. There are thousands of smaller sites that rely on ad networks to pump ads through the system to support their sites as they don’t have a full time sales force to sell premium sponsorships or placements.
This will be an interesting intersection in the online display advertising future to watch and see how other large premium content sites react and if they take the stance of ESPN, or still allow ad networks to sell their remnant inventory. This might be the first domino in a long line of moves that shake up the display advertising model, and I am sure the big boys of Yahoo and Google are taking note, not to mention the likes of Advertising.com, Specific Media, Valueclick and the likes.
Tags: ad networks, display advertising, ESPN, media buying
