Survey Finds Audience Targeting Now Cornerstone of Most Online Ad Campaigns; Boosting Revenue for Both Branding and Direct Response
Survey Finds Audience Targeting Now Cornerstone of Most Online Ad Campaigns; Boosting Revenue for Both Branding and Direct Response
Results Also Show Increase up to 60 Percent In Display over 2009 Across Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers
New York—June 9, 2010—Today from DIGIDAY:TARGET, Jeff Hirsch, CEO of AudienceScience, presented the results of their Audience Targeting State of the Industry Survey developed with DM2Pro. The survey, conducted in May 2010, drew responses from 500 media executives, marketers and publishers who shared best practices for using audience targeting to boost campaign value and performance.
According to the findings:
- Advertisers, agencies and publishers are all seeing an increase in online display over 2009; +27.4 percent, +20 percent and +60 percent, respectively
- Targeting is being used for both branding and direct response objectives
- Audience targeting has helped the majority of publishers increase revenue; 71.7 percent of publishers offer audience targeting
- Agencies are more likely than advertisers to employ the full array of audience targeting capabilities
- Actual usage of targeting variables is still somewhat limited by all sectors indicating that there is room for growth and demand for greater testing of techniques such as creative re-targeting and dynamic targeting
- Creative rarely is varied to match the interests of consumers targeted in a given campaign, and this could pose the greatest opportunity for increased effectiveness
Firsthand statements from respondents indicate that, while there is a strong acceptance of targeting across sectors, there exists a clear need for better measurement and more transparency in the implementation of targeting practices. More specifically, the respondents expressed strong concerns for both transparency into the execution of the campaigns and the process of measuring branding campaigns’ success based on CTRs and conversion.
“As the industry continues to evolve and grow in 2010, audience targeting is clearly being established as the foundation for effective marketing,” said Jeff Hirsch, CEO of AudienceScience. “Moving forward, we see a unique opportunity to further the implementation and measurement practices across sectors through consistent targeting capabilities. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the industry reacts to the results.”
Melinda Gipson, publisher of DM2PRO.com and DM2Media’s research lead, said, “One comment that stood out to me was the remark a brand respondent made in answering a question about ‘pain points.’ The response: ‘We don’t use it enough.’ As companies further explore how best to employ audience targeting, and learn from those experiences, we’ll continue to track the successful strategies and standards that emerge.”
As an additional objective, the survey aimed to evaluate the respondents’ understanding and awareness of the privacy and regulation topics facing the industry. Across the respondents, there was a relatively low familiarity with the Boucher Bill and of those that are familiar with the bill, agencies and publishers were largely indifferent. Instead, the majority of respondents favored self-regulation, with nearly one-third of all respondents indicating that FTC regulation would be the most effective way of enforcing privacy.
To download the complete report, visit www.AudienceScience.com.
About DM2PRO.com:
DM2PRO.com is the online knowledge base for digital media and marketing professionals. It is the sister site to DIGIDAY:DAILY, and both are products of DM2Media.com, which hosts the DIGIDAY:TARGET conference. Each topical DIGIDAY show is intended to offer busy digital pros a deep-dive into understanding the innovations that can help them do their day jobs more effectively. Look for further coverage of DIGIDAY:TARGET in DIGIDAY:DAILY (http://www.digidaydaily.com), and video replay of the show at DM2PRO.com under the video link. Contact: Melinda Gipson at Melinda@DM2Media.com.