Last week, the IAB published data on Q308 online ad spending, and found that spending was up 11% ($5.9 BILLION) over the same quarter last year. Big advertisers get this medium – they know online advertising is the most effective way to manage budgets, reach precise audiences, and track real delivery, quality and response. As Joanne Bradford, Yahoo!’s senior vice president of U.S. revenue and market development told Adweek last week, the “Web is miles ahead of print and TV when it comes to proving its worth, which should help it win during a recession. ‘Just ‘impressions delivered’ is far better than what any other media has.’”

Advertisers are recognizing the benefits of online advertising even beyond efficiency and reach, however. As Collective Media’s recent survey of more than 200 online media planners shows, advertisers understand that campaigns fulfilled by ad networks aren’t just direct response “filler” – networks have become a recognized, effective channel for high-value campaign delivery. As Joe Apprendi, CEO of Collective Media notes in his blog, “…the market now values audience targeting…and inventory quality…far more than gross reach and efficiency as benefits of working with ad networks. I think this is largely due to the fact that brand advertisers are now selectively buying ad networks where they were never a material component of the average media buy in the past.”

Collective’s survey reveals that more than 90% of brand advertisers feel that networks are “safe” for brand advertisers. Measures like our Rubicon Certified Inventory™ program are helping networks connect with brand advertisers they couldn’t reach before. In fact, not only do 75% of survey respondents say they plan to spend more with networks in 2008 than 2007, but 40% said they “plan to increase spend on ad networks by 10% or more this year.”

In sum – ad networks (and we) are doing a better job of educating advertisers about the benefits of monetizing unsold ad space through ad networks; advertisers generally get, and are more focused than ever, on the deliverability and measurement offered by online advertising, and growth remains strong. There’s no doubt that the marketplace is amidst real change, but the change in our industry is more positive than not.

Tags: Ad networks, Industry Commentary by faddante       > No Comments

Our CEO and Co-Founder, Frank Addante, is an internet advertising veteran and is often called upon for commentary about pressing industry issues.  The Google-Yahoo-Microsoft hullbaloo the past several months has been no exception.  Much discussion has been had around the larger implications of partnerships and mergers.  This past week at Adtech NY, Frank sat down with David Kaplan from paidContent.org and shared his two cents about the potential Yahoo-Google arrangement and what it could mean for Microsoft.

“…If you look at Yahoo and Google as web publishers and not just ad servers, why shouldn’t they be able to access ad dollars on each others’ respective sites and channels, argues Frank Addante, CEO of the Rubicon Project. “Yahoo has an enormous amount of inventory that’s trying to reach advertisers from its portal. Google’s AdSense has an great number of advertisers who are trying to extend their reach.” The downside of that increased reach from an advertiser perspective is different, as it would mean that Google has more control over pricing and could drive advertisers to other ad servers, such as Microsoft. But Addante thinks that Microsoft should do a similar test with Google, allowing all three mutual benefits. Addante: “Stock brokers at different companies purchase securities from each other all the time, why shouldn’t different ad networks do the same? Microsoft has space it needs to monetize. They could do better by working together in their various publisher/ad net roles and yet still compete at the same time.”

Tags: Ad networks, Company news, Industry Commentary by njordan       > No Comments

Partners, Partners, Partners:
Ad Tech is a great chance for our network team to get out and meet with some of our partners. Our booth was jam packed both days with networks like:
-         Revenue Science, who has increased their reach with access to our more than 250 million monthly uniques across Rubicon’s content verticals.
-         Oridian, who has targeted international Rubicon Certified Inventory across Europe coming from premium US websites.
-         Lucid Media, who used Rubicon’s audience extension to maximize delivery of their campaigns.

And the good news, we want more. With over 17 billion impressions optimized monthly by the Rubicon Project, we welcome new partners to join us and see how Rubicon Certified Inventory can enhance the delivery and performance of your campaigns. Interested in getting started?  Shoot our ad network team an email at networks@rubiconproject.com.

World Meet Helix:
After a solid night out on the town for the first night of AdTech the team was back in action for day two. Among top highlights was being selected as one of the most noteworthy newsmakers at the show and participating in the official AdTech press conference.  Although we also introduced our Q3 Market Report which we’ve received incredible feedback and attention from, we decided to focus on introducing Helix, the Rubicon Project’s machine intelligent solution to ad quality.

Helix is the product of some late nights and creative thinking from our engineering team. Working 24-7 scouring the internet in search of the bad ads that plague some of the web’s premier properties, Helix digests those ads and learns who they are and where they came from. Bottom line, it is the first line of defense for our publishers ensuring that ONLY quality campaigns appear on their websites.   Bad ads beware because Helix is on the loose.

Publishers interested in learning more about Helix should contact our stellar publisher team at: publishers@rubiconproject.com.  Look for more wrap-up posts from AdTech in coming days.

Tags: Ad networks, Company news, Fun by rdranginis       > No Comments

Since the release of our Q1 Online Advertising Market Report we have gained more knowledge and observed even more dynamic changes in the Ad Network Landscape. All this while further developing our unique perspective on the market. As of September 22, 2008 we have optimized more than 49 billion ads across 1,240 websites and 264 ad networks, gathering billions of pieces of market data along the way. The market response to our initial online advertising market report, which was downloaded nearly 2,000 times, has only affirmed our belief that a more educated market is a stronger one.

Among the key trends presented in the Q2 report:

• Despite perception painted in the news, Ad Networks grew in Q2
• Publishers & Networks dysfunctional relationships is getting in the way of business
• Channel conflict among top publisher concerns
• Big media starts making big moves
• International traffic opportunities gets a little more of the spotligh

Download the Q2 report for free, here.

Tags: Ad networks, Company news by njordan       > No Comments

I was first introduced to the Rubicon Project at the Entretech Entrepreneurship Awards in downtown LA on March 6th. Frank’s presentation was the best out of the 9 finalists, he showed off the Rubicon Project’s fancy user-interface complete with amazing graphs and tables, but most impressive was his statement that the Rubicon Project provides an average lift in revenue of 30-300%, a value proposition that is hard to beat. When the Rubicon Project was announced the winner in the startup category, the Rubicon table erupted with clapping and cheers, this made an impression on me that this was a fun and supportive place to work with a great group of people.

Read more…

Tags: Ad networks, Company news, Hiring, LA tech scene by aroyer       > 1 Comment