Well this is interesting, given the big news of the day. According to new research from comScore, Yahoo is the Web’s No. 1 publisher of display ads. The company’s network of sites claimed 18.8% of display ad views in November. In contrast, Fox Interactive Media claimed 16.3%, Microsoft 6.7%, Facebook 1.5% and Google 1.0%.
Yes, Yahoo! may have the largest percentage display ads overall at the moment, but there is David arriving in this David & Goliath story. Perhaps I should refer to David in the plural and they are just starting to hit the radar on your comScore chart.
David(s) comes in the form of vertical ad networks. No, not the remnant horizontal ad networks that serve up the junk-food inventory. It’s the vertical ad networks exclusively representing the long-tail of the sites within the content vertical.
For example, companies like Glam Media, JumpStart Automotive media (AUTO) , Netshelter (TECH) and Travel Ad Network (TRAVEL) are are becoming the #1 display audiences in their respective categories and garnering Goliath-like ad revenues.
With portals becoming irrelevant, and search engines not capable of servicing display advertising adequately, will the Goliaths become prey to David’s well-aimed slingshot?
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size. 11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Comments
Dear John,
Yes, Yahoo! may have the largest percentage display ads overall at the moment, but there is David arriving in this David & Goliath story. Perhaps I should refer to David in the plural and they are just starting to hit the radar on your comScore chart.
David(s) comes in the form of vertical ad networks. No, not the remnant horizontal ad networks that serve up the junk-food inventory. It’s the vertical ad networks exclusively representing the long-tail of the sites within the content vertical.
For example, companies like Glam Media, JumpStart Automotive media (AUTO) , Netshelter (TECH) and Travel Ad Network (TRAVEL) are are becoming the #1 display audiences in their respective categories and garnering Goliath-like ad revenues.
With portals becoming irrelevant, and search engines not capable of servicing display advertising adequately, will the Goliaths become prey to David’s well-aimed slingshot?
Posted by bob sacco at February 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am