Undervalued
: My friend Dave Morgan of Tacoda writes a column in ClickZ arguing that we’re undervaluing online to advertisers (and I’d add that we haven’t even begun to value citizens’ media to advertisers):
Publishers must price valuable contextual inventory at what it’s worth — a lot! Great content, loyal audiences, and a strong media brand should command a premium rate. Publishers shouldn’t be afraid to ask for it. They must point out to media buyers that online audience numbers and online ad views are real, unlike TV ratings or print circulation, which only measure distribution and have little connection to actual ad views. On that basis, online ad CPMs should be valued at least three times more than their offline counterparts.
Publishers should stop selling out-of-context inventory in ways that devalue their own brands and hurt consumers who are tired of cluttered Web pages with irrelevant ads. They should use the extraordinary array of audience analytics tools and targeting services and learn how to deliver relevant ads in these pages.
