Booking and buying

Written by Carlton Cribb, Digital Buying Director, Zed Media

• Selecting websites
• Where to book selected websites
• Buying metrics
• Ensuring good value

Booking and buying ads needn’t be a difficult or scary process. This chapter explains everything we think you need to know to select where you want your ads to appear, where to book and getting value for money.

Selecting websites

The nature of the online environment and the many technologies that are utilised within the medium mean that there are a number of different ways to select the websites to include on a media schedule and to target consumers. Targeting will be discussed at greater length later in the relevant chapter of this handbook. Ways of selecting a website to reach the right consumer include:

• Mindset: catching consumers during the relevant activity phase, e.g. when they are actively searching for a relevant product or service. Search and shopping sites are examples of targeting to a user’s mindset.

• Lifestyle: targeting similar to offline, via interest groups, hobbies, sports, etc.

• Demographic targeting: by matching the target audience forthe campaign to websites through the use of proprietary web auditing tools.

• Geographic targeting: targeting by country, e.g. by domain (.co.uk, .co.fr) or by local targeting (e.g. by area specific sites or ISP).

• Behavioural targeting: relevant technology anonymously analyses a user’s internet behaviour and categorises interests. Users are then matched to relevant advertisers. Targeting this way can help minimise media wastage.

• Contextual targeting: this is similar to targeting via interestgroups and hobbies. Though while these will be targeted via website or channel, contextual targeting aligns advertisers with relevant content across a whole site or a network of sites.

Where to book selected websites

Due to the large number of websites that advertisers can use for
display media, having a point of contact at each individual site
would mean thousands of sales representatives for an agency to
speak to, and would not be cost-effective for smaller publications to
represent themselves. As such there are three predominant points
of contact when booking online display space.

• Publishers direct.Largely consisting of:

1. Sites that shadow offline content be it print, radio or TV. The content tends to be an extension of offline content. They offer a more targeted sale aimed at their target audience/user, and give medium coverage with high frequency.

2. Larger online publishers, e.g. portals, shopping and lifestyle sites. Such sites are suppliers of highly targeted inventory and can offer high coverage and frequency.

• Sales Houses

Sales Houses tend to sell display advertising space on websites that are `niche’ or smaller than average.

• Networks

Networks predominantly broker distressed/residual inventory from UK Worldwide sites. This inventory is generally sold onto the advertisers on a `blind’ basis, i.e. the advertiser does not know exactly which sites that they are buying on. However, due to the nature of it being distressed inventory the capital costs for buying this space can be a fraction of buying on sites direct via publishers and sales houses. Inventory tends to be bought on the following basis:

1. Run of network: high reach at low cost.

2. By vertical channel: where inventory is categorised by sector, e.g. finance, automotive, etc.

3. Demographically: where sites are grouped and categorised by core demographic.

Buying metrics

• CPM (cost per thousand): a unit price per thousand ad impressions that are shown. This is the most common form of trading currency for online display space. The more targeted, the higher the rate tends to be. Prices can range from £1’s/100 to £100’s/1,000. Buying on this metric allows the advertiser to control volume and predict reach.

• CPC (cost per click): a unit price that is paid each time a userclicks on an advertiser’s display creative. Although this buying metric is mainly the domain of PPC search advertising, it is possible to buy on this basis in the display space usually from Networks across residual inventory. It can be hard to control delivery of a campaign when using this buying metric as it is subject to user behaviour.

• CPA (cost per acquisition): a unit price for an ‘acquisition’ onthe advertiser’s site. An acquisition may take many forms; user registration, request for a brochure or other information and the purchase of a product. This is the most cost-effective of all the buying metrics and is how affiliate marketing is traded. In the display space many networks can offer a CPA, usually after a CPM test to assess the commercial implications.

Ensuring good value

The key to a media agency ensuring best value for their clients is
negotiation. The key processes in negotiation can include:

• Preparation: knowing your stuff can be the difference betweenan excellent and average deal. Know your limits and what you can offer.

• Understand the advertiser: the business, marketing andcampaign objectives.

• Understand the market: how healthy is it? Supply vs demand, what is the current driving force?

• Historical data: what is your trading history with a publication?

• What do you want to achieve? Understand your objectives.Have a wish list, and a list of concessions to bargain with.

• What does the media owner want to achieve?

To be truly effective at good buying within the online display space you must understand the wealth of opportunities in the medium, as well as ‘staying ahead of the game’ in what is an ever-evolving market place with the ‘next big thing’ changing on a yearly basis.


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