A quick and simple illustration on Real Time Bidding.
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1. New York
2. Atlanta
3. Chicago
4. Washington, DC (Hagrstwn)
   
5. Philadelphia

          More Rankings...

1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale
4. Houston
5. Chicago

          More Rankings...

The Definitions

A Designated Market Area (DMA) is a geographic area of the US that represents specific television markets defined by, and annually updated by, Nielsen Media Research. There are currently 210 DMA markets in the U.S.

A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is a geographical area defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that represents the metropolitan area of a city. As of June 6, 2003, the OMB has defined a total of 362 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Ad Targeting

DMA is the most common, and often preferred means of Geo targeting an ad campaign. In the realm of digital advertising, Google DoubleClick, arguably the largest ad serving platform, allows users to Geo target ads via Country, Region, City, Zip Code or "US Metro Areas", which is in fact DMA targeting. In order to achieve accurate MSA targeting for digital ad-serving it is recommended that one converts the desired MSA markets into a relevant City or Zip Code list.

Latest eMarketer article on growth in Global Ad Spending highlights one of the major driving factors behind this growth: Mobile Ad Spending - projected to be 67% of all North American Ad Spend by 2018. Read the full article here.

Last month the IAB released its Mobile Rising Stars Ad Interaction & Effectiveness study, noting a significant increase in performance metrics like Interaction Rate, Brand Recall and Message Recall. Our final spotlight placements are the Full Page Flex and the Slider.

Click here to learn more about all five Mobile Rising Stars ad units.

Last month the IAB released its Mobile Rising Stars Ad Interaction & Effectiveness study, noting a significant increase in performance metrics like Interaction Rate, Brand Recall and Message Recall. 

Today's spotlight, the Adhesion Banner, is a persistent ad unit positioned at the bottom of the Smartphone or Tablet that appears/disappears as the user interacts with the device or content.

See the Adhesion Banner in action below.

Click here to learn more about all five Mobile Rising Stars ad units.

Last month the IAB released its Mobile Rising Stars Ad Interaction & Effectiveness study, noting a significant increase in performance metrics like Interaction Rate, Brand Recall and Message Recall. 

Today's spotlight, the Mobile Pull, is a two component Smartphone or Tablet ad unit, starting with a top or bottom screen banner ad, that vertically pulls a full screen ad experience on user interaction.

Basic Product Specs:

Click here to learn more about all five Mobile Rising Stars ad units.

Last month the IAB released its Mobile Rising Stars Ad Interaction & Effectiveness study, which highlights significant performance metrics findings that include:

• Interaction Rate - Mobile Rising Star Ads generate nearly 2x the Interaction Rate of Standard Mobile Ads

• Brand Recall - User interaction with Mobile Rising Stars ads lead to 18% greater brand recall compared to users viewing a standard banner ad
• Message Recall - User interaction with Mobile Rising Star Ads lead to 23% greater message recall compared to users viewing a standard banner ad

In light of the rapid adoption of these products, we're spotlighting the five Mobile Rising Stars ad units beginning with Filmstrip: a scrolling, multi-panel ad spec'ed for full screen implementation (phone or tablets) and as a 300x600 unit within content on tablets, 

Basic Product Specs:

See the Filmstrip in action below.

Click here to learn more about all five Mobile Rising Stars ad units.
 

Below are 3 of the 25 Stats, compiled by Flite, that highlight why the Rising Star ad units have experienced rapid adoption: 

Stat # 3 - “Users are 2.5 times more likely to interact with a Rising Stars ad unit than a standard ad unit”. They are also 2 times more likely to react quicker to a Rising Stars ad than to a standard one. (Marketing Vox)

Stat # 15 -“Users also view ads longer, by 31%, with Rising Stars units versus standard formats”. (Marketing Vox)

Stat # 21 -“The 6 mobile rising stars ad units enjoyed a 9.3% interaction rate (slide, swipe, tap), almost double the rate for the standard mobile banner ad (5.2%) analyzed”. (Marketing Charts)

Click Here for the full Flite list.

Amusing explanation of social media terms from a lover of donuts...

Whenever I work with Sales on an RFP some of the most common questions I get asked surrounds CTR, mainly:

1. What’s our average click-thru rate? and
2. How do these compare to Industry averages?

My response to the first question is usually "that depends on the size and type of creative”. Also, the Advertiser’s Industry may play a part in the CTR performance as well.

While most Publishers are able to provide their teams with internal site performance metrics, Google's DoubleClick Benchmark Report - an aggregate of DFA data that includes hundreds of advertisers, thousands of campaigns and tens of billions of ad impressions - provides a good benchmark for click-thru rates on display ads that can be used to make those initial "Which ad size and type should the Advertiser go with?" decisions.

Below is one example of the metrics presented in Google’s DoubleClick Benchmark Report.

The steady rise in the volume of delivered digital ads have made it increasingly difficult for agencies to verify the accurate execution of online campaigns across a growing number of purchased Publisher sites. In response, numerous companies have entered the Industry with a range of solutions to address these implementation concerns. Enter Ad Verification.

What is Ad Verification?
Ad verification is a technology service offered by Vendors to ensure that ads appear on intended sites, reach the targeted audience, and have been executed in a manner consistent with the terms of the campaign. Vendors providing this service include AdXpose, Adometry, Adsafe and Double Verify.

What does Ad Verification track?
Targeting parameters tracked thru  Ad Verification include:

• Sites - Vendors verify that ads are not running on sites specifically excluded (blacklisted) from, or Publisher sites not provided by the agency as part the campaign.
• Geography - Vendors verify that ads are not delivering outside of the Geo targets (Country and/or Demo) indicated on the campaign.
• Content - Vendors verify that ads are not running against content the advertiser has labeled as inappropriate, as laid out in the campaign.

How does Ad Verification work?
Ad verification services are generally integrated into ad campaigns using some form of tracking asset (ad tags, beacons, etc.). Whenever this "tracked" ad is served on a Publisher site a decision can be made by the ad verification service to "block" the ad - prevent the ad from appearing on a page - if the page does not meet the site, geographical, or content parameters that were laid out for the campaign. The Ad Verification vendor supplies a routine report to the agency and Publisher highlighting the number of ad calls that were blocked, by parameter, providing Publishers with an opportunity to troubleshoot and/or adjust campaign set up.

What is required to implement Ad Verification?
Not much. Once an ad campaign is contracted, the Ad Verification vendor typically requires that included Publisher sites  provide  a list of all site URLS where the tracked campaign is expected to run. Depending on the implementation method, the Publisher may also need to implement a tracking pixel for the campaign.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 24, 2012 -- Digital marketing is not meeting the needs of consumers according to new research released from Adobe Systems Incorporated. The U.S. study, Click Here: The State of Online Advertising exposes new insights into the beliefs of both consumers and professional marketers that traditional marketing is still more effective than online marketing. Click on the following animated infographic for additional insights.

For more information on the research results visit Click Here: The State of Online Advertising Study and Click Here: The State of Online Advertising Infographic.