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Ad networks 'will continue to drive online marketing'

Independent and conglomerate ad networks will continue to play a major role in the provision of the online advertising market, a new report has suggested.

Analysis from JupiterResearch indicated that, despite negative feelings from some advertisers, ad networks will continue to drive online marketing spend in the coming years.

The report showed that ad networks did in fact provide low-cost reach for online marketers, but also found that only 23 per cent of online advertisers using networks thought they were more cost-effective than using individual sites.

It pointed to the wide-scale acquisition of third-party ad networks by Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL that occurred in 2007 and said this could mean the so-called Big Four can offer "true one-stop shopping in the near term" for advertisers.

"The impetus for acquisition is obvious - for the conglomerates, the potential to improve their portfolio of offerings to both advertisers and publishers as well as overpower their competition theoretically lies in the control of ad servers and ad networks," explained lead author of the report Emily Riley.

David Schatsky, president of JupiterResearch, added: "After acquiring ad networks and ad servers to round out offerings, the near future of online advertising will look somewhat like pre-cable TV, with an oligarchy of powerful conglomerates controlling prices, audiences, and thus advertisers." ADNFCR-1536-ID-18562326-ADNFCR