How to optimize your advertising pixels in the short term and long run.

1. Advertising optimization
How
to
op'mize
your
adver'sing
pixels
in
the
short
term
and
long
run
Amsterdam
2012

2. Buckle-up: online is overtaking print and is expected to continue its
growth in the upcoming years
Print
adver+sing
[US,
$b]
Online
adver+sing
[US,
$b]
CAGR
24.8
-­‐2%
34.4
CAGR
+7%
22.3
24.2
2009
…
2014
2009
…
2014
Source:
PWC:
Global
entertainment
and
media
outlook:
2011-­‐2015
2

3. In NL the online advertising market grew with 10% YoY,
despite the tough economic climate in 2010/2011
Online
adver+sing
market
NL
(2010/2011)
[€
m]
2010
H1
2011
H1
6.7
5.7
29.5
22.3
70.0
82.9
€
462.6m
221.3
+10%
€
507.4m
255.0
57.2
54.9
86.1
78.4
Search
Classifieds
Affiliate
marke'ng
Search
Classifieds
Affiliate
marke'ng
Display
Others
Unclassified
Display
Others
Unclassified
Source:
IAB
Adspend
report
H1
2011
3

4. However, tapping into this growth potential is not easy, online
advertising formats and models are omnious and developing fast
Formats
Revenue
and
adver+sing
models
Medium
rectangle
Roadblock
Full
roadblock
CPO
Response
based
CPC
Data
buying
and
Skyscraper
Billboard
Text
links
CPM
selling
Mobile
Video
Corner
ad
Retarge'ng
Profile
crea'on
Header
Automated
Year
deals
Home
page
take
over
….
It
has
become
very
complex
to
determine
the
op+mal
way
of
adver+sing
for
your
site
Source:
Harvest
analysis
4

5. This complexity is also seen in the number of businesses trying to get
their fair share of the advertising market…
Source:
Improve
Digital
5

6. This hyperdynamic landscape impacts your advertising revenue:
Are you ready to tackle the risks and grasp the opportunities?
Risks
Opportuni+es
 The
chewing
gum
issue:
over
'me
you
started
many
new
 Becer
insights
on
performance
of
adver'sing
driven
by
ini'a'ves
that
individually
seem
to
add
value
yet:
professionaliza'on
of
repor+ng
tools
-­‐ cannibalize
on
the
total
revenue
 Improving
CPMs
of
automated
adver'sing
networks
-­‐ add
complexity
to
your
organiza'on
and
processes
 Professionaliza+on
of
niche
markets
like
mobile,
video,
-­‐ create
scaVered
management
data:
hard
to
steer
the
retarge'ng
and
profile
trading
total
adver'sing
business
due
to
lack
of
analy'cal
 There
is
more
than
Google

insights
 ShiZ
towards
online
from
huge
(trade
marke'ng)
 Destroying
value
by
combining
the
wrong
models
and/ budgets
of
FMCG
and
CE
companies
or
formats
 Missing
out
on
new
formats
and/or
business
models
Source:
Harvest
analyses
6

7. Harvest identified a parallel 2-step approach to optimize your
advertising pixel for the short term and in the long run
1
2
Short
term
tac+cal
adver+sing
Long
term
solid
adver+sing
op+miza+ons
ac+on
strategy
3-­‐6
months
Direct
top
line
growth
by
tac'cal
A
tailored
adver+sing
strategy
and
improvements
based
on
solid
analyses
and
ac+on
plan
that
grasps
the
adver'sing
Harvest
experienced
support
implementa'on
opportunity
in
the
smartest
way
of
improvement
projects
 Detailed
data
analyses
reveals
 Analyses
of
premium
vs
regular
inventory:
underperforming
adver'sing
networks,
What
strategy
to
follow
for
your
pixels
formats
and/or
posi'ons
 Work
out
strategy
in
a
pragma'c
ac'on
 Detailed
front-­‐end
comb-­‐through
plan
combined
with
Harvest
experience
reveals
 Test
and
iterate
on
the
ac'on
plan
to
gain
opportuni'es
for
new/improved
formats,
insights
and
preliminary
results
posi'ons
and/or
targe'ng
 Future-­‐proof
your
business
through
a
solid
 Priori'ze,
test
and
support
implementa'on
hand-­‐over
of
improvement
projects
7

8. 1
2
In a short term tactical advertising audit we have proven
to be able to boost your revenues with double digits
Analysis
1
Ac+on
plan
2
Test
and
iterate
3
Outcome
4
We
audit
your:
We
define
and
priori+ze:
We
work
with
you
to:
You
will
benefit
from:
 Targe'ng
 Relevancy
drivers
 Implement
op'mal
 Higher
relevancy;
CTR
 Placements
 New
placements
targe'ng
up
 Paging
 Becer
and
new
pages
 Test
and
measure
new
 More
and
becer
 Look
&
feel
 Improvements
to
ad
placements
and
pages
placements;
views
up
 Individual
ad
appearance
 Test
and
tweak
op'mal
 Becer
paging;
views
up
performance
 Improvements
to
ad
ad
appearance
 Becer
insight
in
key
func'oning
 Design
and
effectuate
metrics
through
a
 The
size
of
the
prize
op'mal
ad
func'oning
(temp)
dashboard
 Priori'zed
next
steps
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
 List
of
poten'al
 Ac'on
plan
with
 Tested
projects
with
 Increased
revenue
and
improvements
priori'zed
concrete
clear
results
from
pilot
pragma'c
ac'on
plan
projects
ready
to
take-­‐off
Time:
Time:
Time:
Time:
 2
weeks
 2
weeks
 4-­‐8
weeks
 2
weeks
8

9. 1
2
Short term improvement example 1: Bugs and errors
Example:
Code
error
on
major
Dutch
publisher
Insights
 These
errors
causes
that
ad
space
is
empty
and
do
not
generate
clicks
 Moreover,
this
‘pollutes’
the
website
making
the
overall
feel
less
premium,
leading
erosion
of
rate
card
Solu+on:
 technology
deepdive
revealed
error
in
ad
serving
Source:
Harvest
analyses
9

10. 1
2
Short term improvement example 2: Pricing optimization
Example:
Per
country
pricing
analysis
of
pre-­‐roll
formats
Insights
 Price
differen'a'on
between
countries
was
big,
while
formats
were
iden'cal
Volume
Price
60
€14.00
 In
depth
analyses
showed
great
differences
50
€12.00
in
nego'ated
prices
with
networks
€10.00
40
 Compe''on
benchmark
showed
low
and
€8.00
high
price
for
rate
card
compared
to
30
compe''on
in
some
countries
€4.47
€6.00
€3.52
20
€2.67
€4.00
Solu+on:
€1.98
€2.09
 Renego'ated
contracts
with
networks,
10
€2.00
adjusted
rate
card
price
0
€-­‐
NL
USA
France
UK
Germany
Volume
Price
High
Price
Low
Average
eCPM
Source:
Harvest
analyses
10

11. 1
2
Short term improvement example 3: protect your
premium inventory
Example:
Low
quality
ads
on
premium
pre-­‐roll
of
Spelletjes.nl
Insights
 Low
quality
text
ad
on
premium
pre-­‐roll
posi'on
 Example
of
the
importance
of
keeping
premium
posi'ons
premium
 In
order
to
jus'fy
the
rate
card
it
is
good
to
only
show
ads
that
are
premium
on
these
posi'ons
Solu+on:
 Replace
back-­‐fill
of
Google
text
ads
from
this
posi'on
with
house-­‐ads
Source:
Harvest
analyses
11

12. 1
2
Central model for a long term advertising strategy is a clear
split between premium and non-premium advertising pixels
PREMIUM
NON-­‐PREMIUM
Premium
posi'ons
are
for
high
value
branding.
A
customizable
look
and
feel
NON-PREMIUM
Non-­‐premium
inventory
can
be
used
to
increase
mone'zed
real
estate,
is
oqen
offered
which
adds
to
the
high
this
is
successfully
done
when
pricing
associated
op+mized
for
clicks
Source:
Harvest
analyses
12

13. 1
2
The big risk of no split between premium and non-premium
advertising pixels is the dilution of your premium pixels
Insights
 In
just
a
few
moments
we
were
able
to
start
a
Google
Display
campaign
targeted
at
‘news’
websites
with
a
leaderboard
for
our
start
up
Offer'.nl
 Because
there
are
not
many
Dutch
news
sites
that
are
able
to
show
Google
leaderboards
on
premium
posi'ons
we
were
almost
sure
to
buy
space
at
Telegraaf.nl
at
3%
of
the
ratecard
price
 Et
voila!
More
than
100k
impressions
on
premium
posi'ons
for
a
bargain
Adver+ser
reac+on:
“Why
should
I
pay
an
ultra
premium
price
for
this
inventory?”
Source:
Harvest
analyses
13

14. 1
2
It is desirable to have a clear distinction where to use premium
advertising and where to use non-premium advertising
Homepage
Premium
Categories
Other
Categories
Fold
premium
posi+ons
-­‐>
Filled
with
direct
sales
and
inventory
non-­‐premium
posi+ons
-­‐>
Filled
with
automated
and
house
ads
Source:
Harvest
analyses
14

15. 1
2
Focus must be on getting premium categories (pixels) in the
sweetspot…
Average
%
direct
sales
on
premium
and
non-­‐premium
Dutch
publishers’
categories
Insights
 Hardly
any
premium
category
is
in
the
Promising
categories
Sweetspot
sweetspot
categories
Premium
 Goal
is
to
move
promising
categories
to
sweetspot
 Homepage
of
diverse
Homepage
publishers
currently
Non-­‐premium
undermone'zed
by
categories
rela'vely
low
ratecard
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Monthly
visits
%
Direct
sales
impressions
of
total
sales
impressions
NB:
Defini'on
sweetspot:
category
is
premium
according
to
rate
card
and
more
than
50%
of
actual
impressions
filled
with
premium
inventory
Source:
Average
adver'sing
data
Dutch
publishers,
Harvest
analyses
15

16. 1
2
…yet most publishers do not make a distinction between
premium and non-premium pixels, thereby wasting opportunity
Opportuni+es
Impressions
today
Impressions
ideal
 Stop
dilu'ng
value
of
Dir
premium
pixels
by
Automated
Direct
Empty
5-­‐15%
premium
80%
20%
automated
adver'sing
85%
 Run
premium
formats
only
on
premium
pixels
to
increase
revenue
per
pixel
Direct,
5-­‐15%
Direct,
0-­‐5%
 Focus
your
direct
sales
Automated
non
Automated
team
on
premium
pixels
85-­‐95%
premium
95-­‐100%
only,
leave
non-­‐
premium
to
lean
and
mean
automated
 Create
premium
long
term
rela'ons
with
adver'sing
partners
Source:
Average
adver'sing
data
Dutch
publishers,
Harvest
analyses
16

17. 1
2
A focus on increasing direct sales on premium pixels is clear,
the average CPM delta vs. networks is ±1000% on these pixels
Detailed
split
of
average
impressions
and
revenue
from
premium
pixels
Insights
 6
'mes
more
banners
served
for
15%
more
revenue
15%
15%
 Homepage
take-­‐overs
good
for
20%
of
business
30%
Networks
 Delta
of
CPM
direct
sales
vs.
networks
>
85%
3000%
Other
Specials
85%
20%
Homepage
take-­‐overs
35%
15%
Impressions
Revenue
Revenue
detail
Source:
Average
adver'sing
data
Dutch
publishers,
Harvest
analyses
17

18. 1
2
Example from the field: good premium advertising is rather a
cooperation with related companies than old school advertising
Source:
Harvest
analyses
18
18

19. 1
2
Example from the field: good special ad integration
without being ‘intrusive’ on premium inventory
Integrated
companion
ads
Insights
 Companion
ads
integrated
into
one
big,
though
discrete
ad
 Complete
control
on
look
and
feel
because
these
ads
are
custom
made
 While
the
ads
are
sold
for
a
premium
price,
they
are
not
intrusive
or
distrac'ng,
yet
give
good
‘value
per
pixel’
for
adver'ser
Source:
Harvest
analyses
19

20. 1
2
Example from the field: make your premium inventory more
premium, while still using regular formats with a twist
Example
What
Benefit
 Make
your
leaderboard
part
of
the
 Leaderboard
literally
stands
out
of
header
by
let
it
overlap
header
which
increases
visibility
and
CTR
and
limits
ad
space
above
header
 Posi'on
your
leaderboard
between
 Leaderboard
draws
more
acen'on
the
naviga'on
and
first
ar'cle
and
s'll
looks
premium
by
playfully
melding
it
in
your
page
 Customize
the
premium
posi'on
by
 Using
the
both
the
spaces
at
the
‘embracing’
the
header
outside
for
a
single
adver'ser
improves
visibility
and
recogni'on
 Limit
the
header
ad
space
by
making
 Ad
space
is
limited
but
ad
s'll
draws
an
unfolding
header
ad
acen'on
and
making
it
unfoldable
will
increase
visibility
and
interac'on
Source:
Harvest
analyses
20

21. 1
2
On top of the initial premium / non-premium strategic analyses,
ongoing optimization of your advertising pixel is key to excel
Measure
Implement
must
have:
Tools
must
have:
Skill
1. State
of
the
art
tagging
1. Clear
requirements
2. Always
up
to
date
dashboard
2. Minimized
TTM
3. One
touch
own
drilling
Harvest
specialists
supports
your
webmaster
Harvest
builds
this
for
you
on
tweaks
and
builds
a
glossary
Analyse
Learn
must
have:
Smarts
must
have:
Eagerness
1. Clear
KPIs
“Nothing
great
was
ever
achieved
without
2. Understanding
of
drivers
enthusiasm”
3. Analysis
templates
You
bring
this
to
the
table
Harvest
does
this
and
trains
your
people
Source:
Harvest
analyses
21

22. 1
2
A clear overview of all KPIs is crucial for ongoing professional
optimizations
Dashboard
example:
Conceptual
Monitor
Deep
dive
Source:
Harvest
proprietary
HTML
5.0
dashboard
22

23. 1
2
To tackle your long term advertising strategy,
Harvest suggests a four step approach
Analyse
and
divide
1
Make
a
premium
and
2
Implement
technical
3
Futureproof
your
4
inventory
non-­‐premium
ac+on
plan
and
opera+onal
changes
business
Ac+ons:
Ac+ons:
Ac+ons:
Ac+ons:
 Ac'on
plan
for
premium
 Ac'on
plan
for
premium
 Implement
product
changes
 Priori'zed
next
steps
in
hand-­‐
inventory
with
a.o.:
inventory
with
a.o.:
needed
over
plan
-­‐ Overview
of
poten'al
-­‐ Overview
of
poten'al
 Define
HR
implica'ons
and
fill
 Clear
ac'on
plan
to
perform
dream-­‐customers
dream-­‐customers
gaps
in
skills
through
training/
ongoing
op'miza'ons
-­‐ Ac'onable
clusters
of
-­‐ Ac'onable
clusters
of
support
in
hiring
 Detailed
dashboard
for
KPIs
of
premium
inventory
premium
inventory
 Create
new
sales
kit
for
all
adver'sing
revenue,
with
relevant
for
clear
target
relevant
for
clear
target
premium
adver'sing,
do
first
deep
dive
opportunity
adver'sers
adver'sers
roadshow
 Solid
hand-­‐over
to
client
team
-­‐ High
level
direct
sales
-­‐ High
level
direct
sales
 Set-­‐up
new
client
mee'ngs
in
 Custom
trainings
to
fill
final
proposi'on
per
cluster
proposi'on
per
cluster
co-­‐crea'on
vs
sales
sexng
gaps
in
knowledge
and
skills
-­‐ Product
adjustments
-­‐ Product
adjustments
 Develop
high
level
needed
needed
dashboards
for
tracking
 Ac'on
plan
for
non-­‐premium
 Ac'on
plan
for
non-­‐premium
 Renew/change/break
inventory
with
a.o.:
inventory
with
a.o.:
contracts
-­‐ Improved
analy'cs
plan
-­‐ Improved
analy'cs
plan
-­‐ 80/20
plan
on
effort/ -­‐ 80/20
plan
on
effort/
output
output
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
Expected
result:
 Ac'on
plans
with
priori'zed
 Ac'on
plans
with
priori'zed
 First
changes
implemented,
 Internal
team
ready
to
take
concrete
projects
ready
to
concrete
projects
ready
to
organiza'on
on
track
for
new
over
the
op'mized
take-­‐off
take-­‐off
strategy
adver'sing
pixels
Time:
Time:
Time:
Time:
 4
weeks
 4
weeks
 4-­‐8
weeks
 2-­‐4
weeks
23

24. Case example: Optimizing the advertising revenue for a
global leading casual games platform
Situa+on
Ac+ons
Results
achieved
Client
How
Harvest
helped
 Over
EUR
500k
addi'onal
revenue
 Casual
Games
Company
 Perform
a
quick
scan
to
iden'fy
quick
from
quick
wins
iden'fied
and
wins
and
biggest
improvement
areas
realized
during
this
project
Challenge
 Adver'sing
revenue
and
performance
 Ran
quick
win
op'miza'on
projects
 Annual
adver'sing
revenue
grew
was
low
compared
to
benchmarks,
(new
and
improved
adver'sing)
double
digit
numbers
while
investments
in
'me
and
effort
were
high
 Strategic
assessment
of
adver'sing
 Adver'sing
performance
(eCPM)
proposi'on
leading
to
high
level
improved
significantly
Objec+ve
adver'sing
strategy
 Op'mize
adver'sing
in
terms
of
 Adver'sing
team
involvement
shiqed
performance
and
revenue,
while
 Redefined
the
premium
and
regular
from
mostly
tac'cal
to
more
strategic,
decreasing
the
investments
in
'me
adver'sing
inventory
on
the
playorm
moving
our
clients
adver'sing
and
focus
business
up
the
value
chain
 Zoom
in
on
improvement
areas
to
Dura+on
iden'fy
subop'mal
processes
and
 6
months
front-­‐end
and
back-­‐end
implementa'ons
 Ran
mid-­‐long
term
improvement
projects
to
improve
adver'sement
relevance
24

25. Harvest serves an international portfolio of pure online players
and click-and-brick companies
"Harvest
is
without
any
doubt
one
of
the
very
best
e-­‐consultancy
companies
in
the
world.
Excellent
knowledge
and
experAse
strategically,
tacAcally,
and
operaAonally,
always
with
clear
focus
on
top
line
results”
Francine
van
Dierendonck,
Sr.
Director
and
Head
Global
Philips
Flagship
Store
"The
moneAzaAon
quick
scan
that
Harvest
carried
out
for
Compare
Group
highlighted
tacAcal
improvements
with
direct
upside
and
a
strategic
opportunity.
The
Harvest
team
is
very
professional
and
has
great
knowledge
of
e-­‐retail
and
online
in
general.”
Ben
Kerkhof,
CEO
Compare
Group
"Harvest
supported
Experteer
in
their
go-­‐to-­‐market
in
the
Netherlands.
The
professionalism,
drive
and
in-­‐depth
knowledge
of
the
Dutch
online
were
key
to
the
success
of
the
project
and
the
launch
of
experteer.nl”
Nina
Zimmerman,
Head
of
Europe
Experteer
"Harvest
combines
a
strategic
view
on
creaAng
online
success
with
the
power
to
execute.
Passion
for
the
online
business,
dedicated
to
deliver
results.
And
above
all,
a
pleasure
to
work
with.”
Marc
de
Vries,
CEO
Hyves
25

26. Feel free to reach out to us for more information
Harvest
–
Online
Business
Development
Herengracht
262-­‐266
1016
BV
AMSTERDAM
The
Netherlands
E:
info@harvestamsterdam.com
T:
+31
(0)
20
4277796
I:
www.harvestamsterdam.com
26