Adotas Premium v. Remnant Series
August 10th, 2007
Adotas is also doing a Premium v. Remnant series. In the post Noah argues that:
As brand marketers better understand the level to which they are overpaying for inventory, publishers will face significant pressure to either open up their unsold inventory directly to the brand marketers or to stop selling unsold inventory at the discounts currently allowed.
In general I agree with Noah that the gap in pricing between “Premium” and “Remnant” is too large, but I don’t think there’s any risk to a publisher’s bottom line. If the numbers quoted, $10b for DM and $5b for premium are correct, then only a third of spend is at risk from more efficient brand pricing. Also, the amount of brand money online is growing every year, meaning more competition for inventory and higher rates. I expect both publishers and advertisers to get smarter over the coming years and fewer inefficiencies where “premium” inventory sells for so much more than “remnant” but with the continued growth in spend and technology I don’t expect many publishers to see a drop in overall rates.
I’ve written about this extensively in my Premium v Remnant series, which you can find here — Part I, Part II and Part III.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the series! I do hope though that they would stop referring to non-guaranteed inventory as “unsold”, especially if it’s a $10b market!
