Advertising Networks: Media Fragmentation Meets Brand Integration

With the continued compound growth in the types of and providers of media, traditional broadcast and print media companies are seeing steady declines in their budgets.

In recent months, in order to stem these losses, Conde Nast, Viacom Inc., CBS Corp. and other major media companies have unveiled topic-specific advertising networks comprised of a series of linked Web sites. These include the media companies’ own sites (magazines and television) as well as others. This is to lure advertisers to spend more money on a larger quantity of ads than any single site would have available.

Advertisers, who are looking to build their brands, should find significant benefits from the integration of advertising networks offered by the traditional media companies. This approach should deliver the desired target audience for their message with consistent brand equity.

The traditional media networks face tough competition from the larger networks assembled by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL. However, if the media companies can execute their networks effectively, they will not only be able to reach the target consumer, but will also follow that consumer as they evolve and utilize the ever-changing media.

The biggest reason these media ad networks will work, assuming they are looking to add value, is because of their ability to leverage an advertiser’s message with traditional media. Even with declining shares, broadcast and print still have large audiences. If the media companies can help improve the quality of content people get online, this will be a winner for them and for the advertisers.