18 Dec 2000, Portugal

Dr Ecommerce:

I would like to know what does the expression run of network mean, when related with banners on web sites.

Thank you.

Filipe

Dear Filipe:

I am ashamed to say I didn't know what "run of network" meant either. So I asked marketing wizard Ryan Minor of Oncydium to answer your question, which he has done admirably:

"'Run of network' refers to a type of on-line advertising buy where an advertiser commits a large amount of money to appear all over a high-traffic, general audience Web site such as Yahoo! or CNN, or across an entire ad network such as those run by Engage or DoubleClick, without regard to the underlying content or demographic audience. This type of media purchase is by nature untargeted and has the goal only of reaching the highest number of "eyeballs".

Run of network deals used to be sought-after vanity programmes by some advertisers ("I bought 500,000,000 banner impressions on Amazon.com!") but due to the extremely low response ("click thru") rates and consequent low return on investment most advertisers have moved towards smaller, more targeted media buys for on-line advertising using the growing number of content-specific Web sites and some evolving tracking and targeting technologies.

Run of network deals might still have some value for companies selling goods and services of broad consumer interest, but not at the high multi-million dollar premiums sites such as eBay and Yahoo! have commanded in the past year or two."

Good luck,

Dr. Ecommerce

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